Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We bought a house three years ago in the country we are about 30 minutes from town. There isn’t an a lot to do in this town. The restaurants are terrible to get to a decent restaurant you have to drive another 15 minutes. We love to hike there are some hiking trails here but to get to the good ones we have to drive over an hour. Each one of those situations where before you leave town you have to make sure you get everything you need and all your errands run.
At some point, We plan to sell this house and move back west we talked about we talked about the pros and cons of living so far out. How far out is too far? What is everyone’s opinions about living far from town?
depends what you want from where you live.
personally I prefer the peace and quiet from living in the country.
supermarket is 20-25 miles away, a decent restaurant is an hours drive. but these things are only a minor inconvenience and I enjoy the driving.
I much prefer living here to the city I left 20 years ago.
Everyone’s comfort level varies, we’re on a large tract in an area of larger tract homesteads, for us the trek to Mars Hill for Mail, shopping, medical, is 8 miles; 1/2 mile down the mountain on gravel driveway, 1/2 mile down private dirt road to paved SR. Going to town is sort of an adventure, never know what you’ll find; trees across the driveway, creek over its banks, cows in the road, just don’t know.
My concern is the few of us that live on the road are getting older, we pitch in to maintain the road, lately the upkeep has been slipping.
The question to sell or stay is always on our mind.
I'm 20 min from the closest grocery store and live in an unincorporated area.
I enjoy the peace and quiet, wildlife, etc. Gotten use to planning errands on one trip...there are a few convenience stores around but I typically don't need them.
I only miss quality or high end grocery stores on occasion, being closer to movie theaters and ethnic foods.
There were 3 young bucks in my yard this past weekend, all with probably a half grown rack of antlers. Beautiful to watch....I prefer living with deer, bears, birds, skunks, opossums, raccoons, ground hogs etc. They make good neighbors.
I'm 20 min from the closest grocery store and live in an unincorporated area.
I enjoy the peace and quiet, wildlife, etc. Gotten use to planning errands on one trip...there are a few convenience stores around but I typically don't need them.
I only miss quality or high end grocery stores on occasion, being closer to movie theaters and ethnic foods.
There were 3 young bucks in my yard this past weekend, all with probably a half grown rack of antlers. Beautiful to watch....I prefer living with deer, bears, birds, skunks, opossums, raccoons, ground hogs etc. They make good neighbors.
Except for the bears, which we don't have around here, this is so close to my situation that I could have written it, down to what I love and the minor things I miss. If like my DH and I you love peace and quiet, natural beauty and wildlife, an unincorporated area a short ways outside a small town might fit you to a T.
We bought a house three years ago in the country we are about 30 minutes from town. There isn’t an a lot to do in this town. The restaurants are terrible to get to a decent restaurant you have to drive another 15 minutes. We love to hike there are some hiking trails here but to get to the good ones we have to drive over an hour. Each one of those situations where before you leave town you have to make sure you get everything you need and all your errands run.
At some point, We plan to sell this house and move back west we talked about we talked about the pros and cons of living so far out. How far out is too far? What is everyone’s opinions about living far from town?
It sounds like you are more in need of what a larger town or city offer over what living in the country offers.
Country living isn't about the theater or fine dining every night or a busy social life, it's about appreciating the wildlife, the quiet, the independence and love of the land.
It would be far easier for you to drive to a hiking trail once in a while from your condo in town than driving 45 minutes to town whenever you want something.
Personally, I'm moving from a small city to a rural piece of ground 10 miles from the nearest town of 200, 30 miles from the nearest town of 1500, and about an hour from a city of 100k.
My nearest neighbor is over a mile and a half away. I can grow nearly all my own food, off grid, I can limit my trips to town to once a month unless I need parts for machinery and be completely happy. I had 2 very good restaurants within 100 yards of my place in town where I've lived for nearly 30 years, one I only visited about once a month at best, the other one I never went into.
Haven't gone to a movie since 2012. I shopped for groceries once a month, grew a large garden, even had rabbits in town I raised for meat.
I'm a country boy, cities make my skin crawl, but that's where the job was. Now I can retire, (early), and I'm getting back out to where I don't have someone looking over my shoulder 24/7.
It's a different mindset from what appears to be important to you, so I'd say get yourself a nice place in town, drive to hike once in a while, and you'll be a lot happier.
Shopping is a half hour away from my cabin. That's fine with me. When I want to hike or hunt, I just walk out from the cabin into my little woodlot or beyond it into the thousands of acres of state forest land beyond me. Likewise in winter, my road is a spur trail on the snowmobile trail system (that has some downsides too but I don't need to trailer to a trailhead). When I looked for land, access to hiking and hunting was high on the priority list so I bought land that had that. A place where I'd have to drive way off to hike or hunt on anything but my own land was a deal killer for me.
We bought a house three years ago in the country we are about 30 minutes from town. There isn’t an a lot to do in this town. The restaurants are terrible to get to a decent restaurant you have to drive another 15 minutes. We love to hike there are some hiking trails here but to get to the good ones we have to drive over an hour. Each one of those situations where before you leave town you have to make sure you get everything you need and all your errands run.
At some point, We plan to sell this house and move back west we talked about we talked about the pros and cons of living so far out. How far out is too far? What is everyone’s opinions about living far from town?
"How far is too far" is by whose definition and is something you have to decide for yourself, as others have alluded to.
Judging by your comments, there is no way this side of Hades and Back, you would live where I am ecstatic to be living. I have been told we should have Deliverance music playing in the trees, coming up our barely more than one lane road, lollol.
I don't need anything to do in town, except get gas, groceries, and shavings for the horse stalls. We are 14 minutes from a great hospital, if I'm doing the driving -- at least that's all it took when DH had his heart attack and I wasn't waiting for an ambulance
You will have to figure out what makes you happy -- no one on a forum can do that for you
I live about 8 minutes from town. About 15 minutes if traffic is light to our preferred grocery store. About 12 minutes to the hospital. I am young and healthy enough that it's not something I worry about, but I can see where it can be a concern as a person ages, or if they have health issues. If traffic is heavy it can easily add another 10 or 15 minutes to get where we want to go.
At least in our area it costs more to live in a rural, yet so very close to town setting. Being outside the city limits we are also dependent upon a volunteer fire department.
...we are about 30 minutes from town. There isn’t an a lot to do in this town.
...to get to a decent restaurant you have to drive another 15 minutes.
How often do you feel you compelled to do either of these trips?
Quote:
How far out is too far?
How long is a rope?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. I have been told we should have Deliverance music playing in the trees, coming up our barely more than one lane road, lollol. 
