Pros and Cons of Rural Living

“Movin’ to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches,” sang The Presidents of the United States of America. That was back in 1995 and, since then, anyone of a certain age can’t move to the country without singing that line. But is moving to the country all it’s cracked up to be? Is it really just a life of sitting on your verandah, eating peaches?

To be honest, in the UK, probably not. While it’s not unreasonable to desire a verandah in your country abode, the chances of you growing peaches in your back garden are, although not impossible, quite slim. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of other good things about moving to the country though, so in this article, I’m going to have a look at the pros and cons of rural living.

The pros of rural living

It’s quiet - The countryside is quiet. Although, having said that, you could find that seemingly remote house on Rightmove is actually underneath a motorway or on a busy A-road. On the whole though, rural locations are much quieter than towns and cities.

More space - There’s no doubt about it, unless you move to a very posh village, you’ll get more for your money in the countryside. For the price of an apartment in a new London development, in a rural area you could buy a four-bedroomed detached house with acres of land.

Room for pets - You may not be able to fit an alpaca or a goat in that London apartment but you’ll have plenty of room for pets in a rural location. Perhaps you don’t want an alpaca or a goat, but if you want a more traditional pet such as a cat or a dog, they’ll have loads more room to run around in.

You can grow fruit and veg - Ohhh, I thought you said I couldn’t grow peaches, I can hear you say. Well, you might grow peaches if you’re lucky and the temperamental UK weather is good to us, but you’ll certainly have space to grow a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. As an added bonus, you may harvest so much food, you could set up a table with an honesty box and sell your excess produce. Try setting up an honesty box outside your London apartment and it’ll be stolen within three seconds. Fact.

Less pollution - Even if your rural pad is underneath a motorway, there’ll still be less pollution than if you were in a town or a city. Coming home after work without black gunk up your nose is a fantasy Londoners can only dream of.

Cons of rural living

Rural living isn’t all about watching your cats and dogs frolic on your land while you tend your vegetables before going back inside to count your bedrooms. Nope, rural living does also come with its disadvantages. Here are some of them:

It’s remote - Well, yes, you say. I know rural living is remote, that’s the whole point of it. Ah, but will the peace and tranquillity of that remoteness outweigh the disadvantages that come with living remotely? When you live in the middle of nowhere, or even just on the edges of nowhere, you could be miles from the nearest shop and, if you want to go out for the evening, how will you get back if you don’t, or don’t want to drive?

Patchy internet - The remoteness of rural living also means your TV, broadband and mobile services can be a bit patchy in areas where the signal’s not too great (i.e. most rural areas).

Services - At the risk of banging on too much about the remoteness, you may have trouble getting tradespeople such as plumbers or electricians out quickly if you need them in an emergency. And as for pizza delivery, ha ha ha ha ha ha. No chance.

Jobs - There are obviously more opportunities for work in towns and cities than there are in rural areas. Even if you do get work in a neighbouring town or city, will you be able to get there if you don’t drive? What’s the transport like? What if it’s snowing and the roads are iced up? You may think you don’t mind travelling for work but there may be times when you can’t actually get there.