The Pro's and Con's of Living Rural

[Miss.September]

I spent my teen years growing up on a rural property on the outskirts of Melb. We lived 8kms out of the closest town (Hurstbridge) which didn't have a lot on offer, as gorgeous as it is. The closest surburban town was a 25 minute drive away. We didn't go to the school in Hurstbridge but to another and it meant we had a 45 minute bus ride there and back, plus a 15 minute drive to get to the bus stop. I had one after school activity of band practice at school which mum would come and get me, and my brother had a part time job after school, two towns away.

It didn't bother us. Mum made the commitment of driving us where we needed to go within reason. We didn't request to go anywhere much during the week. If we wanted to spend the weekend with our friends from school, we'd make use of the school buses and catch our friends buses instead of our own. There was no public bus and the nearest train was only accessible by car. We never got told by mum or our friends parents that it was too far to visit each other. My best friend during school lived around a 40 minute drive away - all it meant was if we couldn't utilise the school bus, one parent would do the drop off and the other would do the pick up. We made friends with the local neighbours kids who went to different schools to us, so there was always someone around. The school bus ended up being another social event in itself! Once I turned 18 and got my licence, I accepted that I lived the furthest out and I was generally designated driver - because I either had to drive to someone's house to begin with, or just drive everyone. I think it kept me away from the heavy drinking binges that lots of teens get into because I had to rely on myself to get home and a taxi was just far too expensive.

You'll find that not all of your kids' friends will live in town, lots will live out of town and be doing what you're anticipating doing, driving their kids around, using school buses, etc. It becomes the norm. And having lived in the 'burbs until I was a teen, and living again in what is quickly becoming the 'burbs, well, I'd take the rural life and all the stuff it brings with it any day. HTH

[OceanPrincess]

I spent my teen years growing up on a rural property on the outskirts of Melb. We lived 8kms out of the closest town (Hurstbridge) which didn't have a lot on offer, as gorgeous as it is.

Ok, I grew up in Hurstbridge! It really doesn't have a lot on offer but yes it is gorgeous! (Pac - why didn't we bump into each other as kids? That woulda been awesome!)

HB isn't "rural" and certainly wouldn't be considered a farm community. But - to offer a different perspective - I hated it. Wasn't to bad when we were little but once I hit 12, I joined a large choir and my involvement with them increased as I got older. I hated being so far from all the rehearsals and performances - Thursdays were such a scramble for all of us, my older sister basically had to look after herself until Dad got home or come with me and Mum as we drove for over an hour to get to the rehearsal, I had to get changed into my rehearsal uniform in the car and we always had Maccas as we'd go straight from school to the rehearsal which started at 5pm and finished 9pm and I was always starving. So my involvement there really coloured a lot of my experiences growing up.

It also frustrated me being an hour from the nearest decent shopping centre (using PT) and deciding to go to uni in the city meant an hour plus commute for me. As soon as I could, I moved in closer to the CBD.

So - I really think it depends on your kids. If they are happy being farm kids, then it'll probably work. But it wouldn't have worked for me. I'm not an outdoorsy person, don't really feel the need to "live off the land" (my DH does... he'd love to move to a farm), but maybe if I'd been brought up in that environment it'd be different.

We went out to visit a friend who is pretty rural by my estimate (hi ZF ) and DH was all set to move out there, he loved it. All I could think of was how far it was from the city! I think we will compromise in the near future and buy an acre-ish where we can have a cow, some chickens, some fruit trees and a decent veggie garden but somewhere relatively close to the CBD. There's one little spot we are thinking of

[Smoke Jaguar]

For us, the only real 'con' has been disappointment that DP's family doesn't visit more often, and expect us to be the ones trekking back all the time (DS' birthday was too hard for them, grrr), even though we moved because we didn't want to be there all the time and really like being on our farm.
The school bus is awesome for DS and the kids like being in a town where people know them. We were familiar in our old haunt, too, but it was a lot busier and affected by peak hour traffic - we lived in the Dandenongs.
When I go back there I remember what locals here say about it, saying "oh, it's beautiful up there", and I am bemused because I don't miss it and the thought of moving back is untenable to me!
The kids have ponies, we go for bike rides and we could be out riding for 20 minutes and not have left our farm. A bike ride to get the mail takes about 20mins one way (less on way back because it's mostly downhill ), and it's nice for the kids to wave at the tourist train when they're out on their ponies.
Lots of locals have done the OS thing, or done some Melbourne time and have returned to have their families. To me, that says everything, and completely validates our decision to buy a farm this far out of Melbourne. We're about and hour and a half drive from Melb, an hour and a bit from Traralgon, an hour to Morwell, just under an hour to Warragul, 45 mins from Wonthaggi - whatever these places don't have we don't need, or can be ordered online!

[~*Niadalla*~]

The 'town' I live in has a population of about 50. The next nearest small town has a population of around 200 and then there's the regional city close to an hour away with a population of approx 100,000.
I LOVE where we live. We're on the highway to the regional city, but we are a fairway off it so the traffic doesn't really bother us. It just means that our house is easy to get to.

The nearest school is 30kms away, but it encompasses the kindergarten as well as grades prep-year 12. The kids get to catch a bus to school (no charge) and the 4yo's even catch it to kinder (we have to drive out and pick them up as they finish earlier than the buses leave), but the transition into prep next year will be so seamless and DS LOVES it.

We are involved in a lot of local sporting groups and community groups. I feel like what we do for others out here actually MATTERS.

We can make as much noise as we like and it doesn't bother anyone - that's a BIG pro for us!

The only cons I have really come across is the long drive into the regional city and the lack of employment and childcare for our family.

I can't just duck to the shops if I need anything..... it's almost a 2 hour round trip.
The pro about that is, I can only rarely have take away which is awesome for my waistline!

I grew up in this regional city that we live 'near' and whilst it was good, I MUCH prefer being out of town. The kids have so much freedom and space to do what they want. It's the best move we ever made.

[kateo]

I live with my DS and DH in "Pretend Country". We are only about 45 min to Canberra and 15 mins to a local village. We live on small acerage and can see several of our neighbours houses. I love that my 3 horses are on the property and our two dogs (although well contained in our back yard can bark a lot without our neighbours being bothered.
We absolutely LOVE it!
I do have to be organised about food shopping and going places with my DS ....coordinating sleep times in drive times and feed times that don't occur along the road can be fun!
I grew up on a much bigger property further from town and I can only recommend the lifestyle.
Kids can "safely" run out the front, make lots of noise and generally be"farm kids".
I have to say as a local horse riding coach I have gotten to know lots of the local kids and don't know one of them I wouldn't happily spend the week with. They are happy confident outdoorsy type kids with good levels of resourcefulness and an understanding of their impact on their families. I think the negotiation to travel and visit people actually makes kids a bit more aware and sensitive to the needs of others in their families......if you want to go to town you have to fit in with a trip there or help mum out so she's got time to take you.
I personally LOVE the quiet days where I don't even hear a car. My SIL reckons it'd drive her nuts.......her kids drive me nuts so each to their own !

[Arcadia]

i grew up outside albury and really loved it. The bus ride was longish because of the route via lots of schools and we had to ride our bikes to the bus stop, but we had special school bus friends (and bullies!)

As we grew older kids really only came to play if they stayed the night because of the travel. I used to ride my bike to a friend close by too.

Dad worked in town so extra curricular things meant walking from school to ballet or music and then waiting for dad to finish, or going on hospital rounds in my ballet gear (I still blush about that!)

As a teenager it was hard, because there was planning required to do everything, and I felt left out at times, but back then I got my license at 17 and loved driving around.

I miss the country but the vibrancy of Melbourne has me hooked!!!

[Early Kids]

I live on about 80,000 acres of land.... the closest town has a population of around 50 (which includes people on surrounding farms etc LOL). The closest supermarket and next biggest town is 50kms away, it has an IGA and a Target Country and a few little boutique type shops. The little town has a school for K-7 which is one big classroom and has two teacher two days a week and one teacher on the 3rd day, the other two days per week the children (a whole 15?) are bussed in to the big school in the big town lol.

I LOVE it here, the kids love it, so much space and freedom and fresh air. I hate having to drive so far just to get groceries BUT we are so much better off for it, we used to live in a town with a population of around 9,000 and it had sooo many fast food options we were eating way too much take-out. Now we go out about once a month to a restaurant on the highway (about 25kms drive) and have a nice healthy meal out.

The good side is better eating, healthier diet and no excuses not to exercise! There is plenty of space for the kids, we aren't concerned bout security at all. It really is a stress free way of living. The down side is that the food shopping is more expensive here, but the IGA still do reasonably good specials.

I was nervous about the schooling situation especially given DS1 has ASD amongst a few other issues, but it really has been the best thing for him. None of us have been sick since moving here (with the exception of my own current issues which are not contagious anyway). The health things were a bit of a worry too, especially given DS1's history, but we've got in with a great doctor and the local therapists are not as busy as what the ones where we were living were.

All in all, we love it and the kids love it

*ETA* As a family we are far more involved in community projects too. I attended my first P&C meeting this year and in that meeting I managed to get the secretary job lol.