Ask Lemmy

Grew up in the middle of nowhere. No bus. No shop. No pub. It was hell. Left home for the city at the first opportunity and will never go back. I don't want to be dependent on a car ever again.

I'm torn between affordable land and going to ideological war with rural neighbors.

I would and do. It's quiet and peaceful, I have forest all around me, no traffic, cost of living is lower.

I grew up rural, lived in a few cities as an adult, and currently live in the biggest town near the area I grew up. I can get to most anything I need within 10 minutes, with more options an hour away, and three major cities within two hours.

I was able to buy a three story (7 bedroom) house for less than 100k.

The biggest downside is that most people in my area are racist homophobic Christian Republicans. I can blend in well enough as a white man, but I can definitely see why many people would not feel welcome here.

Rural meaning wilderness, yes.

Rural meaning farming communities, no.

I currently live in a small city surrounded by wilderness. Transit could be better, but there's tons of culture I can walk to and I can escape to solitude in 15 minutes and it's divine.

Absolutely. The beauty of nature is incredible, and being able to enjoy it is important to me. Not to mention there’s not as many people around to mess things up, make things loud/dirty, or be crowded by.

This weekend I'm going to PAX. Last week I saw Japanese Breakfast. Next week I'm seeing John Oliver do standup. Went to a Mariners game last week too. Got Sounders tix coming up, and hockey starts soon.

Rural is nice for a weekend. Urban is where the action is.

I do and have for most of my life. I lived on an island where my SO and I were the only permanent residents for 8 years.

I have lived in the suburbs of a couple of large towns/small cities for some years too - and in the centre of an all-but-city and although there is some convenience in those, I'd choose rural any day. The peace, proximity to nature and the ease of getting out for enjoyable walks beats convenience every time for me.

Just to clarify, I'm from a European country

Nah, I'd rather just live in towns that are well connected to cities (like bus stops going to that city) while also having rural areas not too far from there

Prior to her posting at Fort Knox, my wife was stationed in Queens, NY. We spent 3.5 long years living in Long Island. We now live in a town of about 3K people, and it's lovely and rural and I live it.

No, I've done it before. It's awful being dependent on a car to go anywhere, there's less to do.

I already do, I live on a back road that sees maybe 20 cars a day. I have a beautiful view. I’m an hour away from a large town with everything in it, so I’m close enough to any of that when I want it, yet I’m far enough that my cost of living is low. The town with a school, grocery store, hardware store, bars, clinic, etc is less than 10 minutes. 4 bigger towns with more jobs and more store options are 30-35 minutes with hospitals as well.

I can walk out of my house and be in nature almost instantly. I don’t have to drive anywhere.

Yeah I can’t call and have food delivered and I can’t walk to any shops but I consider myself in the perfect balance of remote and having access to what I want/need. Unless I go to a nursing home, my only move from my current house will be from it to six feet under.

People talk about the peace and quiet, but...

My grandparents used to live out in the country. Simple little house on a lake. When I'd visit, it wasn't actually quiet -- I'd always hear at least one neighbor across the lake mowing lawn, running a weed whipper, etc.

Maybe you'd get some true quiet in a more isolated part of the country? I'm not sure anymore. Motor sound carries.

Give me good public transport and good internet on the country side and I'm all for it.

I grew up in what was a rural area that suburbanized as I got older. Even then, it would still be around 15-20 minutes to get anywhere by car, including the grocery store. There wasn't much to do that didn't involve church, so if I wanted to do something like go to the movies it would be about a 30 minute drive with good traffic. Where I'm at now is in the middle of a moderate size city, where I can walk to restaurants and bars, and I can get to several grocery stores or movies or the mall within 10 minutes. I like living in the city better, I don't want to live far away from stuff anymore.

Absolutely. I can't stand having people constantly on top of me. Sure shopping is more convenient and the restaurants are great, but give me 5 acres to homestead and you'll barely see me again.

Over a city? Easy.

I prefer some population, but as far as I'm concerned cities are unlivable. I have to have space.

Nope, I was very happy to move to the city, not planing on ever going back.

I have family who live in a rural area. It's very nice to visit because the landscape is beautiful. The locals are also quite nice and helpful if you ever need it. But I don't want to regularly spend an hour each way to the nearest supermarket or pharmacy. I don't like driving that much. It seems to me a lot of the money you save on real estate you spend in time and convenience. I see the appeal, but it's not for me.

Nope. I won’t even live in suburbia, which I consider a rural area, let alone somewhere even more remote. 

For me, I recently moved from a busy city to a rural-ish town to help take care of my grandparents. Since they’ve now passed, I’m taking care of their house/land. I love learning new things and being independent. I really enjoy mowing the lawn, splitting wood and running a wood stove!

I’m about 45 minutes from a huge city/trauma hospital/ big Mall… but I’m only 10 minutes from my kid’s school, the grocery store, and primary care physicians, and 7 minutes to my job (which is actually on my road too).

What I don’t miss from the city is the noise. My goodness, sirens and people and horn honking traffic, jackhammering construction etc. It was never actually dark outside. Couldn’t really see the stars in the sky and had to keep my blinds/curtains closed most of the time for privacy.

I’m close enough to emergency help if my family needs it, but far enough from the bustle of the city. I’m content.

Yep it's nice to be able to afford to buy a house and land, and have room to do whatever you want. No crackheads wandering by looking at what we have sitting out available to steal. No noisy neighbors waking me up with parties or drums or other loud noise. No city pollution and summertime garbage dumpster stenches. No traffic congestion on my road, ever. 5 minutes from the grocery store and liquor stores and a local dispensary. It really can't be beat, unless you're wealthy and can afford an even better spot.

Absolutely not, I love living in the city. I walk everywhere or take public transport. Maybe if I had a train station near my house in a rural area, I would consider it.

Ideally I'd have access to both- i.e., a 'home base' in the city, plus a small place to stay out in the woods somewhere, preferably less than 20 mins on foot from a commuter train. Continuing to avoid driving would be great

My ultimate goal is to live in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around, cut off from most everything.

I’m over dealing with how this world has developed. I want to live out the rest of my life in the quiet as far away from other people as possible.

I grew up in one and am currently trapped there. It's my personal hell.

I grew up in a small town, i love the countryside and the relatively tiny amount of humans ruining the natural landscape. But that's also my biggest worry: most people want to "get away from it all" ("it all" being other humans and our structures and tech that stand in opposition to the natural world); when someone moves out into the middle of nowhere, it's only a matter of time until they start bringing others and others start bring buildings and roads and commerce and power plants and water treatment facilities and cars and transportation and pollution and littering and housing developments and deforestation and...

I think it's much better the more we can stick to the human zoos and leave the natural world for the rest of this planet's inhabitants, at least until we learn to live in harmony with the ecosystem around us instead of in defiance of it.

No.

Public transit is ass compared to anything less rural.
A bus at the morning/evening vs a bus every 20min and a great connection to downtown.
Yeah no, fuck that as a trading argument. It has to be a very good and big property/house and cheap car for me to trade that.

• I dislike driving.

I think so. I used to live in a rural area, with no neighbours for miles. It was lovely.

On the other hand I think I might've grown used to the comforts of small-town living. I'm moving to a town with a population of about 15k, and it's really well balanced. It's nice and sleepy, with modern amenities and services like grocery deliveries and whatnot. Plus the cost of living is super low.

I work from home so it doesn't really matter where I am so long as I have an internet connection.

Hell no! I wouldn't survive there.

I'd rather live in a suburban area. It's the best of both worlds - you got selective access to what you want from the city, but you're still far enough from that demographic fuckery. Property is cheap enough to get an actual garden, where I could plant my peppers and lemon tree.

It depends on how rural. I certainly wouldn't want to live like Courage the cowardly dog.

If the internet is good, and I’m not too far from town (like within 30 minutes driving) then hell yeah I’d live in a rural area. I’m more of a homebody so apart from buying groceries and going out on weekends I wouldn’t have to drive too much. The only thing is I’d need a home gym to avoid going back and forth every day

No, my wife came from there and won't go back. We live in a small town near big towns. When my kids were growing up the neighbors knew them and they couldn't get away with anything.

We do struggle with the Trump flags but have almost as many pride flags and when my youngest hosted our towns first ever pride parade we only received one piece of hate mail which included an anti trans book.

No. I grew up on a farming area (not as a farmer just in the area) and it was boring as hell.

It might have actually been ok if we had any land to farm because then we'd have had something to do but it was just a farmhouse on a farm that we otherwise didn't own.

Very picturesque, but the internet was terrible, it was like a 2-hour drive to the nearest town, and that was hardly a metropolis, all the shops used to close at about 2:00 p.m. on a Sunday. No nightlife. The local newspaper once ran a major story because somebody had thrown a firework in a lake, the coverage was as if world War 3 had been declared, it was the most interesting thing that had happened in decades.

I don't need to live in a major city but I like to live somewhere where if you want to get some corn flakes it doesn't become a great expedition.

I tried for 2 years, but with long work hours I didn't have much time to meet new people and since I'd just moved there for work, I didn't know anybody. Cost of living was great and I loved the friendly people and pace of life. I just couldn't handle the loneliness and isolation. I would do it again, but with a better work life balance and a stronger intention to meet people and make new friends.

Yes, happily. I grew up in a rural area and would much prefer to go back.