Just to say you don’t always get rubbish broadband in rural areas. In the house i’ve just moved into I can get a gig up and down – tho I cheaped out and stuck with 300mb/s both ways. All of the rural areas of west berks have been fibred up – definitely worth googling rural broadband providers in the area you’re looking.

I’ve got oil heating – seems more expensive than gas, but that might be because our new house has more surface area exposed to the cold (bungalow) / it’s more obvious when you rinse through a tank as you have to get it refilled! Induction hob seems almost as good as gas – leccy more expensive as you don’t get the dual fuel discount (as mentioned above).

it’s more obvious when you rinse through a tank as you have to get it refilled!

Yup, 450 quids worth of oil being delivered today…

I have to ask, as a confirmed city dweller who sees ‘the countryside’ as a place to visit now and then, and come home from; why would you want to give up all the trappings of modern life, such as flush sanitation, mains water, electricity, gas, telecommunications etc? Me, I couldn’t, wouldn’t want to, live without any of these things. So I’m genuinely curious why anyone would actively want to. Not judging, just that I’ve never understood why.

I’m working from home out in the countryside using broadband on one of these newfangled electricity powered computing machines.

Some point later in the day I may very well turn on a tap and drink the water that comes out. If it gets cold in the evening I may even push the boat out and push the button on the central heating timer to get an hour or warmth around the house.

As a post lunchtime treat, I might take a dump in an indoor toilet and flush it away.

What was your point again, caller?

What was your point again, caller?

If that was aimed at me, I was referring to someone who would want to give up the aforementioned facilities; ie, ‘off grid’. So obviously not you. Because you are connected to the ‘grid’.

We’re pretty well off-grid here in the highlands – 2 bed, stone built conversion. The only thing we get is mains electricity and even then we had a power cut when one of the transformers blew in a snow storm. Water supply is private – very low pressure which means we have problems getting hot water, plus the washing machine and drains don’t work well. We barely get 4G broadband and it falls over regularly – any wind or rain. Heating is oil and we’ve used 1200 litres in a year – it’s OK, keeps us warm but the boiler outside is noisy and stinks.

Worth noting that this person is:

Moving shortly to our new house on an island, but it has mains services, high speed broadband decent insulation, ASHP and underfloor heating.

I’m a complete Sybarite. I simply cannot understand the attraction for living outside of ‘modern life’, as some do. To each their own, I suppose. That’s why I’m asking; I want to be able to understand.

So I’m genuinely curious why anyone would actively want to. Not judging, just that I’ve never understood why.

See also the guy on here that has a corronary when his neighbour dares to have a BBQ

Or the woman who loses her shit when her neighbour has a cigarette at his back door.

Or the reasonably regular -my upstairs neighbours playing his music too loud

I like not looking directly into my neighbours windows/gardens Being able to run/cycle/walk in the woods from my house and not having constant streams of cars passing my door as well as not the constant noise pollution/light pollution/ air pollution

The price for that is not having mains sewage/gas/water/more than 60amp electric /until 18 months ago…..2mb internet intermittent.

For me it is worth it. I am sure others have made their choices but I’ve been further out in the wild with even less facilities than this(no road, power cuts in anything resembling a blow and no mobile signal -not just no 3g/4g – absolutely no signal at all)..and that wasn’t much fun. This is a. Happy medium for me

Yup not having to share my space with thousands of other people. Lived in cities, hated the feeling of needing a reason to be somewhere or just to stop, my perception, so obvs not a universal experience. Whereas at home I can go where I want when I want and need to acknowledge or interact with no others to do so. Unless I want to (we have a few neighbors within a km or so)

If that was aimed at me, I was referring to someone who would want to give up the aforementioned facilities; ie, ‘off grid’. So obviously not you. Because you are connected to the ‘grid’.

You won’t find anyone like that on an internet forum because they’ll be, well, off-grid.

None of us on this thread have given up the usual facilities. We just obtain them from different sources than “country wide network of X”. Sure, slower broadband, more expensive X, Y and Z. Not given up though.

Nobody in the UK is truly “off grid” – a handful of bothys out in the wild highlands possibly excepted. Even then they are within driving distance of shops. How off grid do you need to be to be off grid? David McCandless?

So I’m genuinely curious why anyone would actively want to. Not judging, just that I’ve never understood why.

Only have blinds on the windows to keep the heat in (and the light out in the early mornings).

I can play my music as load as I want, inside or out.

Next to no pollution.

I can see hills in every direction, the Cheviots are the furthest away at about 25 miles.

My workshop is 14 x 5 – that’s in metres.

I can ride from home – road, gravel, MTB – straight out of the door. This morning 25 miles / 2500ft on the gravel bike and two KOM’s 🙂

There’re 8 cottages within 100m circle, but none overlook us, nor us them.

The nearest large Co-Op is only 5 mins away, ASDA 20 mins and railway station 15 mins.

Not remote, but rural.

Even then they are within driving distance of shops. How off grid do you need to be to be off grid? David McCandless?

By your yardstick….. 15 miles ?

By definition getting things from sources other than the national grid is off-grid.

Living wild is another step….. See life below zero or guy grieve in call of the wild.

We have a village 10 mins away by bike. With a co-op /nursary and school

Nearest large shop is 5km by foot or 12km by car.

When we were up the glen it was 30 mins to the car and then an hour’s round trip to a co-op. Getting coal and fire wood back to the house was fun and being the winter of 2010 3 months of that would have been using crampons had it not been for the land rover.

That’s why I’m asking; I want to be able to understand.

I’ve moved between a house in a rural location to the city. Pro’s of living in the wilds for me were;

In a detached cottage with no near neighbours, I could play music at all hours. Wasn’t disturbed by anyone else’s noise. Able to not worry too much about security. See stars. No street lights. Deer, badgers foxes, pheasants, hedgehogs, etc were routine visitors into my garden/yard. House and car insurance was cheaper, broadband not much slower, Air was cleaner, bike trails on my doorstep (literally in my case)

Downsides

All the things you take for granted living in a city; deliveries that can find you, choice of cuisines, Deliveroo, and uber, trams shops, all within walking distance, banks and so on…Those just don’t really exist.

So essentially; most of you seem to want all that modern life has to offer, just not share it with others as much as possible? Or not live too far from amenities. I do get the solitude/peace and quiet aspect; I like to enjoy that every once in a while. But then I yearn for urban life. Makes me appreciate just how much I do enjoy living in a vast, overcrowded, sprawling metropolis. Fact is; we’re all reliant on urban centres for out modern way of life; we need people to work in them to organise everything, for retail, education, healthcare etc. You might have the luxury of not having traffic streaming past your front door, but then YOU are the traffic streaming past someone else’s door, on your way to access said services. roads need to be built and maintained, in order for you to enjoy such ‘privilege’. I’m curious, because recent changes in the way we live and work, has seen an exodus from larger urban centres; London ‘lost’ 700,000 people in the period up until December I think. Perhaps more have followed. And house prices in London have actually fallen, and those in many other areas, risen, as people seek that rural/small village/town idyll. It’s very interesting; I don’t think we are all suited to urban life, and that a lot more people should be living a quieter existence. Spread people out more. But as more people ‘escape’ to the countryside, so those places become busier and noisier etc.

All the things you take for granted living in a city

I never do. This is the thing. What a privilege to be able to have so many things to enjoy, so close. To be able to walk or cycle to work, to pop into a neighbour’s next door, see kids growing up, have social relationships with the people around you who work in the services you need in order to live; I love all that. But as I said, to each their own.

Thanks for judgement. It’s nice to know you can have all the things you want while sneering at us for having what we want. Well done.

Thanks for judgement. It’s nice to know you can have all the things you want while sneering at us for having what we want. Well done.

Wow. So defensive. Why? I’m not being judgmental, simply stating what people have said. Such as:

Yup not having to share my space with thousands of other people

(My bold)

We all live within a society, like it or not. For some of us, it’s better to live in one type of place, than another. From a mental health perspective, I think far too many people ‘suffer’ from being cooped up in big cities, as they’re not suited to them. So we should be looking at ways to reduce population density, perhaps, whilst needing to balance that with preserving rural areas. So it’s very difficult indeed; our little island doesn’t offer so much space for people to spread out more, without major environmental damage. Contrast with say Russia, where there are vast areas of potentially habitable land, yet people still live in quite dense cities, mainly. And China is just insane; there’s 7 or 8 cities there now with populations over 10 million. This is clearly unsustainable, so new compromise solutions have to be found. We can’t ALL go and live in rural areas. And if we choose to, yet want infrastructure provided, then that adds further cost and environmental impact. So as for living ‘off grid’ as the OP puts it; it’s clear there’s no such thing really, not in the UK at least, and we still all need the same goods, services and infrastructure. So that’s why I’m interested in how people get around these issues. A septic tank doesn’t sound like such a great idea, because you still have to pump it out every so often, and that requires major infrastructure elsewhere. So what about alternatives, such as composting/organic filtration etc? I am clueless about such things, so would appreciate any pointers on such things.

to each their own, I suppose

See, you knew the answer already.

I don’t think of my gaff as particularly rural – 7 miles to a shop/town I guess. Others would see that as super rural. Next week I’m taking some kids up to John Ridgway’s Adventure School (IV27 4RB), now run by his daughter. Listening to her life growing up there it makes mine seem suburban. And that is still mainland uk.

There are always levels of rural and urban. Find your place on the sliding scale.

Septic tank waste is often used as fertilizer rather than taken to a waste water plant, but they don’t build sewage works to deal specifically with septic tank waste, its additional capacity in existing infrastructure.
You need rural/extra-urban infrastructure to support your city life, food, water, energy, wastewater, minerals, timber people are needed to work in these industries, so the live near their work

trappings of modern life, such as flush sanitation, mains water, electricity, gas,

Err, because you don’t. No one here is saying no flushing toilets or electricity or gas just no mains supply. No electricity is very rare in the UK.

A septic tank doesn’t sound like such a great idea, because you still have to pump it out every so often,

Depends on how well it’s managed. Plenty of people go years between emptying. The house where I grew up was emptied once in over 20 years.

So what about alternatives, such as composting/organic filtration etc?

I am personally building a composting toilet and organic filtration is actually part of a secpic system

I am clueless about such

Quite…

Quite…

Which is why I’m asking questions. No need to be an arsehole about it.

Septic tank waste is often used as fertilizer rather than taken to a waste water plant, but they don’t build sewage works to deal specifically with septic tank waste, its additional capacity in existing infrastructure.

Thanks.

There are always levels of rural and urban. Find your place on the sliding scale.

I think we all need towns and cities, it’s how our society is organised, and how human seem to thrive best in many ways. But I do think more people should have opportunities to access a more rural way of life, as this may well be denied them due to economic factors. The OP was all about this type of lifestyle maybe being more expensive than urban living. If so, and if more rural communities could be viable, with less reliance on urban centres, then surely it would be good to look at reducing such costs? It’s ok if you have a £1m+ townhouse in London to sell, to help finance your rural escape, but if you don’t, your options are somewhat limited, I feel. More focus on proper sustainable rural living would be a great move, but I can’t see this or any other probable government making such commitments.

I live in a 3 bed ex council post war farmworkers house.

It’s not all church/barn/steading conversions and executive new builds.

Was actually about 50k cheaper than the equivalent house in the village at the time.