Hey kokiri can I pick your brain on a couple of things?

My wife and I have lived for 5 years in the city suburbs and now we're living in a more rural setting.

We're currently renting a house in a village while our house sale is in the process of completion and then we're looking to buy.

We can get some very large rural places with lots of land for the same price as a smaller house in a location more connected to civilisation.

Rural Example
Nearer Civilisation Example

The old romantic in me wants the rural location but the more rational part of me wonders if there are a bunch of unknowns issues that mean I'd be biting off more than I could chew.

What things should I consider/look for?
What things don't I realise now that I would soon realise once I'm moved in somewhere like that?
Any other thoughts or personal anecdotes would be appreciated.

i might be in too.

and i might be willing to get a sex change if necessary

WTF!?! You Brit's are um "unusual". imo.

gotta save water

Having the Mother-In-Law over for a weekend won't be awkward...

damn i got so stressed last night at the poker table. really crazy game. in 5 hours i had two downswings of over 5k. played 9 hours. finished stuck 1500

you'd think i'd be used to it by now, but sometimes i get so stressed. i know it takes years off my life. i've aged a ton since playing live, mostly i think it's cuz the hours, grinding all night

Xander, I know you asked Kokiri, but a couple of thoughts.

There are plenty of young couples where I live (in Alberta) who decided they want to try the acreage thing because the chance for some land, quiet, and the whole rural setting seems appealing. Many end up selling.

Things they didn't anticipate

- is that even if don't intend to farm or garden, the property still requires lots of upkeep.
- depending on if you both work, remote can = very lonely for the person staying home
-as your kid(s) get older the activities they might enrol in (soccer, friends, etc) might mean they need to be driving back and forth to the nearest city or town and you might find yourselves spending lots of time shuffling back and forth for this (and shopping, and work, etc). I would say this is the one that becomes the most importnat for people. Some just find they are spending too much time commuting themselves and/or kids.

-water (are you on a well or municipal water and sewer)?

-Other services (and costs) electricity, road maintenance, garbage pick-up, taxes, etc.. Both costs and availability

None of these need to be detractors, though. You and your wife should be able to weigh all this against the positives and decide that more rural is what you like.

I looked at two places you showed and they both seem nice. The rural one didn't look that large or remote from other properties, and the city one didn't look that crowded.

I am used to much more polarization where I live. You are either in a city with houses that are far too close together, or you are in the boonies, and you might see another property on the horizon if you look hard...lol You can find the "smaller acreage type" communities, but they are usually super expensive and kind of contrived to be "rural looking."

You guys are lucky in that you are getting a taste of the life now, and it also looks like you can get some places that are on the edge of city/rural. You might find the best of both worlds.. Quiet, with some space, yet not too remote...

Good luck..it is a fun part of life's journey, because no matter where you are you'll be with your wife and kid

I would axe the above rural location: "Average Internet speed: 11 mb/s"

That smells of horrible DSL service. How can you offer that in 2018?

thanks for the thoughts, and all are welcome to post their thoughts. I just mentioned kokiri because I know he lives in rural Wales which is where I might be living.

Rural Canada =/= Rural Wales

We would still have water, we would still have mains electricity. It might be a septic tank and an oil tank, but neither of these are deal breakers.

We wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere, but it would be a short drive/decent length walk to the nearest neighbour and a drive to get some milk and bread.

The garden isn't that big of a deal because it's not that huge for such a rural place. We don't want many acres to tend to and this suits us just fine.

This place is within 15 miles of where I work along roads with no traffic. That wouldn't be a deal breaker. My wife doesn't work right now, but this house would certainly limit her ability to do so in the future.

The biggest issue that you mention which we had already thought of was about our son's social life when he grows up. He would be reliant on the taxis of mum and dad to take him anywhere and everywhere. Even when he gets to the age of 14/15 (too young to drive) he would still be reliant on us because public transport around there is very limited.

We are going to view a bunch of properties and will try to buy with our decision made with a combination of heart and head.

Take the rural option, get a dog, some chickens, maybe pigs, grow your own food, gogogo. Mid wales is amazing and I'd sorta like to live further north up there and really have some proper countryside.

Alternatively, off the top of my head:

I think the big deciding factor is a bit about your personality/what stage of life you're at - living in the middle of nowhere makes it harder to go out and nip to the pub/etc, so you have to be pretty happy with nights in for the most part.

Land is great, but the more you get the more time it takes just keeping on top of it. We've kinda lost control of some of ours - the sheep were in part an attempt to keep the grass down (didn't really work), so even a big garden can be a bit of a pita at times.

Rural houses also tend to be older and tend to require more upkeep. We discovered that ours was built by blind people with no obvious building experience, so we're always replacing stuff. If you are good at DIY/have family who are that helps. On the plus side, tradesmen tend to be dirt cheap out here.

The more rural you go, the more your neighbours matter, so if I did it again I'd want to somehow try to figure out who they'd be (easier said than done). One of our immediate neighbours is fantastic, another is a petty criminal who could be a nightmare but touch wood isn't right now. You also get less option in who your friends are.

After a while living in the middle of nowhere, you end up wondering how all these people can live like rabbits stacked one on top of another.

The rural option looks lush, and it's convenient for the Royal Welsh Show, but OTOH isn't Abergavenny the town with loads of good restaurants?

We have a septic tank, not sure what the big problem with them is.
We also have gas tanks, which aren't too bad, but our heating is from an air source heat pump (techno magic) so we don't use too much of it (only for the oven)
Get a wood burner.
The internet will be ****.

Taking the boy to activities isn't too bad - I wouldn't exactly want him on the street anyway.

I think you'd be about as far as it's possible to be from a Starbucks in the UK ex-scotland.

Welcome to the UK.

What about this one?

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/de...27d0691cb51668



Only downside is there's a trainline running through the middle of the fields.

that looks like a lot of chores

living all on top of each other sucks, but it means a lot less chores

From kids dreaming to move to the big city to adults dreaming of moving to rural farmland.

Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I like that rural location, xander.

Happy Thanksgiving / Columbus Day!

Or as filthy calls it Extermination of Native Peoples by Smallpox Day

Yeah but in this case filthy is right

"this little girl would make a nice slave" - chris columbus

"this man is a hero! let's make a national holiday after him!" - a lot of white people

*sigh* trying to work out a trip back to SF

man going back there makes me miserable

I thought you lived in San Fran

i got a place in hollywood last may. then was going back and forth til i gave up my place in sf in december.

la is paradise. for real. i wish i came here 10 years ago. but im glad i'm here now. hopefully, i'll fall back in love with acting, but i doubt it. i'm afraid i'm done with acting

Pretty sure filthy has been kidnapped guys, this is a sign he needs to be rescued.