What Parents Need To Know About Escaping To The Country

**Collaborative post**

The pandemic looks to be on its way out but remote-/hybrid working looks like it’s here to stay. This means that many parents will now have a far wider choice of places to live. If you’re thinking about escaping to the country with children, here are some important facts you need to know.

Property can cost the same as in cities

In popular tourist areas, prices for rural properties can be comparable to prices for city property. That said, these areas often have opportunities for monetizing your property. The obvious example is the government’s “rent-a-room” scheme. This allows homeowners to earn up to £7500 per year tax-free through letting out furnished accommodation.

Under current rules, short-term lets qualify for this scheme. You could therefore let out part of your home during the tourist season and have it to yourself the rest of the year. If you’re not keen on having strangers in your home, then you could consider investing in a tiny house or cabin. Again, you can let it out in tourist season and use it yourself the rest of the time.

Outside of popular tourist areas, rural property does tend to be a lot more affordable than in cities and urban areas. If your main priority is to get more space indoors and outdoors at a reasonable price then these areas could be a great option for you.

Properties may be older

Rural areas are highly unlikely to have many, if any, new-build developments. In fact, they may not have much in the way of modern property at all. Older properties definitely have their good points. They’re full of character and can have excellent storage space. You do, however, need to think about the practicalities of owning one.

In particular, you need to be realistic about the fact that unmodernized period properties can have minimal to no insulation. As a result, they can be massively expensive to heat. On the plus side, a lot of older properties have already been modernized. If you’re looking at one that isn’t, see if you’re eligible for help with the cost of updating it.

It’s also worth noting that rural properties can have the infrastructure you hardly ever see in cities and urban areas. For example, they may have their own septic tanks instead of a connection to the mains sewage. None of this needs to be a great challenge. You just need to be ready to adapt to the differences.

You can, however, expect to get a lot more private outdoor space to go with easy access to public open spaces. At a minimum, you should expect to get a decent-sized garden. You may even get a space big enough for market-gardening or some other form of monetization.

Transport is very different

Most rural areas have very limited public transport. Having a car is usually highly desirable for anyone living in the countryside. It’s arguably essential for parents. In fact, more specifically, you’ll need a car which can handle country roads. You may also want to look at a larger carry so you can carry more in it.

You’ll also need to be aware of your driving style. Even though roads may look totally clear, animals, and even people, can cross them with minimal warning. Experienced country drivers, therefore, tend to go fairly slowly at all times. That said, they probably still move faster than city drivers at peak times.

Overall, country roads tend to be both less stressful and safer than city ones. Younger children will still need adult supervision. As children grow, however, they can often get much more freedom to roam about by themselves than they could in a city or urban area.

You need to research local schools carefully

It’s probably safe to say that when parents move home, their children’s schooling is often right at the top of their minds. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that many parents move home specifically because of their desire to give their children a better education. Children in the countryside can get a great education but there are some key points to keep in mind.

Firstly, your only choice is likely to be between home-schooling and sending your child to the nearest school. Even the nearest school may require significant travelling, especially at secondary level. If, therefore, you’re planning on sending your child to school (as opposed to home-schooling), then you definitely need to research school-provision carefully.

If you are planning on home-schooling, then you’ll need to research your options for extra-curricular activities and playdates. These are likely to be very different from the options available in cities and urban areas. It might also be advisable to research local schools as well in case you change your mind about home-schooling.

Children will probably have to move to university

In cities and urban areas, young adult children often have a choice between moving to university and travelling from home. Moving out may provide more of a learning experience but travelling can be a lot more affordable.

In the countryside, realistically, if your children want to attend a real-world university, they will probably have to move out and live on campus. They may even have to move out if they want to pursue certain kinds of apprenticeships.

That said, it has long been possible to pursue further education via remote learning. The most obvious example of this is the Open University has been around since 1969 and is still going strong. There are now other universities offering at least some degrees on a distance-learning basis.

You can also get some forms of vocational training online, sometimes to degree level. For example, the Open College of the Arts covers many of the same subjects as real-world art schools (along with music and creative writing).

Internet access is highly variable

Rural internet is currently very hit and miss, to put it mildly. In some places, you can have the sort of high-speed connection many city-dwellers would envy. In others, you can get nothing at all, not even mobile data. In many, access is OK but not great. It’s fine for regular work but only passable for streaming low-grade video such as Zoom calls.

On the plus side, this is very definitely starting to change. There has long been cross-party consensus that it was vital to upgrade rural internet. What was lacking was the infrastructure and technology to make it happen. Now, this is being addressed. The UK’s digital backbone is being upgraded and extended and new options are being rolled out, for example, 5G.

Even so, for the foreseeable future, you should probably assume that your internet access will be relatively limited. It may be fine for allowing your child to have lessons from online maths and physics GCSE tutors. It is, however, much less likely to support real-time video gaming on its own let alone with streaming.

Shopping takes more planning

In the city, planning your shopping ahead can be very useful. It can help save you money as well as making shopping trips less stressful. At the end of the day, however, it’s unlikely to be essential. If need be, you can rush out for an emergency food shop or get something delivered. In the countryside, however, organisation is often essential.

You’ll have a more limited range of items available locally and you’ll probably have to travel a long way to stock up. Online deliveries are generally available but you may have to pay more for them and they’ll take longer to arrive.

On the other hand, you’ll usually have far more opportunities for growing your own food. This can be fun and rewarding for everyone. It can also be very educational for your children. In fact, you might even want to raise livestock. Just remember to do your research first. For example, chickens can live for many years but only lay eggs for a relatively short time.

Access to real-world services is more restricted

Rural areas, by their very nature, don’t have the population to support the many services and service providers you get in cities and urban areas. For parents, the headline point to note is that there may be very limited provision for paid childcare at any price. On the other hand, it may be easier for you to find space for live-in help such as an au-pair or nanny.

Also, in many other ways, the lack of real-world services is being counterbalanced by the increasing provision of online services. The digital service sector was growing strongly before the pandemic. Since early 2020 it has been surging. Its growth may well slow as the UK returns to normal. The overall trend, however, is clear and is great news for country-dwellers.

As long as you have decent internet, you’ll be able to access all kinds of services from your own home in the country. These range from healthcare to education and leisure. Similarly, this means that there’s increasing scope for you and your children to offer services. This can go a long way to compensating for the limited employment opportunities for young people in rural areas.