Would you move to the country?

A couple of posters have replied to the OP's concerns about being no longer able to drive with the suggestion to get a taxi. Unfortunately it isn't always that easy in the countryside. On two occasions, one in Somerset one in Cornwall, we were unable to get taxis to transport us. There just isn't the volume of customers for them to be readily available in every village or small town.
If moving to the countryside a passing bus service is a must if you can no longer drive.

We moved from a city to a small village four months ago. We love it! There are 5 buses a day from the village, shops about two miles away and a brilliant medical practice 4 miles away. It is much better than the service we got at a busy city practice. People are friendly and welcoming, there are coffee mornings, WI, garden club ( January meal tomorrow!) and a fun choir. Online shopping is something we could use if we needed to.
We enjoy our own company, have family nearby but will get to know people around us.
Only you will know if you have the confidence to go out and start afresh.

If you move to a village you do have to make an effort to get to know people but we have moved around a lot and have always found people to be friendly and helpful if you make an effort. Do check out public transport and remember that local bus routes can and do disappear so be prepared to use taxis if you find at a later date that you can no longer drive. Find out also about GP surgeries and hospitals and if your potential village has a shop and a pub so much the better. Most villages have a newsletter or similar which is sometimes on-line and you can check what activities and clubs are thriving in the village. My advice would be to join everything and then jettison the ones you find you don't like. Good luck if you do decide to move.

Don’t underestimate how hard it is to make a life in a new place when you’re older. Look out for somewhere that has coffee mornings, clubs, etc. Bowls is good. I’ve lived in a rural area for 28 years (my husband is a local) and I’m still a bit of an incomer it seems. When a village is interconnected through school, family and work there is a subliminal distrust of those that don’t have that background.

I've lived in inner city, suburbia, small town and now I'm in a village with no shop although it does have buses every hour if you need them. Of all the places I've lived the village is the best. I love living in the country.

Having lived in cities, towns, large villages and hamlets at various times in our lives, we have now settled on the edges of a large village, with regular public transport/pub/church/ shops/clubs etc.Towns about 8 miles away.It seems a pretty perfect location to me ( we came here from a hamlet, just two lanes of houses and nothing else!)
This move had to be a future proof move for us, and is also very near to all the family.
Think hard before moving to a small village.

No, I like the countryside for short visits, but I love living in my big city (Birmingham.) There are so many things to do and everything is on my doorstep or a short bus or taxi ride away. Plus, I live next door to a lovely park and an arts centre. I think I have future proofed my life- if I gave up my car I would still be able to get around easily, and it is easy for my children to visit me.

We have- but to a place where we have excellent public transport. Very regular buses from very early to very late in two directions- with great connection to Swiss and French train services, including TGV fast train to Paris in less than 3 hours.

I've never driven anyway. I live in Greater London but plan to move to the countryside. It's just not a problem so long as I'm within about about ten miles of a town or station.

Regular shopping I order online. For trips out I call a minicab. I'm used to using buses and trains.

As I'm only 66 and have walked all my life I can easily walk two or three miles and cycle ten to fifteen. Should I not be able to in the future, it'll be more cabs!

I don't drive and I'm on my own so country living is not for me.

We live in the middle of nowhere so are facing the opposite problem. DD would like us to move back to Hampshire so we can be near her and I don't have a problem because it's my old stamping ground and we'd be back near the sea again with a short hop across to the Isle of Wight where we have friends.

I don't know how we'd cope with how crowded the area is now. Yes, it would be nice to have shops and medical centres within walking distance and we must think about DD and her family who want to support us so it would be unfair of us to expect them to travel long distances. DH's health is poor so we mustn't leave it too long.

With the summer coming my head is going back down into the sand. I so love living here.

I live in the countryside now. Or more precisely, on the edge of a village which now has no shop/school/post office, unlike when we moved here. Also no public transport. Some older people do stay here, relying on neighbours and family to help out. Others want to ‘futureproof’ their lives so have moved to towns.

We’ll move eventually as the house will become too big and expensive for us but I’ve no idea where we’ll go.

I am only in my 50s and am already thinking about where I should be for my older years. Somewhere near public transport, near a GP, with shops easily accessible.

I have always wanted to live off in the deepest countyside, no neighbours, very deeply rural, but too late for me.

Not all of our dreams come true.