faygate

The City and the Country

I don’t know about you, but have you ever been on holiday and thought, “I can live here”? Now being on holiday has got to be better than being at home, otherwise let’s face we wouldn’t go on holiday!

A few weeks ago we were away in Devon and it got me thinking, “Could I live here?”

You see, with an affinity for the sea (and by sea I mean any body of water, lake, river!!) the thought of living somewhere like Dartmouth, close to the English Riviera really does appeal. Let’s face it I live in the 9th biggest city in the UK and as with all cities it has it’s good sides and it’s bad sides. You can get some shopping at 3 o’clock in the morning but on the flip side you can feel intimidated by drunken idiots at 7 o’clock on a Saturday evening.

So what does the countryside (or the seaside) offer? Well for me, the lure of the water does it for me every time and who couldn’t fall in love with those rolling hills and slower pace of life. Sounds good to me, but what would you do? No I mean what would you do for a living. On our current salaries, we might be able to be mortgage free by the time we’re 50, but then we live in a city and we have a good job. In the country though our jobs don’t exist, so then you’re in the realms of commuting hours everyday and then that defeats the whole point of living in the country.

What you really want is the best of the both worlds. The opportunities that the city offers you and your family, but the beautiful countryside that the more rural parts of the country offer you. Is that possible without having a massive mortgage and working all the hours God gives.

We’ve tried to move away from Bristol a couple of times now, but something always keeps us here. Maybe my dream of living by the sea will have to wait until the kids grow up and leave home, we retire, my lottery numbers come up or I just need to find the right city! ;)