Matt N
TS Member
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Hi guys. With there being a wide array of members on here, I'm sure we live in a number of places of all shapes and sizes. From big towns and cities to small villages, there is a wide spectrum of places to live. However, I'd say that the living style in most places would fall into one of two categories; rural living and urban living. Rural living entails living in more remote, quaint surroundings, often in areas of natural beauty or expansive countryside. Urban living, on the other hand, entails living in busier, more built up surroundings with more going on, and is more typically associated with large cities and towns. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know; does rural or urban living appeal to you more? Do you like the peace and tranquil surroundings of a rural environment, or do you prefer the convenience and hustle and bustle of an urban environment?
Personally, I'm actually undecided.
I have lived rurally for as long as I can remember. For my whole life, I have lived in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire in the South West of England, and I have spent that whole time living in small rural villages with less than 1,000 residents. To be more specific, I grew up in one small village and moved to another one just down the road when I was 12, where I have lived ever since.
I'm often told how lucky I am to live in a rural area like the Forest, with the Wye Valley AONB and numerous forest walks and rural villages on my doorstep. I don't deny that I do live in rather picturesque surroundings; there are some very nice walking routes only a short drive away from where I live, and the forest can be very pretty! I also think that having a rural upbringing was beneficial to me in some ways; for instance, I feel I massively benefitted from attending a small village primary school and getting a more intimate degree of support within a smaller cohort of students.
However, I don't think living rurally is all sunshine and roses either, despite the often idyllic portrayal of rural living. The pitfalls of rural living have become more apparent to me with age.
One thing you absolutely do not get around here is convenience. In my village, the bus only comes once every 2-3 hours and only goes as far as the nearest small town in either direction (the length of the whole route is probably less than 10 miles), and while the train service is admittedly pretty decent, with a train heading towards Cheltenham in one direction and Cardiff in the other once every 1-2 hours and the odd train heading as far north as Nottingham thrown in there every few hours, you certainly aren't getting a smorgasbord of train services around here, either. If you want to get anywhere vaguely far away with any modicum of flexibility, driving is basically an essential life skill in a way that it isn't in an urban area. We also can't access many of the instant app-based luxuries that urban folk have access to; the likes of Deliveroo and Uber may as well be things from a sci-fi film here in the Forest of Dean!
Nonetheless, I'd be hesitant to say that urban living appeals to me more than rural living simply because I've never tried it. If I lived in an urban area, I may well have been yearning for a rural area like the Forest of Dean!
But I'd be interested to know; does rural or urban living appeal to you more? Do you appreciate the peace and quiet of rural living, or do you value the convenience and hustle and bustle of urban living more?
Personally, I'm actually undecided.
I have lived rurally for as long as I can remember. For my whole life, I have lived in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire in the South West of England, and I have spent that whole time living in small rural villages with less than 1,000 residents. To be more specific, I grew up in one small village and moved to another one just down the road when I was 12, where I have lived ever since.
I'm often told how lucky I am to live in a rural area like the Forest, with the Wye Valley AONB and numerous forest walks and rural villages on my doorstep. I don't deny that I do live in rather picturesque surroundings; there are some very nice walking routes only a short drive away from where I live, and the forest can be very pretty! I also think that having a rural upbringing was beneficial to me in some ways; for instance, I feel I massively benefitted from attending a small village primary school and getting a more intimate degree of support within a smaller cohort of students.
However, I don't think living rurally is all sunshine and roses either, despite the often idyllic portrayal of rural living. The pitfalls of rural living have become more apparent to me with age.
One thing you absolutely do not get around here is convenience. In my village, the bus only comes once every 2-3 hours and only goes as far as the nearest small town in either direction (the length of the whole route is probably less than 10 miles), and while the train service is admittedly pretty decent, with a train heading towards Cheltenham in one direction and Cardiff in the other once every 1-2 hours and the odd train heading as far north as Nottingham thrown in there every few hours, you certainly aren't getting a smorgasbord of train services around here, either. If you want to get anywhere vaguely far away with any modicum of flexibility, driving is basically an essential life skill in a way that it isn't in an urban area. We also can't access many of the instant app-based luxuries that urban folk have access to; the likes of Deliveroo and Uber may as well be things from a sci-fi film here in the Forest of Dean!
Nonetheless, I'd be hesitant to say that urban living appeals to me more than rural living simply because I've never tried it. If I lived in an urban area, I may well have been yearning for a rural area like the Forest of Dean!
But I'd be interested to know; does rural or urban living appeal to you more? Do you appreciate the peace and quiet of rural living, or do you value the convenience and hustle and bustle of urban living more?
