[Closed] Moving from town to country

what's the name of the town and the village

It's not a far move - or one that far away from proper facilities by the sounds of things.

It does sound like increased faff and commuting.
Villages offer the best and worst in society, in a concentrated microcosm. You cannot escape those you don't get on with - and it is about who you know, not what you know.

So it comes down to choice - facilities or countryside?

We did it - from this:
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to this

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You've identified the major problem and stated it as an advantage. A small village that is within easy commuting distance of a town will have little life about it, and few services. Other than a pleasant outlook and slightly fresher air it might be the worst compromise.

Town is Swindon if that changes anything!

alwillis - Member
Town is Swindon if that changes anything!

Run! Run as fast as you can!

There are some lovely villages just outside of town.

Agree cfh, just leave, get out, scarper!

Swindon!!

It's not so much villages that have an easy commute to nearby towns that don't have much life, it's villages within easy commute to a town on major transport routes, like a motorway or railway, they're like ghost villages during the week. Castle Combe is a prime example, it's a tourist trap, but few live there all week.
The fact that the intended village has a pub, a primary school, and a rugby club shows it's got a lot more life than many, which is a positive sign.
It might be worth seeing if there's a B&B around there, and stopping over for a weekend, just to see what things are like during the evening when you're likely to be around, and check out local riding at the same time.

You buying or renting?

Town is Swindon if that changes anything!

Anywhere near the Nationwide branch?

The downside is the village doesn't really have a shop (post office open one day a week!) and one pub.

Do you not have a car or the Internet?

Other than the lack of an aesthetic view, just why are you wanting to move? If you are moving for some indefinite reason, "we fancy the country life" and the like then you'll struggle.

I've lived in the country all my life, only a few years of those have been in anything approaching a village in size, the vast majority have been in isolated houses. It's not for everyone, everyone knows about you which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Just nipping down to the corner shop because you've forgotten something is rarely an option.

We moved rural/semi rural a few years ago from the city. We've now got sheep, chickens and ducks. Living the good life apart from hideous commutes. I'd say go for it although I loved city life when I was younger.

I've just done eclxctly what you're proposing, just two weeks ago. So far loving it and not a hint of regret or worry, the positives are too great. I've made more neighbourly friends in the last two weeks than I did in four years in the nearby town. Sitting out the back garden and taking a walk across the fields feels like I'm on holiday.

Other than Old Town, ten miles is about as close as you need to get. Which village are you looking at? Swindon is surrounded by really nice villages, I'll almost certainly know it, even if I don't know it in detail; I live in Chippenham.

Cougar - Moderator

The downside is the village doesn't really have a shop (post office open one day a week!) and one pub.

Do you not have a car or the Internet?

Point normally being once you're out of something it's a drive, it takes a bit of getting used to, a bigger fridge and freezer. Especially on the weekend if you have a beer/glass of wine and discover there is no milk left for the morning etc. Little things like that, you need to be a bit more organised planning more etc. Social nights with friends (in town) either need taxi or working out who is driving etc. so it can be quite a change

and not within walking distance of a shop etc. having done both there is a difference once it's not just walking down the shops and it takes a bit of remembering. I assume STW are not all full of people who make accurate lists and plans for every day/week.
It's adding the cost of a couple of taxis onto a night out, skipping a trip to the pub after work or running out of a few things that normally would have meant nothing but will do.
Even 2 miles out of town was a barrier, no safe way to walk, riding not so much of an option in winter or for an evening, added reliance on cars etc. Nothing less fun than getting up on a Sunday morning heading to the shops to buy a bottle of milk for breakfast when all you wanted to do was have a lazy day and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Do it - but the microcosm idea ^ is v true, oh and stay off the moors at night obviously

Ffs two miles is hardly an expedition. This is a cycling website!

Sounds like the options are a shit town or a shit village. I'd be thinking of moving more than 10 miles. If I never get that close to Swindon again it will be too soon.

thecaptain - Member
Ffs two miles is hardly an expedition. This is a cycling website!

I'm simply explaining the differences I experienced when living out of town/away from there. I guess that makes me soft or whatever you want to call it but I wasn't up for wandering down sodden grass verges in the dark on a NSL road after a night out or rolling into town on a bike most of the time.
I live 2 miles from the centre of town now, it's so utterly different in terms of walking/cycling and transport to 2 miles of open unlit roads with no footpaths.

The OP's village sounds like there are a few things on but will increase the reliance on cars, subconciously it changes behaviours about what is easy/zero effort and what isn't, I forget that to be on STW you will automatically just ride 10 miles at all hours without considering that you might be wet/cold/muddy by the time you get to the night out you were heading too 😉

The other thing for the OP is what is the actual cycle commute? Is it a nice one or a rat run commuter village? Lived/driven through a few of those and high volumes of late commuters/bad roads would also be a big negative.

Na, I love living in my town, best of both world's - loads of pubs, eateries etc, and 2 or 3 minutes pedal from the countryside.

I'd be wary of a town with no shop and only one pub. Pub shuts, and your village is then no better than a big housing estate.

Done the same, i have no issues with it at all... it's idyllic !

Honestly when I last lived in a decent sized town I was 2 miles from the shops and considered that to be plenty close enough. No car so yes it did involve hopping on a bike at al times of day and night. Other things being equal a short walk is better but other things aren't always equal!

Some good food for thought above.

I'm not afraid of riding 2 miles to the shops, in fact in the summer I imagine it would be a luxury compared to driving or riding in town. My commute is currently 13-14 miles out of town (75% country lanes) so would actually get a little bit shorter.

Minety is the village if anyone knows it.

The microcosm idea is pretty much my biggest concern, but being positive it means there are still some decent people around!

Watch out for the squirrels, they hunt in packs, country folk call them land piranhas for a reason.

I live in a similar place, it's not technically speaking a village, but might as well be. We've got one shop (that does at least open 7 days a week), and a couple of bars.

What mikewsmith says is spot on - you end up relying on your car far more than you expect. Add kids and it gets even worse, my wife and I spend most evenings on taxi duties to gymnastics / painting / music / friends / etc. I also miss the bustle of a town, being able to head down the high street, a choice of places to have a coffee, with people around.

That said, I don't have any plans on moving. Where I live is great for biking and running, that lack of bustle is also a lack of noise at night, and the air's certainly a lot fresher than in central Madrid where we lived previously.

Grew up in a small town

Moved to city when I finished uni

Hated it.

Moved to a village with no shop or pub . As no beer said big housing estate no soul and everyone seemed to hide in their houses 24/7 plus did about 20000miles that year - but still better than the city.

Now we live 2 miles from a village with a couple shops/post office/restaurants/petrol station. And only 10miles from the city with an off the road tarmac cycle path into the centre from the village

Have now lived here for 8 years and love it.

Choose the village carefully

Having commuted into swindon ( a few years ago now) - I'd say there are nicer villages around the area than Minety.... We ended up in the town of Devizes - I'd go back there, thought it was a nice place to live, good access to the byways and the plain.... yes, get out of Swindon, but have a look south, rather than north of the m4 ...

For me that would be a no-brainer, country over city anytime. I have lived in both and I only consider city for convenience for work, 8 min commute instead of 75 but even then I chose the 75 option for 25 years.

One pub - if its decent enough do you really care ? A couple of pints once a week and I'm sure there are plenty of other country oubs to visit
One shop ? Good for a few basics if you forget something (support the shop to keep it open) and your weekly shop is done at the supermarket as usual with the car

Enjoy the fresh air and the garden 🙂

Sitting out the back garden and taking a walk across the fields feels like I'm on holiday.

Not all villages are the same. It's a bit like assuming Wandsworth and Knightsbridge are the same if moving to London. There are definitely some "High six!" type communities around as well as some that feel like rural retirement homes.

We are roughly equidistant from four villages. The nearest has a thriving primary school (it's a feeder to a highly rated secondary school in the nearest town), no shop and possibly no pub since the previous landlord sold up. Village two is on a main road and has a lot of problems with drunken youths and has a bit of reputation locally. Village three is next to the railway with good connections to the nearest cities, has two decent pubs, a village store/PO and has the "classic" village look and feel. The final one is actually two combined and has pubs, one with its own microbrewery, small supermarket, filling stations primary and secondary schools as well as secondary level shops like hair dressers, tanning salon.

So within a small area, probably 3 miles between any of them, there are four completely different villages.

"I'd say there are nicer villages around the area than Minety.... "

Thus much better options around , widen your search if possible.

Where do you commute to ?

Bar the occasional cow invasion of the garden, it's been great, do it!

No downsides to living in the country. People waffle on about the lack of being able to pop out to the shops for a pint of milk......really? Sounds like a benefit to me, anyway they is what the wonders of fridge freezers are for. Worried about lack of eateries and pubs? Well if you're talking about Somewhere like Swindon you can keep your Pizza Expresses, Nando's and Weatherspoons. You can make far better grub yourself and the local village pub probably serves up decent beer, had bar staff that will talk to you and remember you when you next visit.

We're semi-rural at the mo, one of those small villages that has had a large modern housing estate built up around it, but it has a couple of decent pubs, some amenities and a decent school. But once the kids have left school we'll be off to somewhere more into the country. I love it, I couldn't live in a town or city if you pa F me, can't think of a worse place to live

can't think of a worse place to live

You don't watch the news then?.

Just in the process of selling up from Chorlton and moving out to High Lane (yes I know about the traffic - but i'll be able to work from home a couple of days a week and hopefully the new link road will make the traffic better in Spring next year).

We're looking forward to it. Two kids now mean we're not making the most of the city anyway.

Are you buying or renting? The former being more long term in nature than the latter

If you vaguely might have children you should consider schools, being near one is helpful, even better if it's a good one

Can you afford to get the place you actually want?

Being near transport will significantly held with house price stability, though might be more expensive to acquire it in the first place

Swindon, poor you!

Like others above, I've lived and worked in London but spent most of my years out in the sticks. Former has its advantages, but being out in the country wins every time for me.

Currently live in a very quiet village - maybe 100 houses. 2 pubs, 2 buses (per day) and no shops. Neighbouring villages (3-4 miles away) have most of the things we 'need', as of course do the towns another couple of miles away.

Very close to North Downs and Surrey Hills, so we're blessed to have not only some awesome trails and scenery, but also some epic pubs/eateries and events.

I always assumed that we'd move out of Bristol once we had kids, but I think we'll stay. We have all the conveniences and attractions of a nice city within walking distance, yet I can be out in the countryside in 15 minutes of cycling. Win/ win as far as I'm concerned.

I'd want a small town or large village, but not near a bigger town cos that'd be commuterville. I like having some kind of central place to which to wander - even if it's just a couple of shops. I don't like being tied to a car to go everywhere. Where I live in the suburbs it's like that and it pisses me off. Yes I could cycle, and I do on my own, but with a non-cycling wife, two little kids and only two busy roads to get out of our suburb it's not exactly great.

I grew up on the edge of a small town - fields to play in, but we could walk to a full range of shops in 10 minutes and the station in 15.

We moved from Lincoln to about 20 mins north of Lincoln. Small village, pub, church, shop.

Pros:
-It's nice living in the country
-Quiet, nobody trying to burgle us
-Neighbours are nice, if bonkers
-Closer to my work
-Don't have to use the toll bridge to get to my parent's
-Less commuter traffic

Cons
-it's still in Lincs, and hence flat. No good riding....or hiking....or climbing
-zero public transport
-the spiders are ****ing gigantic
-it takes ages to get anywhere
-zero phone signal
-can't take an evening stroll around town (cathedral etc)
-everyone is a Tory
-further to Mrs A's work
-it's not as close to town as we thought
-nothing to do within walking distance
-have to drive on the A15

I don't mind it, though the lack of entertainment drives me crazy. If it were somewhere with some hills, I'd probably be happier. Still, moving back to a big city next year.

Like many have said, I grew up in a village on the edge of a large town. 10 minute walk one way and I had countryside, 20 min walk the other I had town and a major train station.

Do you really want rural life? Most people who "move to the country" don't they just want a nice are to live, unfortunately loads of UK towns and cities are so bad this is not found. If you just want to have a suburban life work in the same job drive a Audi etc then you probably don't actually want a rural life.

For many a small town is better. More facilities than a suburb good for 90% of life, drive to local big town / city when needed.

Minety is the village if anyone knows it.

I know it, it's quite nice but it's not all that.

My criteria for such a move would be a pub and a shop that's open at reasonable-ish hours. These things provide a hub for the village, without them it's just a group of houses n the middle of nowhere.

Saying that, there's loads of such villages in this part of the world (I live in Ciren) that meet those criteria, and you may well do better south of the M4 as you won't pay the 'Cotswold' premium.

You could also consider the smaller towns of you want a nicer place with actual amenities; Cricklade, Purton, Highworth, Ciren even, Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury, Fairford, Marlborough...

i moved from old town, Swindon to a village two years ago and I miss it. In theory village is a much nicer place to live, reality I miss convenience of walking 5 mins to get groceries, having a choice of dozens of shops/pubs etc. Next house will have to be in a town, but wont be for a while....

You could also consider the smaller towns of you want a nicer place with actual amenities; Cricklade, Purton, Highworth, Ciren even, Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury, Fairford, Marlborough...