is the countryside better than people think

JustAThought

JustAThought wrote: »

50k - Just buy it!! You’ll be regretting that for a long time!! ( Unless of course it floods!)

Or you don’t get planning.

pgj2015

Deleted User wrote: »

Or you don’t get planning.

There was planning with it.

Galwayguy35

Ms2011 wrote: »

These threads are always the same:

I love the city/country and couldn't imagine living anywhere elsewhere.
I hate the city/country and would never return.

It's all relative to your circumstances and personal preference.

+1

Different strokes for different folks, some people like what the city has to offer and others prefer the quiet life in the countryside.

I live in a small village and it suit me perfectly, can walk to the local shop or the pub (when it opens) for a pint and still have lots of open space for walking cyclyng etc.

Although growing up in a rural area in the 70s and 80s wasn't great, my folks had no car and never learned to drive and when we had to go somewhere it was a case of asking neighbours for lifts and you always felt they were doing it because they were too polite to say no.

JustAThought

Covid -19 is an incurable plague that can kill and that has no cure and that you can catch multiple times - each a chance for death . I think we wouod be mad to assume that the lure of decrease of risk for health and the availability clean open privately contained spaces will not be affected by this.

As regards cliqueness - I specifically chose to buy in a new build estate with lovely houses in a semi rural location close enough commute to the city thinking everyone would be in the same boat and friendly and living happily ever after together - NO!! Tensions of close enough living, bitchy bored housewives and knacker behaviour from professional but not interested in or available to parent families, issues over noise and parking problems has aligned the estate into general factions and provided within a short enough timeframe the kind of closed thinking, schoolboy cliques and nasty bitchy attitudes and behaviour that I guess would be similar after generations of fueds and fighting in the country.

I can’t imagine , given the availability of finance for second hand cars and the normalising of banger/starter cars for late teens that the issues of isolation from one car working families in the 1980’s or 1990’s would be the same 30 years on which seems to be the biggest issue in this thread.

Having listened to 5 hours of screaming & fighting inna foreign language by over the wall kids yesterday if the broadband and house was excellent and in its own grounds - acerage - I certainly would be strongly considering moving. I can always get into the car and drive for a meal/ gig/ shopping centre - not that any of them are open in the city anymore anyway!! And rather than joining a gym a home gym room and Jie Wicks on the internet, and whetever it takes to out in a hottub and heated pool under the stars in the garden would certainly be money well spent : )

You can dream different with space - and in the city it is a numbers game and only a matter of time before you catch it. Chilling reports from people who have caught it and recovered telling of long term (so far) lung damage and breathing pain and exhaustion issues ... :0

A big yes from me so!

Galwayguy35

pgj2015 wrote: »

I grew up in the countryside, about 2 miles from a busy town. I am looking to but a house now and I saw a 7 acre site in the middle of nowhere overlooking a lake for only 50,000. I would have bought it but it was too far from where I work so I had to leave it. That is the ideal place I want to live, the lake would have been great as I have always been into fishing.

Sounds like a lovely place to retire in.

50 k is a steal, what county is it in if you don't mind me asking?

pgj2015

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Sounds like a lovely place to retire in.

50 k is a steal, what county is it in if you don't mind me asking?

Roscommon. its not on daft now. might be sold.

it seemed a bit too good to be true.

DoozerT6

DoozerT6 wrote: »

Exactly this. During the years when I should have been starting to exist somewhat independantly from my family (meeting up with friends, just wandering into the town centre or whatever, only appearing at mealtimes) I was stuck at home for the most part. Being at home is what is most normal for me even now in my 40's, and it's VERY hard to break out of that mindset when you missed out on a lot of that part of your social development.

The last thing people should want is their teens hanging around on corners or wandering around the town. Contrary to some I would see the inability to get around by themselves as a big advantage of country and makes it much easier for parents to keep control on teens and know where they are.

When I was a teenager I was far too busy working on the farm to be hanging around the town causing trouble like the people in our nearest time used to do.

Multipass

Julissa Eager Matchless wrote: »

The last thing people should want is their teens hanging around on corners or wandering around the town. Contrary to some I would see the inability to get around by themselves as a big advantage of country and makes it much easier for parents to keep control on teens and know where they are.

When I was a teenager I was far too busy working on the farm to be hanging around the town causing trouble like the people in our nearest time used to do.

For younger teens yes, but as they get older you want to foster some independence and self reliance, which is much harder to do when they have to involve you in their social life. The solution is to have them driving as soon as possible, but the way car insurance currently stands it’s completely impossible (for me anyway).

DoozerT6

Julissa Eager Matchless wrote: »

The last thing people should want is their teens hanging around on corners or wandering around the town. Contrary to some I would see the inability to get around by themselves as a big advantage of country and makes it much easier for parents to keep control on teens and know where they are.

When I was a teenager I was far too busy working on the farm to be hanging around the town causing trouble like the people in our nearest time used to do.

Not everybody in the country lives on a farm. That would of course have kept me busy, but unless you LOVE farming it could also build resentment that here you are, stuck baling hay when your mates are on holiday or just off for the day having the craic on their summer hols.

My point wasn't about just wanting to hang around the town though, but as multipass said above, about fostering a sense of independance and normalising the fact that another life exists beyond the confines of your garden. Or the farm.

Multipass

Multipass wrote: »

For younger teens yes, but as they get older you want to foster some independence and self reliance, which is much harder to do when they have to involve you in their social life. The solution is to have them driving as soon as possible, but the way car insurance currently stands it’s completely impossible (for me anyway).

Both mine learned to drive as soon as they turned 17. It eased my burden a lot!

Ms2011

pgj2015 wrote: »

Roscommon. its not on daft now. might be sold.

it seemed a bit too good to be true.

We paid 56k for a doer upper an hour outside Dublin, best decision we ever made. Yes we are still doing it up but we have no mortgage, a huge advantage in our current economic climate.

Ms2011

Deleted User wrote: »

Both mine learned to drive as soon as they turned 17. It eased my burden a lot!

That's our plan too, as soon as they can reach the pedal in the car I will be teaching them to drive

kowloon

Ms2011 wrote: »

These threads are always the same:

I love the city/country and couldn't imagine living anywhere elsewhere.
I hate the city/country and would never return.

It's all relative to your circumstances and personal preference.

Stop that! We come to the internet to be judgemental about other people's situations and choices in a way that would see us ostracised in real life.

jaxxx

Ms2011 wrote: »

These threads are always the same:

I love the city/country and couldn't imagine living anywhere elsewhere.
I hate the city/country and would never return.

It's all relative to your circumstances and personal preference.

STOP TALKING SENSE GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Multipass

Deleted User wrote: »

Both mine learned to drive as soon as they turned 17. It eased my burden a lot!

3000 per year insurance, not a hope in hell for mine.

ChikiChiki

As I enter my 30s hoping to buy down west on the fringes of Galway and a possible a doer upper that I can chip away at by myself.

My own work circumstances are that I can work remotely but may utilise the office in Dublin for meetings etc. 1 or 2 days a week. All my mates and family home are on the suburbs of Dublin so I can be up quickly in an hour and a half for the odd night out or whatever via the M6 M4. Also Galway can be quite lively too.

Like the idea of having a place with scenic views and some land for various projects. Maybe a vegetable patch and a garage to work on projects. Also with a house on land, I can expand as the years go on.

Being in my own company has never bothered me as I have a huge circle of family & friends. I'm sure plenty will be down to visit for weekends or whatever and would be most welcome. That may require a home bar in a shed while I'm at it.

John_Rambo

Julissa Eager Matchless wrote: »

The last thing people should want is their teens hanging around on corners or wandering around the town. Contrary to some I would see the inability to get around by themselves as a big advantage of country and makes it much easier for parents to keep control on teens and know where they are.

When I was a teenager I was far too busy working on the farm to be hanging around the town causing trouble like the people in our nearest time used to do.

I appreciate the town close to you are pretty rough with lots of social issues. In other parts of the country there are lots of really nice towns, villages and suburban areas where teenagers hang around in parks, beaches, cafes and pizza restaurants. They're well behaved are usually involved in sports and don't cause trouble.

Multipass

Multipass wrote: »

3000 per year insurance, not a hope in hell for mine.

I was insured the minute I tuned 17, named driver and it cost over 2000 punts. Anything I’ve seen says that insurance is cheaper now for young drivers so doubt a named driver would be paying anywhere near 3k.

John_Rambo wrote: »

I appreciate the town close to you are pretty rough with lots of social issues. In other parts of the country there are lots of really nice towns, villages and suburban areas where teenagers hang around in parks, beaches, cafes and pizza restaurants. They're well behaved are usually involved in sports and don't cause trouble.

No matter how well behaved they are in theory teens that can easily hang around with groups of friends will without doubt end up doing stuff they should and also end up gone late at night and not be able to find them etc.

Nothing stopping rural teens meeting with friends, playing sports etc I did all these things I just needed to get a lift there and back mostly so much easier for my parents to know where I was and who I was with etc though. The “nothing to do” if you live in a rural area is a total fallacy. Anything you can’t go locally can be done in your nearest big town or city, I missed out on nothing growing up but had all the other advantages of country living. Looking back I would have hated to grow up anywhere but countryside.

Multipass

Multipass wrote: »

3000 per year insurance, not a hope in hell for mine.

Not if they’re name drivers. I seem to think that it was never more than €300 on top of my policy. And I got a refund once they qualified!

meeeeh

DoozerT6 wrote: »

Not everybody in the country lives on a farm. That would of course have kept me busy, but unless you LOVE farming it could also build resentment that here you are, stuck baling hay when your mates are on holiday or just off for the day having the craic on their summer hols.

My point wasn't about just wanting to hang around the town though, but as multipass said above, about fostering a sense of independance and normalising the fact that another life exists beyond the confines of your garden. Or the farm.

I don't buy that as I don't believe that any teenager enjoys spending all their time working on the farm. There are differences in how remote area you live but there is also this magical thing called bicycle which can get you quite far in half an hour.

I didn't grow up in particularly remote area but in my teenage years my best friends were school mates in the high school and we lived in radius of 40km and in very different directions so our socializing was mostly around school times and events. There were some who kept to themselves and there were those of us who were doing perfectly fine and had a nice group of friends, I fitted in with them way better than with the nearby kids I went to primary school with. I think your personality and how you fit with other people is a lot more important than where you live (obviously if your neighbor is 10km away you might have a point). Most of us also had full driving licence by the time we were 19.

Thelonious Monk

pgj2015 wrote: »

I grew up in the countryside, about 2 miles from a busy town. I am looking to but a house now and I saw a 7 acre site in the middle of nowhere overlooking a lake for only 50,000. I would have bought it but it was too far from where I work so I had to leave it. That is the ideal place I want to live, the lake would have been great as I have always been into fishing.

Just don't go ruining a nice lake for the rest of us.
I can't believe this happened, it's a f*cking disgrace

https://www.thejournal.ie/lough-salt-5069041-Apr2020/

pgj2015

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Just don't go ruining a nice lake for the rest of us.
I can't believe this happened, it's a f*cking disgrace

https://www.thejournal.ie/lough-salt-5069041-Apr2020/

what is a disgrace?

Thelonious Monk

pgj2015 wrote: »

what is a disgrace?

You think that monstrosity blends in with the environment?

pgj2015

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

You think that monstrosity blends in with the environment?

its a small house not the trump tower.

do you hike that area much or why does it bother you? there has always been houses built overlooking lakes in Ireland, I don't see the issue.

if someone wants to spend their money on a site overlooking a lake then that is up to them, if there is a problem with it the planning authorities will object.

The Irish countryside can look deserted enough at times, I think its nice to see the odd house in it.

Thelonious Monk

Grand I'm going to try and build a house on the banks of Glendalough

Harry Palmr

What a desolate spot!

Cee-Jay-Cee

I grew up the Donegal country side and spent my youth (late 70’s and early 80’s) wandering far and wide through fields and forests etc etc I knew every field and wall and tree within a 5 mile radius of my home however in my mid/late teens I wanted to live in a town and always said I’d never live in the country when it came to buy a house.

I moved to Dublin and worked there for 6 years from 91-97 and fairly much enjoyed it. I moved back to my home town after farting about Europe/London for a few years and bought a house. I didn’t get married till my mid 30’s and we lived in my house till 2010 when baby no1 was on her way. We decided that we didn’t want to bring children up in the town as there was no space and we both came from rural backgrounds so we sold up and bought approx 7km out of town. We have 1/2 acre site off a minor road with fields on all four sides of the house. My daughters have a large garden, tarmac the full way around the house to cycle their bikes/go karts/scooters/flickers etc trampoline, swing set etc in the garden to keep them occupied. They absolutely love going on adventures by themselves up the fields behind our house and collect flowers and butterflies and lady bugs etc etc on a regular basis.

We have said so many times during the last 7 or 8 weeks during lock down that we are so thankful we live in the country and our children have so much space to play and enjoy the good weather we’ve been having recently. I couldn’t imagine having to try and keep them occupied in the house we lived in previously in town with it’s pokey back garden and non existent front garden etc

They are having the same type childhood I had, they have limited technology which they only get for an hour at weekends unlike all their school mates but it doesn’t seem to bother them. I’m sure they’ll have many happy memories playing outside and wandering through fields like I have unlike their friends who appear to spend most of their time online on x-boxes/switches etc which isn’t very conducive to making memories to pass on to their kids.

Country life is the only way.

nthclare

Well the rural life or cultured city life aren't much different.

You'll get good and bad people everywhere.

There's drug dealers in every town, country crossroads, village's and city corner's..

It's how one see things and their appreciation for their culture and sorroundings...

There's a lot of wedge tomb's in the Burren in Clare and old megalithic tomb's and ringforts.

Dublin has a few wedge tomb's in the city and amazing architecture and history, I was fly fishing on one of the small river's in Dublin years ago and a local guy showed me a wedge tomb, it's tucked away in the city amoungst a shrubbery,wild grass and hedge's etc...
People walk and drive by it every day and it's a hidden secret...
Best to stay a secret in case Anto spray paints it with an acid smily face and decko kicks it over, then Oisine will be devastated...

Those things are magical and well left alone.

whisky_galore

meeeeh wrote: »

I don't buy that as I don't believe that any teenager enjoys spending all their time working on the farm. There are differences in how remote area you live but there is also this magical thing called bicycle which can get you quite far in half an hour.

There are some who enjoy tractor work. Manual farm drudgery not so many takers.

nigeldaniel

Country living... as long as you are not next to a farmer.

deathbomber

Ms2011 wrote: »

We paid 56k for a doer upper an hour outside Dublin, best decision we ever made. Yes we are still doing it up but we have no mortgage, a huge advantage in our current economic climate.

Obviously the appeal of no mortgage is great, but in an hour outside Dublin you can be half way across to the Whest, you must be in Laois :<

screamer

Country living is not for everyone for sure. I love the countryside myself, the open spaces, fresh air and peace and quiet. My village is equally cliquish and clanish, but they are all related or interbred as I call it. I don't care though, acceptance by local hillbillies is not my goal in life, and I much prefer to keep myself to myself.

meeeeh

deathbomber wrote: »

Obviously the appeal of no mortgage is great, but in an hour outside Dublin you can be half way across to the Whest, you must be in Laois :<

Something like that is 50k for a reason. We are an hour away from Dublin in the country and have no lake yet houses go for 300k more. If something is too good to be true...

pgj2015

meeeeh wrote: »

Something like that is 50k for a reason. We are an hour away from Dublin in the country and have no lake yet houses go for 300k more. If something is too good to be true...

who knows, someone just might need the money and want a quick sale. isolated sites would put a lot of people off. half my family would love that kind of site, the other half would hate it.

NSAman

meeeeh wrote: »

Something like that is 50k for a reason. We are an hour away from Dublin in the country and have no lake yet houses go for 300k more. If something is too good to be true...

Not always the case. The house I am in currently was valued at 7 figures. It was bank owned in a recession after a messy divorce.

It came with 5 acres. yes it was in need of modernisation but the house was/is something special.

The work has been done by me and herself to bring it up to the standards that we like. we also added more land to it.

It was purchased for a song... literally.. some of those ‘too good to be true” deals are actually just good deals.

Ush1

Couldn't pay me to live rurally, would hate the isolation and car dependence.

Ms2011

NSAman wrote: »

Not always the case. The house I am in currently was valued at 7 figures. It was bank owned in a recession after a messy divorce.

It came with 5 acres. yes it was in need of modernisation but the house was/is something special.

The work has been done by me and herself to bring it up to the standards that we like. we also added more land to it.

It was purchased for a song... literally.. some of those ‘too good to be true” deals are actually just good deals.

This was more or less the case with ours, we bought it for 56k ( ex army barracks, acre of land, stables and outhouses) 5 years ago, we've done alot of work to it and more needs doing, it's worth at least 3 times as much now though.

My husband still works in Dublin and I often meet friends or family halfway for a coffee while the kids are in school so I feel I have the best of both worlds. I can be completely rural most of the time but can dip my toe in Dublin easily when I want to too.

Ms2011

deathbomber wrote: »

Obviously the appeal of no mortgage is great, but in an hour outside Dublin you can be half way across to the Whest, you must be in Laois :<

No, not quite as far as Laois, its 50 minutes exactly from my door to Newslands Cross.

meeeeh

Ms2011 wrote: »

This was more or less the case with ours, we bought it for 56k ( ex army barracks, acre of land, stables and outhouses) 5 years ago, we've done alot of work to it and more needs doing, it's worth at least 3 times as much now though.

5 years ago houses weren't really selling where we are. In the last 5 years prices went up and even more importantly price of labour went up significantly. Add to that higher energy standards and your 50k suddenly comes with the need to raise a lot more cash to make house livable. You have to compare prices of labour and property today.

Galwayguy35

Some of those old houses that sell cheap are bottomless money pits when it comes to doing them up though.

I know a lad here who bought one without doing his homework and it turned out to be a listed building so he's rightly fooked now stuck with it.

stevek93

Not a hope no public transport no decent healthcare you need to travel for it, s*ite broadband and mobile phone reception no shops for miles in some places. Countryside is lovely to get away but that lovely feeling will be short lived.

Ms2011

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Some of those old houses that sell cheap are bottomless money pits when it comes to doing them up though.

I know a lad here who bought one without doing his homework and it turned out to be a listed building so he's rightly fooked now stuck with it.

Mine is listed, what problems is he having??

Leg End Reject

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Some of those old houses that sell cheap are bottomless money pits when it comes to doing them up though.

I know a lad here who bought one without doing his homework and it turned out to be a listed building so he's rightly fooked now stuck with it.

He would have a case against his solicitor I'd say if it wasn't flagged to him. The solicitor should have completed checks before closing the sale.

Galwayguy35

Ms2011 wrote: »

Mine is listed, what problems is he having??

He built on to it and wasn't supposed to, don't know the ins and outs of it but its all been stopped up for a few years now.

Ms2011

meeeeh wrote: »

5 years ago houses weren't really selling where we are. In the last 5 years prices went up and even more importantly price of labour went up significantly. Add to that higher energy standards and your 50k suddenly comes with the need to raise a lot more cash to make house livable. You have to compare prices of labour and property today.

We do alot of the work ourselves and alot of the horror stories we heard about regarding labour were just that. People saying it would cost thousands to get the ESB reconnected after 5 years disconnected when it only cost €100 is just one example.

Galwayguy35

Leg End Reject wrote: »

He would have a case against his solicitor I'd say if it wasn't flagged to him. The solicitor should have completed checks before closing the sale.

And this guy was a builder himself so he should have known what he was buying, it was an RIC barracks back in the day but he didn't know that.

Ms2011

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

He built on to it and wasn't supposed to, don't know the ins and outs of it but its all been stopped up for a few years now.

In fairness that could happen with any house that doesn't have planning permission.

Leg End Reject

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

He built on to it and wasn't supposed to, don't know the ins and outs of it but its all been stopped up for a few years now.

That sounds more like he proceeded without planning permission. That's an issue regardless of the original cost price. Planning permission is trickier on a listed building and comes with a lot of conditions and prescribed materials, finishes etc. He should've known this from the start though.

Ms2011

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

And this guy was a builder himself so he should have known what he was buying, it was an RIC barracks back in the day but he didn't know that.

Mines an RIC barracks too

Galwayguy35

Ms2011 wrote: »

Mines an RIC barracks too

Are you going to build on to it like he did?