Town Or Country?

[lumos2000]

I like a bit of both and im well located for that, though I coulden't live far from the sea, I spent a year with a 2 day drive between me and the sea, it drove me nuts

 

[JeRkY]

Grew up in a big house standing in parkland and surrounded by mature deciduous woodland, 4 miles from the centre of leeds. It offered the best of both. I now live 2 miles from the centre of London, and I love it too. Very quiet and gentile area but on the doorstep I have Shoreditch, Dalston and angel so all the benefits that a thriving city can offer. An additional niceness is the relative young age of the area, essentially its all people my sort of age my sort of age who are here to chill out. After 4 years here, I still get the same sort of feeling walking the streets (no matter the weather) that I do when I am at a music festival (what ever the weather).

My girlfriend lives in the countryside outside St. Albans, a very different sort of country side to Yorkshire but none the less a welcome break from London for the odd weekends.

Ultimately a nice town house and a reasonable country estate would be my ideal.

 

[rosstheboss]

Despite that its all relative. Its never that rural in southern or central England.

"Rural" isn't the same as "wilderness", you know

In the Weald - the area between the North and South Downs, there are miles and miles of unpopulated or very low populated countryside. It's a bit of a myth that the South is 'full' - if you go to the coast it is very busy, but you only need to cross the Downs and, with the odd exception like Crawley/Gatwick Airport, you are in some of the nicest countryside you can find anywhere.

I used to live in a village, travelled the world, lived in big cities and would love to live back in a small village again. Unfortunately the small village I grew up in is now a small town and most people have moved out that I grew up with. Whenever I work away I always try to find a B&B or pub with rooms in a village, so much more enriching than a Premier Inn!

 

[brocklanders023]

Could not live in a city, it would drive me mad. When I was younger and going out all the time it might have worked though.

I live in a decent sized town that has pretty much everything I need. If I need a city Leeds is only 35 mins on the train. Within 2 miles in every direction I can be on prime off road trails and I'm currently looking out of the house at the picture below. Rural town living for me every time.

 

[Barneyballbags]

I like a bit of both and im well located for that, though I coulden't live far from the sea, I spent a year with a 2 day drive between me and the sea, it drove me nuts

I know exactly what you mean. We've lived by the sea (well, the Bristol Channel!) for the past 3 years now and I wouldn't want to move back inland.

There's something nice about walking along the beach or along the cliffs on a nice day, just as the sun is rising/setting.

 

[mattr]

Country, no question. But not in the UK.
Anywhere you can find my type of work is either crowded, eye wateringly expensive or an utter nightmare of a commute (or any combination of the above).

Where i am now, i have trails (literally) on my doorstep, and running past the back garden. Roads are quiet, houses are cheap. Work is a 45 minute commute (50 miles, as opposed to my 30 minute/10 mile commute in the UK). Shops are close (5-6 miles).

Only downside is 4 months of snow and sub zero temps.
But i have ice tyres for the bike and two small ski slopes within an hours drive (one is on the way home from work).

Even living in a city centre round here is like living in rural england, more green areas than you can shake a shitty stick at and at most a 30/35 minute walk to the edge of the proper countryside........

 

[technodup]

I'm 5mins or less from Scotland's three main motorways, Loch Lomond is 20mins but I am a couple of miles from the centre of the city. Live in a quiet road with no houses opposite, just grass and trees. That's about the perfect balance for me. Having said that I like London, would like to do a few years there but the insane property prices would put me off. I'll stick to visiting.

If I wanted rural it would likely be a wee village in the hills of Andalucia. Scottish rural means rain, more rain, chookters and midges. Not an appealing mix.

 

[daugs]

Country, no question. But not in the UK.
Anywhere you can find my type of work is either crowded, eye wateringly expensive or an utter nightmare of a commute (or any combination of the above).

Where i am now, i have trails (literally) on my doorstep, and running past the back garden. Roads are quiet, houses are cheap. Work is a 45 minute commute (50 miles, as opposed to my 30 minute/10 mile commute in the UK). Shops are close (5-6 miles).

Only downside is 4 months of snow and sub zero temps.
But i have ice tyres for the bike and two small ski slopes within an hours drive (one is on the way home from work).

Even living in a city centre round here is like living in rural england, more green areas than you can shake a shitty stick at and at most a 30/35 minute walk to the edge of the proper countryside........

ok, sounds good, so where ? Canada ? if so a Canadian friend has just "gone home" and is rather incensed as to the choice of smoking at home or a cleaner since he says there are issues re both and her employment rights for conditions in her workplace.............

 

[mattr]

The wilds of Sweden. Well not that wild.........

 

[Salsprocket]

I lived darn sarf for many years in various towns and cities along the coast between Plymouth and Southampton. I loved it - I loved everything being right there and thought I'd be bored witless anywhere else. Well, I now live in Horncastle, a small market town in rural Lincolnshire and I absolutely love it. The nearest big town is 20 miles away but Horncastle has a decent number of small local shops and a couple of smallish supermarkets - we also have probably the best second-hand bookshop anywhere (Jabberwock).
Most importantly, we can ride for as far as we want straight from the house - we can be away from people, cars and houses within a couple of minutes of leaving the house. We rarely cycle on anything remotely similar to a main road -mainly opting for the many quiet lanes and bridleways. We can cycle to Lincoln and back (50 mile round trip) with only about 4 miles of the entire distance on road.
The traffic is much lighter, too : when I was in Poole I had an 8 mile return journey to work -now, my journey is 36 miles and takes only the same amount of time as those 8 miles in Poole.