5 Pros & 5 Cons of Living in the Countryside



Living in the countryside has always been a dream of mine, even when I was little. So when a house came up for sale in a rural area, we jumped at the chance to buy it. While it needed a lot of renovation work, we're nearing the end of the process now, giving us more time to enjoy the countryside on our doorstep. 

But is all as it seems? While countryside living definitely has its benefits, there are some downsides to living in an area that's more isolated when compared to the houses we both grew up in. So here are a few pros and cons of living in the countryside that you might not have heard about. 

5 pros of living in the countryside

1. It's quiet 

Of course, the number of advantage of living in the countryside is that it's, generally, very quiet. All you can hear are the birds chirping in the trees during the day and the owls hooting at night. I also love the wildlife in the countryside. 

We see Red Kites, Gold Finches, badgers, rabbits, hedgehogs, owls and foxes in and around our home, and it's something I just love seeing and will never get tired of. When you've got nothing to listen to but the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind and the animals going about their business, I'd say you've got a place.

2. There's a sense of community

There's definitely a sense of community when you live in the countryside. Out property sits in a little village, and everyone seems to know everyone. The longer we've been here, the more we've worked out who people are, where they live and what they do, and vice-a-versa. 

We have people in our village who know who we are. Even the people in our local little Co-Op know recognise us. It's a lovely feeling, which is why I'd love to, when we eventually move, go to live in another village, just for that sense of community and togetherness.

3. The air is cleaner

The air is definitely cleaner where we live. Our parents live in more urban areas, and we can almost always tell the difference in air quality. The air at our parents' houses seems thicker, whereas the air up our way has no smell to it whatsoever. It just generally smells fresher. 

It's something I can't describe, but there's most definitely a difference, even when you open the windows in the summertime, there's a definite difference in air quality. The only thing is, you'll often smell, on the wind, when the farmers are spraying their fields, which I don't mind. It just reminds you that you live in a rural village, and I love it!

4. There are beautiful walks to go on 

The countryside is full of public footpaths and gorgeous country walks. We've walked through many fields filled with either wheat, cows, horses or sheep. There's almost always a tractor around and we often have ponies walking up and down our street, with their riders. 

If you go for a walk around our village, you'll happen across lush green fields and long, windy paths that almost always lead a little village pub. It's one of our favourite things to do in the summer, especially if we have visitors round.

5. It's often cooler in the summer

You'll likely find that, when the weather gets hot, it's generally a degree or two cooler where we are when compared to where our parents live. It will still be nice and hot and sunny, but being more out in the open, the breeze is stronger and the heat is less concentrated. 

That in addition to there being no real emissions around, it keeps the air fresher and better ventilated, generally. You really do notice a difference in heat and humidity when we visit our parents' houses, who are more inner-city.

X cons of living in the countryside

1. Amenities are somewhat limited

Amenities are somewhat limited when you live out in the countryside. We have a small little coffee chop, a cafe, a sandwich shop, a flower shop, a hardware shop, a micro-pub, a hair dressers, a barbers, a little Co-Op and a post office in our village, but that's pretty much it by way of shops you can walk to. 

They recently opened a Specsavers and a Dominoes when the new-build estate was being built, but we don't really use those shops. The new-build estate is through and out the other side of our village, more on the outskirts of the place, in between our village and the next one along. 

So that takes about an hour to get to on foot. There, they've recently opened a Sainsbury's Local and a Starbucks. But like I say, you can't get there easily, as you would visiting the village high-street. You can't really live here without having a car, which is my next con about living in the countryside - the public transport. 

2. Public transport isn't the best

There are a few buses available, two of them take you to the next two major cities, but it takes about an hour to get to the city centres, and the other will bring you to the local airport. That's about it. In addition, the buses aren't very reliable and they can be costly. We don't have any trams or trains near us, either. It's either a bus or you take a car. 

Taxis are also hard to come by as they often won't come out this far and away from the cities. If, on the off chance you can find an Uber to pick you up, they charge a considerable amount of money to take you to the next city, so we don't really use that, either. If we want to go into the cities, we will take our own car and park it for the day, which is still cheaper than taking a taxi. 

3. It often means a 2-hour-round trip to do a weekly food shop

It can take us about two hours, from leaving our house to getting home again, to complete a weekly food shop. We can't just nip to the shops that are ten minutes around the corner, unless we use the small local supermarkets, which have limited choice and hiked-up prices. 

That's another negative of living in the countryside. But we've got around that problem by having our shopping delivered. This frees up an evening in the week, allowing us to do other things aside from spending most of the evening out doing a food shop.

4. Access to public services is a struggle

Being a small village, there's one optician, one doctor's surgery and one dentist. This makes access to public services extremely difficult, especially with the new-build estate being erected at the edge of the village. I have to travel for over an hour to my dentist because I can't get an appointment at my local one, for instance. 

Thankfully, I haven't had to visit the doctors for some time, but I've heard from others in the village that it's just as difficult to get an appointment there as well, which is something many towns are having issues with currently. That and they often have limited opening hours, because they're located in a small village. 

There also aren't many other dentists or doctors surgeries in the area, so you're completely out of catchment for the next village along. The only reason why I travel an hour+ to my dentist is because that's my family dentist and they don't mind where my home address is, as along as I turn up for my appointments.

5. Temperatures are lower during the winter

Just as the temperatures are generally lower here during the summer, the same goes for the winter. There have often been times where we've had snow and our parents haven't. Or we've had a frost and they haven't. It's often a couple of degrees, at least, colder here than it is where our parents live. 

This usually means that, when the weather turns cold, there's a smell of wood burning in the air. This is because most people in the village, ourselves included, have log burners. It's quite nice because I find it a comforting, cosy smell, but for others, it can be a problem to smell burning wood in the air.

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Do you live in the countryside? What do you love and hate about being out in the sticks? Let me know in the comments below and I will see you all again very soon with some brand new content for you all!

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