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posted 10 months ago in Home
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    Does anyone live rurally? DH and I are thinking about moving somewhere fairly rural, but I've pretty much always lived in pretty urban settings (where I grew up was a bit rural at the time, but it changed by the time I was in elementary school). So I'm wondering, what do you love or hate about it? What about raising kids, is it a good idea (as in lots of room to roam and play) or bad (as in really boring and so you filled your time with partying)? Is it boring? Do you miss having "close" neighbours? Any thoughts would be appreciated, I'm making myself mad!!!

     
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    farmgirl2106    July 2010  

    How rural are we talking? I can guarantee it will be a shock to you at first, even if it is a move you want to make.

    I was raised in the country within 30 minutes of an urban area. Now I am 3 hours from an urban area. If you can stay within 45 minutes of a town, you should be ok, but I wouldn't go further. It gets hard not having anything to do out here, and a little lonely, but we are here for my husband's job. You can also be rural and live in a small town, which might be easier than what we are doing.

    ETA: I would never not live in a rural area, I'm just saying don't make it too secluded. As in, I have to drive 2 hours to have my baby and the nearest town big enough to host something like a Walmart is an hour away...

     
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    Lindsay05    August 21, 2010   Canada

    I grew up in the city (not a HUGE city, about 35000 people) and moved out into the country about 5 years ago. I absolutely LOVE it in the country. We literally have no houses around us. I have a 40 minute commute to work but its a very easy commute so not stressful at all. Its a great time to unwind after work. I would suggest finding hobbies to do such as maybe photography or jogging or something that you can do cause if you are the type who needs to be busy, the quietness can overwhelm you some days! I never want to move back into the city. The only bad thing I can see is that now when I am in a city, its way more stressful than actually living in it because im not used to the riff raff. As far a raising kids, im not sure because I dont have any yet but others around me do so it must be possible ;)

     
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    KansasPrincess11    January 8, 2011  

    From what I've noticed most of the Bee's are city gals. I grew up in the city, and technically I live in a "city" (although most people would probably giggle at that word!) and my hubs and I are going to live out in the country on family land eventually. I have mixed emotions about it. He grew up 30 miles from the closest town on a cattle ranch and loved it. I think the only thing I'm not looking forward to is my kids won't be able to go ride a bike to play with their friends. I love being out there and watching our dogs and Godson run around though. There isn't a lot better than that.

     
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    Mrs.ChubbyBunny    October 1, 2011   Texas

    We live in the boonies about 20 miles from food and a hospital. We have a convenience store and gas station about 5 miles away. It is remote, quiet, and boring. We do not raise animals or even farm, so we just live out in the middle of nowhere for nothing. We do have neighbors but none we are paticularly close with and none in our age group. Our friends enjoy driving out to our house because to them it's like getting away. To us, it's just life. I love rural life, but I hate Texas.

    The things I miss the most about living close to the city are Starbucks, frozen yogurt bars, Petco, and having nice places to eat. I do miss having some neighbors to rely on and make friends with as well.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @farmgirl2106: We'd like to be within a 20 minute drive to a substantial size town, and the locations I've been looking at are close enough to little towns with at least a post office, general store, and coffee shop. So we're not talking like SUPER rural, but ideally I wouldn't be able to see my neighbours out my window (I'm leaning towards at least 5 acres, possible 10-15). I know it'll be a huge shock, but DH and I are both homebodies already and I think the slower pace of life would be nice. That being said, I'm worried the novelty would wear off during the winter months!

    I posted before about whether or not to move, and I feel like I'm leaning more towards moving, but I'm terrified that we'll love it at first, but maybe in the long run wonder if we made a mistake, and we won't be able to afford to get back into the  neighbourhood we're in now. Then again, we could totally fully love it and never look back! So I was hoping there might be a few bees with input like yourselves!

    @Lindsay05: You give me hope! LOL! I definitely have things to keep me busy and we're planning on kids soon (well as soon as we get this house business sorted out), so that'll keep me busy too!

     
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    Roux    December 2, 2012   Ballarat, Australia

    I live in 'country' Australia. Except not really. I live in a little town of about 1000 people, but 15km (10 miles?) north is a 'big' city of about 100,000 people. It is very much a country city though, most of the business is farming and cattle sales. It used to be a gold rush city back in the 1860's. I love where I live, its quiet, but there is always something going on, its only a 30 minute drive/bus ride to the train station that will take me to the big capital city Melbourne. They have these new bullet trains so its only 90 minutes on the train to Melbourne. Kids around here live on big blocks, but still see their friends a lot. And its a 'safe' area. Kids ride their bikes outside without parental supervision, and everyone in the community keeps an eye out for them. There is a tiny little set of shops 5 minutes walk away that have everything you need.

    If you can find a place like that, I'm pretty sure you'll love it. Find a little town not too far from a city, best of both worlds. :)

     
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    farmgirl2106    July 2010  

    @bakerella: LOL, oh, definitely the winter will get old! I'm in South Dakota, so we get plenty hard winters which I'm guessing are similar to Ontario's, BUT if you can still get to town I really think you'll be fine. It's nice to have space to take quiet walks, my husband and I being nerds do the bird watching thing, plus we see all sorts of other wildlife, I get to garden and plant wherever and however much I want, plenty of room for the dogs to place, we have horses so we can take rides, fishing whenever, and generally much quieter.

    I'd do it, but I'm also biased because like I said, I would never choose to live in a city permanently unless I was in like a nursing home or something.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @Mrs.ChubbyBunny: You sort of hit on exactly what I've been putting on my "cons" list: lack of friends, distance to "modern" conveniences like Starbucks (lol!), maybe growing bored with the lifestyle since we won't be farming or have animals other than our cats and possibly a dog. Although I'll admit, I have a fantasy of owning a few goats and making fresh goat cheese ;) It would be land for the sake of land and space. Also thinking that down the road maybe my parents or MIL would want to build a small house on the property too. I guess I'm just also worried too about the stereotypes of what happens to kids who grow up in the country with nothing to do (drugs, sex, partying, etc) although I know that has as much to do with good parenting as anything else. BUT if we pick a spot close enough to a good size town, maybe we can avoid the boredom factor...

     
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    farmgirl2106    July 2010  

    @bakerella: Push them into sports or FFA/4-H or theatre, whatever. If they are busy, they won't be as likely to go nuts. Also, keep them away from bull riding. Bull riders are hellions... We plan to try and keep our kids out of rodeos judging from what happened to (the majority of) our friends who did rodeo.

     
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    Mrs.ChubbyBunny    October 1, 2011   Texas

    @bakerella: I think that well-socialized children should be just fine. IMO the kids who are home-schooled and never meet a soul other than their family members are the ones that end up going crazy when they're allowed out of the house. I share youre fantasy about having goats haha. I have begged for a goat but we both know we don't have the time for more animals. Missing the luxuries of city life are definitely a low point but I have to say, after a while you get used to it. Everyone wants something different from life, if the country calls to you, you should go! :)

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @farmgirl2106: Rodeo isn't such a big thing in my part of Canada, so no worries there (that I know of!). Where we live now is amazing, we have great schools, love our neighbours, the "downtown" of our town is within walking distance full of great restaurants, etc, and the "downtown" of our overriding city is a 15 minute drive up the street. To get into Toronto it's a 15 minute train ride. BUT we live in a river and have a walk out basement, so we just have a deck off our main living area which is lovely and a large size, but I keep thinking that I'll never be able to just throw open our back doors and tell the kids to go outside and play and get out of my hair, lol! We also can't afford another house in our neighbourhood, we bought at a great time for a great price. We could definitely get a lot more bang for our buck by moving further away. BUT it's a huge lifestyle change and it would also mean DH starting fresh with his career. Scary on all fronts!

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @Mrs.ChubbyBunny: I'm not sure if it's the idea of something new and exciting, or if I actually want to move! I literally cried a month ago at the thought of moving, and now I'm all gung-ho about it. I'm trying to tone it down for DH since I want this to be a mutual decision. I think I'm also really frustrated with our current attempts at house renovation/battles with getting approvals from the necessary committees, etc since we live in a Conservation area. Ugh. So I think the idea of just going and having a house that I would love and starting a family is super exciting to me. Plus that throwing the doors open thing. And a pool. I really want a pool. LOL! PS - Goats are the best! I've always loved them!!!

     
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    Amaryllis    July 2, 2011  

    We are actually goat-sitting for two weeks. Belle just arrived tonight... OMG goats are strong! I was holding her lead and she tried to run away and I literally got dragged behind her. It was hilarious.

    But um as you may have picked up on my posts about baling hay and milking cows and getting married on the farm, we live in a rural area. I love it. We're close to a college town so we have a comfortable amount of amenities, though I like my grad school area better. It's got tons of open farm land, but the big university pulls in a great diverse population with tons of restaurants and shops. I'd love to live near there someday but we'll probably stay closer to home/the smaller town. Acceptable shopping is 45 minutes away, and we can be in Philly in 2.5 hrs if we want to. But it's a wonderful pace. Traffic jams are getting stuck behind a tractor. With the exception of some crappy rent situations due to the university, cost of living is easy around here. Deeper into the country it can be very closed-minded and boring, but being so close to the uni means there is a great variety in ways of thinking and things to do. Definitely if you can find a place like 20 minutes from a town like that, you'll be golden.

     
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    Annabelle86    July 2, 2011  

    If you are raising your kids in the country give them activities like FFA or some organized sports, the kids with too much time on their hands in my country school did very stupid things to occupy their time, and we have HUGE drug problems (meth) there is no lack of places for kids to go out in the woods, drink, smoke, then go try to steal someones tractor or something. The kids who were active in things like soccer and ffa never had problems and living in the country is very enjoyable in some aspects, its quiet, you can take long peaceful walks with your dogs, when you do meet up with people everyone is friendly. It depends on what you like doing with your time, if you like going to the gym and starbucks stay in the city, if you like scrapbooking and farming you will do fine in the country.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @Amaryllis: You're goat sitting?! That's awesome!!!!!!!!! One area we're looking at is a close(r) to a university town, about 20 minutes. The other area I've found that I like (just by looking online, I haven't been out there yet) is a bit fancy pants and has a few small ski hills, etc. The towns close to there seem cutesie-pie touristy, and the larger town seems like a decent enough place, I've never been there though, so I don't know if there are any colleges or whatnot there. There aren't many places in Ontario that don't have a college it seems... Thanks for the reassurance, I was starting to think I was crazy. Clearly we don't have any friends who live rurally (other than one set of acquaintances who are actual farmers).

     
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    prettylizy    November 24, 2010  

    @bakerella: We live in a small town about 30 minutes from a large city. What part of the GTA are you in? (My sister lives in the Danforth and when I was looking for places with her I could not get over the cost!!)

    For us, we moved into our local Big City (Windsor) for 2-3 years, and couldn't wait to get back to our happy little town. We don't have an Starbucks, but we do have some really nice little coffee shops to make up for it. Our town also has some decent sized amenities like a large Walmart and Canadian Tire so really we only need to go into the city to shop at a mall etc. Our house is in a subdivision, so it's not like we're completely isolated, but we rarely actually lock our doors, it's a really safe place to live. I'd feel very comfortable letting my eventual kids ride their bikes and go to the corner store without supervision.

     
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    KT808    October 18, 2012  

    I have the opposite problem. I have lived in an extremely rural area for many years and we recently moved to what I call rural surburbia and I hate it! I HATE seeing neighbors, even though we have 4 acres, it's not enough! I HATE hearing cars go by!

    I loved where I used to live but the land owner would not sell the land for what it appraised for. I loved living over a mile away from the nearest neighbor and over 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I loved the coolness of the woods and living immersed in nature. I loved seeing deer, bear and turkeys on a daily basis (I wasn't crazy about the coyotes though). I loved sunbathing in the nude and being able to do as I pleased whenever I wanted. IMO, civilization is seriously over-rated.

     
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    AmeliaBedelia    March 3, 2012   Georgia

    I grew up in a fairly rural-ish part of the state, and loved it. I don't think having land necessarily makes you bored as a child. FI did the whole dirtbike, car, work on stuff outside thing. We didn't grow up "in the country" per se, but we did grow up around a lot of land. We weren't too far away from modern conveniences. I'd say 10-15 minutes is good.

    Like other bees have said, keeping a kid busy is all it is. I think kids will party whether they are in the city or the country, it's just HOW that changes. (Aka bonfires instead of a house party, lol).

     

     
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    cvbee    August 13, 2010   canada

    I grew up in the city and we've rebelled against city life and have moved to the woods.  We LOVE it here.  Love getting so in touch with nature. 

    I don't have kids, but I'm a teacher and a babysitter, so I think I can say:

    Cons for kids:

    -less opportunities for specific sports (for example: we dont even have a pool here)

    -lacking in some cultural opportunities (very white)

    -some school options are limited (some public school programming that is offered in big cities can't really be afforded by more remote schools; after high school there is no university here too)

     

    Pros for kids:

    -safe place to live!!!

    -get smart about nature: this is by-far the biggest pro I feel

    -it takes a village to raise a child and in a small place people will tell you what your teenager is doing when you're not looking :)

    -health because of clean air 

    -close knit community means your kids have life-long friends....all the same kids at soccer, swimming, dance class, and in your class at school!

     
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    Caizn    August 2, 2014   KCMO

    Do it! I looooooved growing up in the country and I can't wait to get back out there.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    Oh my gosh guys, thanks for your input! DH and I were just having dinner and then I was showing him some stuff I found on MLS. I think we're edging closer to moving. There's one area in particular I've started honing in on, but I'd obviously like to drive out there and see the area (Google maps and streetview can only take you so far). I'm terrified and excited!

    @cvbee: I have to say, the cultural thing is something I'm VERY aware of. I want our kids to experience culture and multi-culturalism, but I think on the other hand, we can definitely make sure they get that by things as simple as weekend trips into Toronto for theatre, visits to different pockets of the city, etc. As far as school goes, we'd be open to private school for high school, we're going to have to do more investigating about the school districts where we're looking. I fully expect (and insist upon) our kids to move away for university.

    @AmeliaBedelia: Very true. Kids will get themselves into parties wherever they go! I certainly did! LOL!

    @prettylizy: We're in Mississauga. It's not cheap here by any means. We could sell our place, get a chunk of land somewhere more rural, build a gorgeous house, and still have money left over. Surprised Ridiculous.

     
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    cvbee    August 13, 2010   canada

    where are you planning to move?  I didn't at first realize that you are in Ontario. I live in 'cottage country', but grew up in Mississauga (and lived in Vancouver for 7 years after high school).  

    I'm also hoping that lots of daytrips to Toronto will help. 

    You are right on the money about the real estate thing.  When we were in Vancouver we could see that working full time in our jobs we'd barely ever be able to afford a small condo.  Here my husband took a pay cut and I still don't have full time work, but we easily afforded a beautiful little house in the woods.  

    We LOVE it here.  

    We especially love to see all the cottagers trying so hard to come up and visit here, and we like to say that 'we live at the cottage'.  It's awesome.  

    So what area are you looking at....I'll have a more detailed reply.

     

     
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    lessons    October 1, 2011  

    I live in a town of 3,000.  I love our small town.  I live on 130 acres and personally I'd rather not be able to see any other houses.  I do a lot of gardening and canning, we don't have a TV, we raise chickens and would like to have a full farm someday.  We love the simplicity and I loved growing up knowing everyone.  I can't imagine ever living in the city.  We make our own fun and I would encourage anyone to move to the country!

     
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    Sassygrn    June 4, 2011   Minnesota

    I grew up in rural and hated it!  It sucked because my parents had to drive me anywhere if I wanted to go see friends. You had to drive period if you wanted to go anywhere. Granted I only lived 5 miles out of small town USA but honestly you couldn't pay me enough to go back to that life. In fact when I go my parents place now days, within 24 hours I am itching to get back to city life.

    I love the city life!  I love the hustle an bustle, knowing that if I want or need to go somewhere in the middle of the night it isn't to far of a drive.

     

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @cvbee: I'd love to move towards cottage country, but my stepson is in Niagara, so the every other weekend drive would be killer. We're looking around Erin/Guelph/Fergus which is still quite a drive, but at least a bit less of a drive. Right now we're in Mississauga, and I love it here, don't get me wrong, but our choices at this point are:

    1) Fight with Conservation Authority to get permission to renovate and put an addition on our house. Our house would be amazing at the end and would definitely be a good financial investment, but I keep thinking about the "throwing the back doors open" idea which we'll never be able to do here.

    2) Move and build. Stressful and we run the risk of hating the change in lifestyle (although I sort of doubt it). Our house likely wouldn't appreciate in value like our current house has and will continue to do, but we'd get a hell of a lot more bang for our buck.

    @Sassygrn: You totally hit on something I said to DH. If we move rural, we have to be prepared to be "mom's taxi" because it's not like a subdivision where your neighbours and friends are really close. There's one area we're looking at where we can get 12 acres but it's inside the gates of a ski club (along with about a dozen or so other houses), so at least there would sort of be "enforced" community because of the ski club (I think you have to buy a membership) so maybe there would be other kids around there.

     
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    Amaryllis    July 2, 2011  

    @KT808: I sort of agree.

    We live on a dirt road up a hill on the outskirts of a "ruralurbia" situation. They have the 4 acre plots and cars that go by. We have 100 acres, about 60% wooded, full of deer and such,  but we can also be at Walmart in 10 minutes if we need something. Perfect balance. My husband would love to move somewhere where it's all rural and 45 minutes to a store, but I'm a little less keen on that. I like being able to zip over to somewhere with people and entertainment. He can content himself putterling around on the farm all day.

    @bakerella: I will take goat pictures later. :) The ski club area sounds like it might help combat some of your seclusion/lack of community worries.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @Amaryllis: I will not turn down pictures of goats! Actually, that makes me wonder, if we liked that ski club area (funny because I cannot ski for the life of me) if we would be "allowed" to ever have chickens or goats if we wanted to some day...... Definitely a question to ask.

     
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    Mrs. Spring    May 10, 2009   California

    I've lived in rural areas my whole life.  I grew up in a town of about 2500, an hour away from the nearest "big city" (lol) of 7500.  I went to college in a town of about 45,000, and now we live in a touristy town of about 45,000 full-time residents (although the population goes up to about 80,000 during the summer and winter).  We're still about two hours away from the nearest city, and although we have 2 (!) Starbucks here, we're still 45 minutes from Wal-Mart. 

    Honestly, I love it.  I know that, eventually, we'll have to move somewhere bigger, population-wise, and I dread moving.  A lot of the cons you listed for moving out in the country (worries about kids getting into drugs, not being able to make friends, not having the "community" vibe, etc...) are the exact worries I have about moving into the city!  :)  So, I guess the message for both of us, is that those things can happen anywhere and probably depend more on your individual experience than on rural versus urban.

     
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    Ryansgirl    October 22, 2011   Canada

    I'm not a rural bee but FI and I have our hearts set on moving to an acreage eventually.  We already moved out of the city of over 1 million to a city of just over 40,000 (which are only 10 minutes away from eachother lol.) 

    I do work for a family who lives on 9 acres and I absolutely love being there.  They have a horse, a huge greenhouse, 2 quansets (sp?), several barns and a cute bungalow house.  I ride around on their quads, run around with their dogs, etc which is so much fun!  Their older son (20 y/o) HATES living on the farm because of all the work he has to do - cutting the grass, feeding the horse, shovelling their longgggg driveway of snow, etc.  They have no neighbours (within sight at least) and it's pure heaven. 

    Anyway that's all I know about rural living :)

     
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    ceamoste    September 3, 2011  

    I live about 25 minutes outside of Hamilton (because I know you know where that is haha), and it's great. We're just enough outside that it is the country (surrounded by farmers and fields... and coyotes), but close enough that Walmart is 10 minutes away. We do have some neighbours, but not a lot, and most of them are retired and not often home. Still, when you live in the country, even those that live 10 minutes down the road are your 'close' neighbours because you're really all you've got.

    My younger siblings love it because they can go for runs, bike rides, have friends over and make lots of noise, play in the mud and can go swimming without creepers watching them.

    I had my stag and doe at my house and it was great because I didn't invite any neighbours but half of them drove by and just stopped. I didn't have to worry about noise because no one lives close enough to hear us, and you can have a MASSIVE bonfire with no problem.

     
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    ceamoste    September 3, 2011  

    @bakerella: Also, I would like to add that the partying kids has so much to do with parenting in my opinion. I have 4 younger siblings that are all teenagers, and not one of them is into alcohol or drugs as of yet.

    If you give them a bike and let them explore, I am sure they will find other people, make friends, etc. And if you end up living in the country, trust me you will likely host a lot of the parties so you have some control over what happens. There is something going on at my house almost every weekend, and there are always at least 10 people eating dinner (every day).

     
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    chittychittybanebane    October 22, 2011  

    I grew up in a town of 5000 which I thought was small. My FH grew up in a town of 800. We will be moving to a town of 400 next month. I lived out in a busy, urban suburb after college and loved it....but now moving to the smallest town ever!

    I actually am excited though. I feel like a lot of people will drink and party no matter where you live...but it is a lot safer in my eyes. Everyone knows everyone and at the drop of a hat- your neighbor will come and help with no matter the issue. I love that my FH grew up with the freedom to run and play without worries of busy roads etc.

     

     
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    MaraBeth    December 3, 2011   Dallas, TX

    I grew up in the suburbs of a big city and lived in a big city right out of college, so moving to a small town with my FI was a big change. Like anything else, there are things I like and things I do not like. I love that there's no traffic, that it's relaxed and casual, and that people are so friendly. That said, I'm definitely not a country girl...I miss going to new bars and restaurants, getting dressed up, and being close to everything.

    We're planning on moving back to the city this year. I know a lot of people who love raising children in the country, but I think I'd prefer the infrastructure and schools of the suburbs. We also really miss being near our families! It's been a fun experience but I think it's either your thing or it isn't, and it's just not the perfect fit for us.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @ceamoste: We were sort of looking in that area but couldn't find a lot of property for sale at the moment. Right now we're looking further north than what's ideal, but I think we can still definitely make it work. Thanks for the input about your siblings, especially since you're in Ontario/close by. I totally agree, it's a parenting thing. I grew up always having parties at my house (no drinking, no drugs) and I loved that me and my friends had a "safe" place to be without peer pressure etc. I do hope that one day we can provide the same atmosphere for our kids.

    @Mrs. Spring: Always the voice of reason :)

    @MaraBeth: I'm not so much of the get dressed up and go out to bars person. DH and I are both huge homebodies now, so staying in and cooking a great meal is our idea of a perfect night. You raise a good point, we can always move back in a couple years if we don't love it. We just likely couldn't move back to where we are now, but that's not to say we have to move back here. Thanks for sharing your experience!

     
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    tksjewelry    June 25, 2011   Omaha

    I didn't read the responses, but DH and I can't wait to get back to the country.
    When I lived in the country I was never bored, there is always something to do. Granted, a lot of it is work but I will say that I was in the best shape of my life when I was always moving.
    I lived near a small town and was much closer to my neighbors in the country and to the townies I met. There was always something going on the weekends: birthday parties, bbq's, bowling leagues, coffee groups, and just get togethers for no reason.

    The only thing that I will point out is for the kids. You are going to notice that sex, life, and death are going to be seen very differently in the rural communities. I was startled at how advanced the kids in the country are with those subjects. After speaking about it with some of the moms down there, it is something that is dealt with everyday on farms so it is just a different reaction to it. Not that it is wrong, but it is a bit startling when coming from the polar opposite and just something to be aware of.

    Moving to the country was the best decision that I ever made and moving back to the city was the worst. I can't wait to get back to my nice quiet life of the country, I miss it more and more everyday.

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    @tksjewelry: We're looking at acreage over "farm". Maybe down the road we'd think about maybe having chickens or goats (having had zero experience with that it sounds both cool and like a lot of work!).... But for now, just a big chunk of land for a nice house, a pool, a place for our (future) kids to run. Do you mean that kids are more aware of "the circle of life" because of being around farming and animals?

     
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    Buzzing bee
    Ms. Martian    September 9, 2012   Ontario

    I am not a rural bee but know some people who live in rural areas and have an idea of how they deal with it.

    My brother's FILs live just outside Guelph, it feels like the country but it's a 5-10 minute drive to the nearest mall (Stone Rd by the airport if that means anything to you). They don't live on a large property for that area, it's about an acre. The amount of care that goes into maintaining everything is pretty intense. It takes about 2 hours to mow the lawn for example. However, they love it.

    Their nearest neighbours happen to be right around the corner (15 minute walk) and they own a farm. They have 3 kids under 13 and like other posters already suggested, keeping them involved in activities is what keeps the boredom away. They have chickens, sheep, alpacas and llamas on the farm. The alpacas and llamas are the kids pets! This is what keeps them occupied, they are involved with 4H and show them (as well as the sheep I believe).

    I lived in a small town up until a few years ago and I could not wait to move to a bigger city. Maybe because the small town was kind of a half way? There were neighbours and such but everything that I wanted to be involved in was a 45 minute drive.

     
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    Bumble bee
    cvbee    August 13, 2010   canada

    Cool. With the areas that you're looking at, you will still be really really close to lots of urban areas.  Guelph is even pretty urban.  

    I say go for it!  Some acreage in that area will be great!  

    The schools your children will attend will all be fairly close to the larger areas, and well-connected to their services.  

    I say it is a no-brainer. Do it!  You're only moving 30 minutes away from where you are at. 

    The fact that you feel like your perfect night is all about cooking a great dinner and enjoying being at home makes me think that, yes, you will love to live more rurally.  

     
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    bakerella    September 11, 2010   Toronto, ON

    So. I called about the property near the ski club. The agent answered a bunch of my questions, but really, until we see the property itself and the town(s) nearby, we can't make many more decisions. DH wants to go this weekend!!! Huzzah! He's really keen on moving now, it makes a lot of financial sense for us. The negative about the ski club is that I looked up the rates, and I kid you not, they want $18k for an "initiation fee" for the two of us to join the club (it's semi-private). Uhhhh no. Yearly fees are something like $950/person, $350 for kids over 6. We don't have to join, but I sort of feel like there would likely be a lot of pressure to join so we could get to know our neighbours, etc. I guess it would be akin to a golf country club? The other bad news is that I don't ski! LOL! DH loves snowboarding, but not $18k worth!!!!!!

    Thanks again for all your input bees, it really helped. I read DH each of your responses with all the pros, cons, and experiences you've shared and we've really been chewing over everything you've said!

     

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