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ocean_clarke

What does rural living mean to you?

Ocean Clarke
7 years ago

Having lived in both the Suffolk countryside and the city, I can safely say there are some big differences between rural and urban living.

Have you ever lived or do you currently live in a rural area? If so, what's the first thing that springs to mind when you think of rural living?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Featured Answer
  • Dundrum 16
    7 years ago
    I have enjoyed country living for the last 25 years, in two different homes. The first was a rambling 200 hundred year cottage with a couple of acres and 10 stables. It had previously been owned by a very clever gardener, and was stocked with the most beautiful and unusual plants and a small woodland. This was idyllic for bringing up children - hide and seek in the woodland, cutting our own Christmas tree each year, planting replacement trees, camping in the forest. Of course, pet ownership was a given, with a donkey, two goats, cats, springer spaniel and chickens. All this within a mile of a motorway access! Thence a little further out to a new house! This time the menagerie ran to a couple of alpacas plus the granddaughter of the original springer. The large pond (80'x120') which I had dug, quickly became home to breeding mallards and moorhens not to mention the personal larder to a resident heron, which lifted the koi carp and goldfish from the pond quicker than I could stock it. The provision of a rubber dinghy made the pond an attraction for the children (youngest 12) also. If it snowed however, we were snowed in! And if the power was out anywhere, it was at mine. Empty nest, coupled with a hairy moment when my 15" operation scar burst open the night I got my stitches out and the ambulance couldn't get down the 150 metre driveway as I was snowed in, made me think that whilst I adored the middle of nowhere, perhaps it was more of a young person's game. So, I sold up and am now building in the middle of a seaside village. I wouldn't have missed the rural experience for the world.

    Comments (32)

    • Stephen Edwards
      7 years ago

      Peace and quiet also remembering to make a decent shopping list. I'm lucky to have lived most of my life in the back of beyond. I did try city living once and stood it for less than a year.

    • annjennifer
      7 years ago

      We have lived in a very beautiful rural area for almost 30 years. It has been peaceful, quiet and serene but it's time for a change! I agree about the shopping list! I have loved every minute but now want the luxury of being able to walk to the shops or hobbies without getting into the car or taking up knitting - so moving to the edge of a town! Looking forward to it! The hills are just 10 minutes drive away should we feel home sick!

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    • Ocean Clarke
      Original Author
      7 years ago

      It sounds like you'll have the best of both @annjennifer!

      I definitely recognise the bulky shopping list fiasco - and there's no nipping down to Tesco express when you get all the way back home after a 20 minute drive and realise you've forgotten bin bags!

      Something I recall was having power cuts way more regularly and there were always problems with potholes. Although, it was lovely living next to fields of cows - not so much when I could hear them giving birth though!

    • PRO
      OnePlan
      7 years ago
      I agree with all of the above ! Power cuts are the most inconvenient!

      No takeout deliveries out here either - but I think that's probably a good thing !!! Or I'd be a lot wider !!!
    • Juliet Docherty
      7 years ago

      We live in a quiet village and the only thing we hear is birds. We have a big owl nearby who screeches every evening and some tame robins that hop through the hall and look for us in the kitchen. Bliss.

    • lottiefenwick
      7 years ago

      Try Hampshire for a compromise. I live just off the A27 and I regularly open the shutters to deer and foxes in the garden. The Owl is really noisy too.. It competes with the aircraft noise from Southampton airport! To be honest, I really miss living in a rural village though. You feel like you are in a bubble away from the stresses of the outside world, it was a great place for our daughter to play safely and you can't beat the sense of community in rural areas.

    • TwoHearts
      7 years ago
      The beauty of Nature, beautiful unpolluted night skies, peace and tranquility. Winters can be a challenge: we were once snowed in for 9 weeks during the Winter of 08/09. Having a well stocked freezer is absolutely essential. We love living in the Countryside.
    • TwoHearts
      7 years ago
      PS City living is ok but litter, graffiti, pollution of all kinds and crime made us move out.
    • Jess Rabbit
      7 years ago
      I love rural living. We are very lucky we are only 3 miles from the nearest town so I don't have to worry about forgetting shopping. For 10 years we lived in a modern semi on a housing estate. We had a small garden overlooked by properties side and back and it felt closed in and as if we had no privacy. 4 years ago we moved to a little hamlet. I adore the country. We have a large garden at the back of our cottage which overlooks fields. Occasionally there's dairy cows in them. We have neighbours around us but it feels so private. As I write this I can hear chickens, geese, sheep and cows and birds singing .I love that people who live a mile away from me are classed as my neighbours. I know all my neighbours. Even in winter I manage to get to and from work in the snow. So lucky the farmer ploughs and grits the lane. I think where we are now I've got the best of both worlds. Not too remote and not too built up . I love it so much. If I want to I can walk into town or drive. It all just seems so perfect I can't believe how lucky we are
    • Ellen Best
      7 years ago
      After four years living in rural Somerset we are still working on being included; making true connections is tough but this is what it has bought us so far.
      Rural living gives us, outside Space, a love of gardening, a large sky, wonderful nature and funny stories. I get anecdotes lifted from unsuspecting locals with rich accents, just right for writing. We see great repurposing ideas from farming people who really know how to do it. We can offer friends and family great weekends away making us worth keeping as friends.
    • Lorraine Copeman
      7 years ago
      It is harder to make friends, must stock up in winter, always make a shopping list. The good parts are peaceful, relaxing, beautiful scenery.
    • maria_cardona61
      7 years ago
      last modified: 7 years ago

      Having lived in towns and cities all our lives, we decided moving to the country was what we really wanted when we retired. We now live in rural Suffolk and love it. Meeting a few generous people who introduced us to friends soon after we moved made a huge difference to our social life. In a way we have the best of both worlds, we go to London fairly regularly to get our fill of whatever we're missing but always feel glad to get back home. Downsides are no public transport, no shops to walk to, terrible wifi and mobile phone reception and an unfriendly neighbouring farmer. Positives way outnumber these. If we were to move again it would be close to the seaside.

    • Judith Evans
      7 years ago

      I lived in a rural area for the first sixteen years of my life and loved the freedom; being able to run about and shout without fear of neighbours shouting back! Mucky wellies on a wet day, fishing for taddies in the pond in the field next door, sledging in the bad winter of 1963 without having to drive for miles to find a hill. In fact, we didn't even have a car so groceries were delivered by the "local" shop - home deliveries are nothing new!


      A few years ago my husband and I were lucky enough to land a job in beautiful West Sussex where we had the best four years living a life of peace and quiet with only sheep and deer for company. Organisation, I think, is the key to living in an isolated place - and a sense of humour. We retired reluctantly and, being unable to afford to live in that part of the country, moved back to the North West of England and a life with neighbours either side, kids playing in the road, cars whizzing by and shops a mere five minutes away. Do we like living here? Abso-flippin'-lutely not!

    • Frank
      7 years ago
      I lived my teens and early 20s in the countryside. Remembering fondly how easy it is to get away and out; just out the door walk a minute to get out the village and you're in the fields or the forest. Could just about see the Milky Way from our backyard/driveway, streetlight notwithstanding, and easily so from a short walk away. Quiet though not, my parents' place borders the through (A class) road and most of the time is noisier than our London house which isn't near any thoroughfare.

      For kids, great; you can be "a little reckless" without too much reproach, like no one minds much bonfires outside, just don't do it before the field is harvested, and don't get caught nicking anyone's firewood (everyone knows that's what you're doing...). You learn to use "big tools" - drive a tractor, use a chainsaw when making your own firewood in Autumn and winter. Pick wild cherries apples walnuts herbs mushrooms etc. Walk the fields and collect ammonites.

      Housing stock, there's always two kinds of people in the village, those that want to live in and want to preserve an older house and those that want to build from scratch. It's not unusual to tear down granny's old cottage to build a new house, nor on the other side to convert a barn. The "picture postcard" village with all old stone houses is exceedingly rare; locals will, over time, find a way to let a fire or flooding escalate to the point of wrecking things to get tear down permit. My parents' village had three major fires in the 60s and most houses hence are newer than that, and it was the same with neighbouring hamlets. Pretty old places are maintenance intensive and at same-cost, much less comfy - country folks can be devastatingly practical thinkers.

      It's normal for houses to be detached. And at least where we lived, it is also normal not the have garden fences; you only need them if your plot borders a field because the farmers will else "till the border" and take one yard of the garden this and another the next year.

      Definitely had to be more organised in shopping as next supermarket 10+mins drive away. I don't make shopping lists anymore now but really needed them then.
    • walksy
      7 years ago

      I live half a mile from a thriving village and only two miles from the outskirts of a city. I can walk to the village for supplies and the pub, or I can drive to the supermarket and be there in ten minutes. My home is surrounded by green fields, I love waking up to the sound of birds and the sheep calling to their lambs. The lack of street lights is a big plus and having amazing views from every window never fails to make me appreciate how fortunate I am to have lived and loved in such beautiful surroundings for most of my married life.

    • nokomishaddock
      7 years ago

      I live in the country and have done all my adult life.

      I love it.

      As for shopping. Its a breeze.

      I don't drive into town. I don't search endlessly for a parking space. I don't pay for a parking ticket. I don't trek round the supermarket unable to find what I want because they have changed all the isles around. I don't wait in an endless queue. I don't spend more than I intended because I have been seduced by some must have offer. I don't struggle out to my car with loads of shopping. I don't pack it all away into the car making sure it can't fall over. I don't queue to get out of the car park. I don't crawl through a traffic jam on my way back through town. I don't have to unload the shopping when I get home.

      No.

      I make a cup of tea, log in and order everything I need on the internet, and providing I do it in the morning Waitrose will deliver it next day, for free, at at time convenient to me.

      What's not to like!


    • Ocean Clarke
      Original Author
      7 years ago

      This thread is seriously making me miss all of those rural perks. The close friendships with neighbours, local produce, big open fields and far fresher air! Time for a trip home, I think!

    • Lily F
      7 years ago
      My work involves a lot of contact with people, so I love coming home to the peace and quiet of the countryside, but for holidays I love to be in the thick of it - cafes and restaurants on your doorstep and everything within walking distance.
    • Jane Bateman
      7 years ago

      The best thing is walking out of the door to chat with the sheep.

    • Ellen Best
      7 years ago
      last modified: 7 years ago

      Smelling bluebells after the rain.

    • angelboyman
      7 years ago

      To me, rural living gives me control on how involved with other people and the community I want to be. I can easily go a week without seeing another person unless I choose to venture out. That's bliss to me. Having briefly tasted city living, the amenities are great and its very quick to fulfil spontaneous activities (in the countryside you have to plan your shopping carefully and if you want a takeaway, then be prepared - in my case - to take a 15 mile round trip!) BUT cities are full to bursting with other people - and try as I might, I just don't like people as much as I value my personal space. So rural living is bliss to me.

    • PRO
      creativeorg
      7 years ago
      It means everything! Late night tractors, cows moo'ing, farm smells, sheep baa'ing. A beautiful view, beautiful sunrises, the smell of cut grass. Rubbish wifi and powercuts are small price to pay for my own slice of heaven
    • Shelly Anne
      7 years ago

      In the Summer the countryside is almost unbeatable. The walks, just the beauty of it all changes your whole perception of the world for the better. There are downsides though. We live down a narrow dead-end lane with only a handful of houses but it's not as quiet as you might think, what with walkers, who think no pavements mean it's ok to walk 3 abreast in the middle of the road, horse riders who use their high position to look over your fence and have a nosy, 'sat nav says so' idiots (FOUR signs at the end of the road that tell them to turn back and they STILL carry on) and cyclists who think that because it's the countryside they can ride at high speed around winding bends and look disgusted that someone may be walking along the road. Also in the Winter it can feel isolated and lonely, with frequently flooded lanes and virtually non-existent public transport. A car is essential, deliveries unreliable and amenities non-existent but even with all the negatives there's something about looking at a stunning view that can whisk all your cares away in an instant. I've attached a couple of pics of MY view so you can make up your own mind

    • Ellen Best
      7 years ago
      But in truth, we other place dwellers who gravitate to country idles must also give room for country persuits, practiced long before we arrived with no care for outsiders feelings or disturbing their solace. The house and garden the views and even the locals bring colour to a rural life, the pace of life, lack of stress, faced daily before is now gone replaced with different things.
    • Laura Thomas
      7 years ago
      Rural doesn't always mean quiet!
      Our previous house was next to a farm and we wouldn't be able to sleep at night when the calves were being separated from the cows and would also have combine harvesters going all night.
      We have moved to the other end of the village backing onto grazing fields and found the tractors taking the harvest in use this field as a short cut at 12-1am. A farm in a neighbouring village also holds weddings and again in the summer with the windows open we hear cheesy music each weekend.
      Despite this I still love living in the country, the views and watching my kids enjoying the space and learning about nature more than makes up for the noise at night.
    • Sue Skelton
      7 years ago

      I like the peace and quiet, the dark skies and not having any immediate neighbours. It was a great place to bring up our kids but they have flown the nest now. I don't like having to drive everywhere, the long distance to visit family, buy furniture, carpets, shoes, clothes, things you don't want to buy online. Personally I'd like to be closer to theatres, cinema, museums and have more choice of evening classes and interest groups. Village politics can be a complete pain in the a*** too.

    • Tess Wijy
      7 years ago
      peace and quiet! I can leave my window open of an evening and the only thing we hear are the owls in the trees! perfect.
    • Anita
      7 years ago
      My rural home.........
    • PRO
      Ecoflap
      7 years ago

      Space and freedom. We live rurally and don't have to worry about upsetting the neighbours or keeping the house and garden spick and span. We have enough room in the garden and driveway for people, cars and stuff. We've recently been looking at relocating with extended family and realised how attached we are to rural living after 15 years in Herefordshire.

    • Lorraine Copeman
      3 years ago

      Depending whereabouts, no pavements , no streetlights, no street lights,no bus service, However paying a high council tax, poor internet no shops near, need a car. The plus side peaceful, slower pace of life, fresh air .


    • Wumi
      3 years ago

      I like escaping to rural places for a break. Every year we spend a week or 2 in Liskeard visiting close friends, de-stressing, going for walks by the sea and breathing in fresh country air! I have lived in cities all my life, London and now Brum, mostly because I want to live in a multicultural area as a black woman.

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