Escape to the country

lapua65

If you are going to do it, do it sooner rather than later. I think the differential is slowing down, The rapid deployment of faster internet and the recent coronavirus forcing people to work from home has had an effect. I came from Wembley and have ended up in Tewkesbury via Watford then Oxford. The advent of 5G and when the cable companies manage to get to the deeper rural villages, the requirement to be in walking distance to the office become far far less of an issue. Oddly enough, the move further away from the cities to the country the ability to see doctors and hospitals etc has actually improved. I can get an appointment with the docs at very short notice and facilities are not noticeably worse. I have been in a situation where we were the new people in an old village and were not exactly welcomed. 
For me I will get as rural as I can and may even consider getting a flat and living on a boat for 7 months of the year. Just got to make sure the wife doesn't find me

VimFuego

Stevepage said:

Congratulations, glad you found some where.

We moved out of Watford finally but we went further north to Leighton Buzzard (on the outskirts). Much quieter and have a lovely house. Devon is still very much a target for us though, maybe in 4 - 5 years.

interesting, that's one of the areas I'm thinking of moving to when I escape from the country. 

robgilmo

I found village life to be very intrusive, people wanted to know your business and if they didn't they would guess anyway, everybody talked about everybody, the gossip and nosiness was really the main reason why I was glad to get out of it. I found a lot of them to be very presumptuous and judgemental based on their presumptions, I noticed a lot of ignorance , open casual racism, which was hard having travelled around a lot and after living in a lot of cosmopolitan cities in the past. ''Them Foreigners''  gets talked about a lot even though there arnt any living in the village and the nearest thing to a foreigner most of those people have had contact with would have been a voice on the other end of a phone when ringing up to find out why the shit internet was so slow! that kind of thing.  I now live in a place with only three other houses, the people around us are great, if we hear a car out on the lane its an ''event'' , I can go for a walk and bump into nobody, do what I want, at any time I want, Im not a fan of ''people'' , much less ignorant people, Id much rather be away from them and get any social kicks when I want to. I could go back to city life but not in this country and Id rather bring my kids up in the country side but also being very careful to keep them broad minded.

HAL9000

So after losing the bidding war for the house in Ansty, we’ve now had an offer accepted for a house in Upavon. To be honest we’re now thinking that losing the Ansty house was a good thing - it was grade II listed with some issues so could have been a money pit. The one we’re now going with is 2/3 the price and, although we’d like to change a few things, it really doesn’t need anything  doing.

steveledzep

Mumledzep is a great believer in fate.  Hope it all goes well for you.

chillidoggy

Has Norfolk got Internet?

boogieman

We’ve put our house on the market this week. The ad went live on rightmove on Wednesday evening. The estate agent showed 3 couples around yesterday and has another 15 viewings booked for this afternoon. 

Part of me is hoping it starts a bidding war so we get a very nice price. The other part of me is thinking, if housing is that much in demand are we going to get involved in a bidding war for the place we want to buy? Gulp. 

lovestrat74

boogieman said:

Part of me is hoping it starts a bidding war so we get a very nice price. The other part of me is thinking, if housing is that much in demand are we going to get involved in a bidding war for the place we want to buy? Gulp. 

I guess that depends on where you are moving from and to

boogieman

lovestrat74 said:

boogieman said:

Part of me is hoping it starts a bidding war so we get a very nice price. The other part of me is thinking, if housing is that much in demand are we going to get involved in a bidding war for the place we want to buy? Gulp. 

I guess that depends on where you are moving from and to

We’re going from the outer edges of SW London to the countryside in Kent. I’m hoping the house is getting attention because it’s a 30 minute commute into Waterloo station and not just because there’s a national shortage of properties that will push the prices up everywhere. 

At the other end we’re after something a bit off the beaten track, so hopefully there won’t be as much demand for it, especially if it has things like a septic tank,  oil fired heating and shit broadband speed, none of which particularly bother us. 

robgilmo

chillidoggy said:

Has Norfolk got Internet?

I live on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, and no, we dont, on a good day we get 2.5 , what ever that is. I just did a speed test, download - 1.17 Mbps, upload - 0.07 Mpbs. Its pretty dire.

HAL9000

lovestrat74 said:

Good luck and keep us updated with how it goes and what it's like in comparison to townlife  

Well, we’ve only been and done it! We moved into our new gaff in Upavon just over a week ago. Obviously still in the honeymoon period but so far rural life is suiting us both very well. Pros are that when we look out our windows we actually have a view, there are countryside walks on our doorstep, there’s a general lack of traffic, people are welcoming and friendly, and there’s a very real sense of community. Only real con is that the nearest supermarket is nearly ten miles away and that buying things has to be far more planned - can’t just pop out for that missing ingredient, or a whatnot from Screwfix but really that’s a small price to pay for living in a much nicer part of the country.

HerrMetal

Congrats on your move. I've been fishing near Upavon a couple of times and it's a lovely part of the country.

DrCornelius

Once my kids are self sufficient I think I’m going to move back . I’ve always been a city boy and loved living in central London and for a few years Manhattan.
I used to love walking out of my flat at weekends without a plan and see where the day took me . I miss Crystal Palace and family , more opportunities to see decent live music but more than anything the feelings of vibrancy and anonymity you get in big cities.

Dorchester has lovely countryside , close to beaches but few job opportunities and it’s just so uniform

TheBigDipper

DrCornelius said:

Once my kids are self sufficient I think I’m going to move back . I’ve always been a city boy and loved living in central London and for a few years Manhattan.
I used to love walking out of my flat at weekends without a plan and see where the day took me . I miss Crystal Palace and family , more opportunities to see decent live music but more than anything the feelings of vibrancy and anonymity you get in big cities.

Dorchester has lovely countryside , close to beaches but few job opportunities and it’s just so uniform

After 55 years spent living my whole life in Central London I was really pleased to move to Christchurch seven years ago and live slightly differently. That's not changed. I like it here. But...  I've always fancied a flat in The Barbican. Still do.

VimFuego

nice one OP, glad the move went well. I'm half way through my move right now, house sold on the 4th day on the market, full asking price. Now just waiting for all the legalities to chug through, it's always a slow process, but even slower now. Hoping to be in before xmas (not looking forwards to another one here TBH) but it is what it is. I'm still moving somewhere rural but not as rural as where I am now.

Snap

nice stuff HAL9000 hope you are all settling in just fine.

We moved out a few years ago, and we love it. Not too remote, but far enough out, and down a lane in the middle of fields. Once I had got to grips with when to empty the septic tank, and when to fill the oil tank, that was about the long and tall of any stress tbh. Owls get a bit noisy around dusk, and the cows wake you up in summer, badgers and foxes shit in the garden, the odd deer wanders in too. 

Was very ready for it. 

I like cities, and spend a fair bit of time visiting them, but coming home to a rural spot is hard to beat, for me.

When we were looking for a place, we found one right on the edge of a moor, facing a reservoir. It was in 10 acres of woodland and field, and was completely off grid. Water from a borehole, powered by a diesel engine pump. Main power from oil, solar and a large number of backup storage batteries. I'd never seen anything like it. Nearly 3 miles to the nearest bus stop and, critically, same distance to the pub. It also had a small lake in it, and it wasn't that expensive either. But, decided in the end it was just a bit too remote and bit too off grid. We'd worry a bit if the kids were on their own. Kept thinking, what if the borehole develops a problem, or the generator stops etc etc?

Cool place though, but a bit "cabin in the woods"!

ToneControl

was looking at dirt cheap 8 and 12 bed hotels near the seafront in Rhyl
£240k, £260k
Lots of big houses cheap there

I wonder if Rhyl will pickup demographically in the future

I can remember considering Hastings in the 90s, but Mrs thought it was too grotty and run down, AFAIK that is very different now

VimFuego

I'm sure Rhyl will pick up in the future. Sure, it will most likely be a future involving killer robots 60 foot tall fire breathing lizards and the shattered remnants of mankind scavenging a living from the burnt out husk of a once great civilisation (or, as the call it in Rhyl, Saturday night), but it will be a future.

boogieman

ToneControl said:

was looking at dirt cheap 8 and 12 bed hotels near the seafront in Rhyl
£240k, £260k
Lots of big houses cheap there

I wonder if Rhyl will pickup demographically in the future

I can remember considering Hastings in the 90s, but Mrs thought it was too grotty and run down, AFAIK that is very different now

We looked at houses in Pett, just outside Hastings recently. Don’t believe what estate agents are saying about Hastings being up and coming. It looked a bit of a rundown shithole to us and apparently it still has a massive problem with druggies. 

MrTee

ToneControl said:

was looking at dirt cheap 8 and 12 bed hotels near the seafront in Rhyl
£240k, £260k
Lots of big houses cheap there

I wonder if Rhyl will pickup demographically in the future

I can remember considering Hastings in the 90s, but Mrs thought it was too grotty and run down, AFAIK that is very different now

They are/were throwing quite a bit of funding at developing the sea front in Rhyl with some work done already, so the pickup has been planned, although I'm sure covid has dumped all over that . If staycataions and the buzz of seeing the 'im a celebrity castle' get the tourists in though it may continue once things pick up. I suppose it'll always be Rhyl though, which is a tough sell