Neighborhood or country setting -- which would you choose to live in?

[Catwoman]

I always thought it was nice to live in a small neighborhood. All of the houses in our neighborhood have 1-2 acre lots, and there aren't more than 15 houses in total.

 

So... when we started looking for another house, I was thinking of a similar setting, but lately we've been having some trouble with one of the kids in our neighborhood, and I'm starting to wonder if we might be better off looking for a house with quite a few acres and "distant" neighbors. That way, when my son wants someone to play with, we can take him to a friend's house or -- more likely -- invite the friend over to our house to play. When ds wanted to play outside, there wouldn't be much chance of anyone taunting or teasing him.

 

I'm kind of emotional right now because the neighborhood boy seems determined to make my ds's like miserable, and we've never had to deal with that sort of thing in the past, so I don't know if I'm just having a knee-jerk reaction to our current situation when I say I'd prefer a country home. (Well, honestly, I've always wanted a house with a lot of property, but I thought a neighborhood would be better for my ds, in terms of making friends and stuff like that. Now I'm not so sure. It seems like a double-edged sword.)

 

If you have a minute, can you tell me what type of home setting you'd prefer, and any stories you have about where you live (or used to live) would be great. I'm hoping that reading others' perspectives will help me think more clearly.

 

Thanks so much! :)

 

Edited to add: I forgot to mention city living as an option! If you live in a city, is it large or small, and what are the advantages/disadvantages?

 

Cat

Edited August 6, 2010 by Catwoman

[jenL]

I vote for country, but still convenient to necessities. That is where we'd like to be eventually. I really do not like neighborhood living.

 

I'm sorry your son is having such a hard time... kids can be SO rotten!

[Carrie12345]

Well... I live in an area of 1-2 acre lots, but we have to drive/arrange play dates b/c the kids are so spread out. While it does have it's advantages, I think my kids miss out on the fun of being able to have impromptu get togethers.

 

I do think it's a case of the grass always being greener, with no clear winner!

 

:grouphug:

[Alenee]

We lived in a tight neighborhood with lots of kids. That's where my dd, 7yo at the time, found out about s*x and was generally hanging out with a lot of kids whose parents weren't really training their kids in good character. That is NOT why we left the neighborhood...we're going to deal with that sort of stuff in plenty of different situations, but we did move to an acre with only one neighbor close by and we love it. The adjoining properties are owned by elderly people and they have a combined 70 acres.

 

We LOVE living out here and are desperately trying to keep it, despite losses in income. This has always been our dream and the kids adore it as well. My vote is for acreage!

[Laura Corin]

We've enjoyed both situations. We used to live in an apartment complex, where all the children played together in the courtyard - it was wonderful, although we did run across problems with one out-of-control child, whose actions ended up with Hobbes breaking his arm.

 

We now live in the countryside, but on the far edge of a village. It's a fifteen minute walk to the centre of the village, but we have three acres and there is lots of other outdoor space (public access woodland) for the boys to explore. Both boys have friends within walking distance, but we aren't all on top of each other. I prefer living here, but there were definite advantages to our previous situation.

 

Laura

[gaillardia]

We've been having an issue with a neighborhood boy (11) and our girls (9 & 10) and their friend (9). The girls have told me he's mean, insulting, weird, bossy, etc., but when I'm around he's all Eddie Haskell (you know, from Leave it to Beaver), nicey nice. They would never remember to tell me right after, so I was always hearing things days or weeks later. I finally told them it was over, they can't play with him anymore.

He has come by and asked if they can play but they don't want to hurt his feelings:confused: so they just say not now, or not today. I'm not sure how to handle it either. The other girl's mom said if that's how I feel then her daughter can't play with him either.

We have almost two acres, his family has 2 or 3, etc. Kids get lonely out here in the country but it isn't our responsibility to be the social committee for the neighborhood!

One day we were leaving and they had been playing in our creek. My girls told them they (a couple of other kids added) had to go home. They said no. I told these kids we do not go to their home and play on their property when they are not home, it was time for them to go home. They left.

 

We moved from a suburban neighborhood where little kids ended up in our yard with no supervision, I always sent them home. I got tired of being a babysitter, and I don't put up with much.:tongue_smilie:Then we found out a convicted registered sox offender lived on our street. That's not why we moved but the timing was perfect. Just make sure you check your state registry.

Laura's situation sounds quaint. I'm picturing thatched roof cottages, collies and sheep wandering through town from the meadow to farm. :)

[Renee in NC]

I vote for country, but still convenient to necessities. That is where we'd like to be eventually. I really do not like neighborhood living.

 

I'm sorry your son is having such a hard time... kids can be SO rotten!

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

We are moving back to the country, even if we have to live in a shack!

[Remudamom]

Country in a heartbeat. It has saved me so much time not having to beat up neighborhood kids.

[redheadeddaughter]

Go for the land! :) I think the benefits of neighborhood living are over-hyped. We did that for 7 years and although this kids did have other little ones to ride bikes with and talk to when we were out and about, we still had to supervise everything. Many of the older kids were just plain mean.

 

Now we live on 3 acres in a small community where we really need to "ship" in our friends. We do it about once a week and it works perfectly. Plus, the kids can play outside without me feeling I need to supervise them all the time... I can actually cook dinner and know they aren't going to get run over by the cars coming around the corner at 45 MPH in a residential neighborhood! And I have a chance to get to know the moms a little better as well because they aren't just shoving them out of the house into the street... they are actually "visiting" us and it feels kind of old-fashioned... in a good way. They get tons of sunshine and mud and bugs and nature study! Of course, if you do the trick or treat thing (we don't anymore), it's harder in the country.

[Audrey]

Country for sure. Neighbours hate it when we go naked snow-bank diving in the middle of the winter.

 

There are all kinds of neighbourhoods, though. The one I grew up in was old and quiet and very nice for kids.

 

Then, at some point in my growing up, Hell itself started popping up out of the ground all over the place. I you call them suburbs, but I am quite sure that if there is a Hell, when I go there, it will be one giant suburb and all my neighbours will be that same jerk who spends all his free time coming up with more obnoxiousness to stick on the HOA rules, and all those neighbours will be married to that same woman who looks just like whatever the SuburbanmommaWeekly tells her to look like, and all the kids will be those snot-nosed bratty kids like the ones in another thread who were so darn mean to another poster's sweet little 7 year old.

[Margo out of lurking]

Dh and I grew up, married, and had kids in suburbia. Three years ago, we moved across the countRy: to a new house, five acres in the woods, one mile down a one lane road, 20 mins. to the nearest town, and an hour to a real city.

 

The neighbor beat the crap out of his wife. Regularly. Since there were no close neighbors, she would come to our house to hide out--until the next time. He was a drunk, and we were never comfortable leaving dd home alone. It was a huge blessing when they finally divorced, and he rented the house out to normal people.

 

My kids grew up in neighborhoods. All of their friends, all of our activities, were an hour away. They didn't care about the woods, the creek, or anything about country life. They missed being able to see friends though. The endless driving finally got to be too much, and we moved close to the "city." We are on 1/2 an acre, 30 year old neighborhood, lots of friendly neighbors. This is all wonderful. What *I* appreciate is having conveniences close by again: the grocery store, the freeway, the library, restaurants--everything is 5 mins. away again. My ds has seen his best friend more in the past 8 weeks than in the past two years. My dd will be taking a biology co-op this fall because the drive is now manageable.

 

I'm glad we did it, but only so we never have to wonder about it again. I'm never moving from this house, ever. I plan to die here, and I'll die happy and thankful. I'm not a very social person, yet I feel like we have our lives back.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Kristine out of lurking

[Impish]

Country.

[sheryl]

I always thought it was nice to live in a small neighborhood. All of the houses in our neighborhood have 1-2 acre lots, and there aren't more than 15 houses in total.

 

So... when we started looking for another house, I was thinking of a similar setting, but lately we've been having some trouble with one of the kids in our neighborhood, and I'm starting to wonder if we might be better off looking for a house with quite a few acres and "distant" neighbors. That way, when my son wants someone to play with, we can take him to a friend's house or -- more likely -- invite the friend over to our house to play. When ds wanted to play outside, there wouldn't be much chance of anyone taunting or teasing him.

 

I'm kind of emotional right now because the neighborhood boy seems determined to make my ds's like miserable, and we've never had to deal with that sort of thing in the past, so I don't know if I'm just having a knee-jerk reaction to our current situation when I say I'd prefer a country home. (Well, honestly, I've always wanted a house with a lot of property, but I thought a neighborhood would be better for my ds, in terms of making friends and stuff like that. Now I'm not so sure. It seems like a double-edged sword.)

 

If you have a minute, can you tell me what type of home setting you'd prefer, and any stories you have about where you live (or used to live) would be great. I'm hoping that reading others' perspectives will help me think more clearly.

 

Thanks so much! :)

 

Cat

 

 

Just one word though...I've thought about this a great deal myself. It's hard for our schedule to "align" with another homeschooling family who happens to be friends and live in our same neigborhood. We live 3 minutes away from each other....about 1 + mile. We don't see them often. I'm wondering how convenient, or not, it will be to "arrange" schedules and drive times for playdates.

 

With that said, I do prefer country. We all do in my family: dh, dd and myself. It's a trade off. To live in the quiet, tranquil surroundings of the country, but b/c it's "out" it may take a little more effort and time to bring opportunities to you.

 

Still, I vote country!

[JVA]

We think we have an ideal situation. Our street has 2, 3 and 5 acre lots. So, you can 'have' neighbors as much as you want. We have great neighbors but there aren't that many kids. Just recently, though, two families moved in with 3/4 boys, respectively. They are great families and it provides someone for our ds to hang with when he wants. There are lots of tight, new neighborhoods a few miles away that I detest. You can easily see into each other's kitchen windows and cul-de-sacs are magnets for zillions of kids to play in. Not our cup of tea. We can see the farm across the street, hear the cows and yes- smell the manure. But, we wouldn't trade anywhere, even if we could.

[Mejane]

Country. We lived in two close neighborhoods and hated having people knocking on our door at all hours. You can't control who your neighbors are, nor can you avoid them. Now we live on four wooded acres and it's lovely.

[MamaT]

We live in the country and I wouldn't trade it for anything. We are on the go a lot and I love having my privacy when I am at home. My dc have friends over here often. They see their friends plenty, but when it is convenient for us - no one knocking on the door wanting to know if so-and-so can play.

[QueenCat]

Neighborhood.... loved always have playmates for the kids when they were younger.... and someone to go chat with whenever I wanted, as it always easy to find someone out side. Now, I love the impromptu cookouts or evening drinks on one of our benches.

[DawnM]

We live in a neighborhood like you are describing.....24 homes total and each of us has at least 2 acres. Lots of trees and since it is an older neighborhood there aren't that many kids! :D

 

But we too are considering moving even further out so that we can grow a large garden, have space to get a 4 wheeler, do what we want, etc.....

 

Dawn

[Catwoman]

Thanks so much for all of your replies -- please keep them coming, as you're making me think about pros and cons (of both options) and it's incredibly helpful!

 

:lurk5:

 

Cat

[Guest]

If I had the choice, I would choose the country with no hesitation. :)

[Denisemomof4]

I have the best of both worlds. I live in the country, down a one lane dirt road. I have two neighbors, but we own one side of the road. They both are on the other side. It's all wooded, so I don't have to see them if I don't want to. I can literally go MONTHS not seeing my neighbors. Honestly, I think I see them a few times per year. It's heavenly, because the women are NOT nice.

 

I honestly could not live any other way. I'm SO happy. I love being in the country, yet I have drs, dentists, banks, post office, library, pharmacy, small grocery store, dunkin donuts, hardware store, etc.,etc within 5 miles. And I'm 20 minutes, without traffic, to the large city in NH.

 

Even if I had to drive further out, I would. I DO NOT WANT NEIGHBORS. If you search through the forums, you will read all the horror stories!!! I wouldn't trade my way of living for ANYTHING.

 

Oh, and when we tried to move to VA and had to deal with all those HOA rules, EVEN THOUGH WE WERE BUYING ACREAGE (13 on one lot, 25 on another) we said NO WAY. We love where we live and there aren't many places we'd be willing to leave ours for.

 

Driving our kids for playdates is just a way of life. I don't mind at all. Living in the country, though, has us all spending more time together and closer...... so it's all good. You learn to plan your errand days. I used to take one day for our Walmart, grocery and all other runs. It was an all day event, but we'd be set for a couple of weeks. I also used to stock up BIG TIME but just gave up once my boys became teenagers. The more we stock up, the more they eat. ;)

[BamaTanya]

I used to fantasize about country living until we were looking at rural houses one evening and I was stalked by a loose pit bull.

 

I used to fantasize about country living until I heard my sil's experience of stray dogs chasing her horses in her own pasture. And about the noise-noise-noise-noise of the all terrain vehicles behind her property that frightened her livestock and kept her up at all hours.

 

In the city we have *enforced* leash laws and I don't worry about my children with stray dogs. We have *enforced* noise ordinances. My neighbors look out for my house and I look out for theirs. We have plenty of privacy for me (fencing and bushes and trees). I know if I have to run an errand, neighbors are close in case of an emergency (my children know who is home during the day). We have had two sets of elderly neighbors who've *adopted* our children since their own grandchildren lived far away -- inviting us to use their pool, giving us Christmas gifts and baby gifts, and loaning us all the family movies they'd collected . . . We have had okay neighbors and wonderful neighbors -- never (in our 4 houses) any bad apples, unless you count the lady across the street who allowed her dachshund to roam for his daily constitutional (a nuisance at worst).

 

I like being 5 min from the post office, the bank, the grocery store, and the library. And at least 5 times I was thankful we were only 10 from the hospital (I had quick births!) I like the fact that my teens learning to drive aren't driving on dark lonely roads when they return from church activities or sports or college class sessions at night. I like street lights and garbage pickup.

 

I like knowing I can walk to the grocer if I have car trouble. Or just for exercise.

 

I gave up the "grass is greener" thoughts and am a happy city girl!

 

P.S. I guess we haven't had trouble with neighbor kids because we haven't allowed our children to freely socialize -- we're friends with the parents before we allow our children to spend time at other children's homes. Just our policy. I'm sure some families have thought we were a little different because we homeschool or because we have a big family, but that's okay with us.

Edited August 6, 2010 by BamaTanya

[Catwoman]

Tanya, I completely forgot to add city living to my original post -- I'm going to add it now!

 

THANK YOU!

 

Cat

[KellyinPA]

Country all the way! Our neighborhood has about 20 homes with 1 acre or larger lots. There are several families in the neighborhood with children but we are the only homeschoolers. We like it a lot. Our property is wooded on two sides so very quiet and private We are about 20-30 minutes away from most stores, church, library. I am a homebody anyway and don't really like to run out very much. I try to do all my errands on one to two days of the week, stay home the rest. We've been here since last October and there have been times that I thought maybe we didn't move FAR enough out but for the most part, it works for us.

[Denisemomof4]

I used to fantasize about country living until we were looking at rural houses one evening and I was stalked by a loose pit bull.

 

 

 

Honestly, I've never once heard of a loose pit bull in the country, but hear of it in the city All The Time.

 

Our horses have never once been terrorized by loose dogs. In the country your neighbors may be nasty, but in our experience, we all own animals and it's the one area we help each other out.

 

OHRV's? Sometimes. Maybe a handful of times per year on an active year.

 

I never got mad at my neighbor when her cows broke out and left cow patties all over my lawn or they ruined a shrub. It's a shrub that can be replaced. And she never got mad when my potbellies rooted up her lawn, but she did ask us to repair it, and she also offered to pay for any repairs her cows did to our property. We paid for the bush ourselves and never mentioned it to them.

 

We don't have the blessing of neighbors, or good ones, and we can't walk to the store, but I would trade those conveniences for privacy and peace in a heartbeat! For me, personally, I just couldn't have neighbors crowding me in.

 

Again, I'm sorry and I hope I don't offend but am sharing my experience.

 

I don't mean to single you out, but I do want to share that our experience has been the exact opposite of yours.

[Rhea]

We moved from an apartment in a city of 300,000+ to an old farmhouse on 160 acres. We rented it for 3 years. It was heaven! Even when it was so cold due to drafty log walls that we had to hang fabric and live in the room with the wood stove, it was worth it. My 3 kids were constantly outside playing together. There was a big pasture to fly kites in and woods to explore and play in. While there we saw coyotes, lots of moose, and a bear with two cubs, all at various times crossing the pasture out front. After we got geese cranes would land in the pasture and rest for a day or two before continuing their journey. Our guess was that the geese hanging out all comfy like was a signal that it was a safe place to layover. :)

 

We got our first animals (beside cats) there. First chickens, then pigs, then geese, then goats. The kids loved all of it. We could go for walks down a very bumpy dirt road and not run into anyone, but we could also walk in the other direction and visit with neighbors.

 

Now we live in the same town but on something like .6 of an acre, with neighbors close on either side. After moving here my dh started working away from home for 2 - 3 weeks at a time. There are times when he's gone that I'm thankful we live near others, but that is the only time.

 

The neighbor on the left makes a huge amount of noise with his engine repairs and his mouth, and his language isn't the best. His nieces and grandkids are rude and loud. Thankfully they don't visit too often. They seem to think our fencing is for them to climb on and help destroy. Makes me wish it was all electric.

 

We have two really nice neighbors, but that does not come anywhere close to outweighing all that we love about being on a large piece of land with no close neighbors.

 

Hth,

Rhea

[MariannNOVA]

As long as I don't have to have contact with the people around me, I could be in the city - in fact, I am SUCH a city person.......I would just like a place in the country to visit on the weekends.

 

Neighborhoods? No.

[KellyinPA]

We moved from an apartment in a city of 300,000+ to an old farmhouse on 160 acres. We rented it for 3 years. It was heaven! Even when it was so cold due to drafty log walls that we had to hang fabric and live in the room with the wood stove, it was worth it. My 3 kids were constantly outside playing together. There was a big pasture to fly kites in and woods to explore and play in. While there we saw coyotes, lots of moose, and a bear with two cubs, all at various times crossing the pasture out front. After we got geese cranes would land in the pasture and rest for a day or two before continuing their journey. Our guess was that the geese hanging out all comfy like was a signal that it was a safe place to layover. :)

 

 

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the wildlife! We have a momma dear and her three fawns who eat from the trees along the back of our property. We see them almost every day, love them! The boys were in heaven last spring with all of the frogs/toads in the creek. Lots of bunnies and squirrels too. We just love it!

[tearose]

Country. I love that I don't see any other houses from my own, and it is so nice and quiet. At night, there are no streetlights and very few houses, so it's dark enough to see a lot of stuff in the sky. DH and I grew up in suburbs, so we still lock our doors at night out of habit, but our nearest neighbors (10 minute walk away) told us right when we moved in that they never locked their doors. I never, ever want to leave this place.

[Dobela]

Where we live the country is nice but we also have things we don't like. One is the lack of rules for animals. Any animal is allowed to roam free anywhere without any consequence unless they actually bite someone. We recently thought about moving to one neighborhood until we viewed the house and the neighbors 3 pit bulls, 1 huge growling something, and 1 small dog chased us back to the car. Sorry. I don't want to deal with roaming animals with attitude. Oh, when a dog causes problems in our city limits, the owners often have the choice of having it put down or sent to a home outside of the city limits. Guess where they all end up?

 

The other thing we have found that we don't like in the country is the lack of zoning. Honestly, I believe in live and let live, but I also don't want Uncle Fester's junk Yard next door. My parents own 3 acres in a nice neighborhood out in the county and they regularly complain about internet services (no DSL and a huge long waiting list for wireless from the only company in the county).

 

Right now we live in town and until the neighborhood went down, we absolutely loved it. We did pick a larger house with a larger yard so that helped. I loved the convenience to everything. I loved being able to meet friends in a moment's notice. I love being minutes away from church, stores, friends, activities.

 

We just made an offer on a house with 2 acres just past the edge of city limits and hope it works. It is 10 minutes from all our main activities yet we can have livestock and modern conveniences. If the house was further out I am afraid the cost of gas would limit our activities as well.

[ereks mom]

It's not really rural, but it's out away from neighborhoods and such, and we have privacy, which is a big thing for us. Our property is 7.25 acres, wooded, with a pond. Our wooded property is surrounded by woods, so it's really private and our neighbors cannot see our house from theirs.

[gaillardia]

I was being duh, forgot to say COUNTRY in spite of being far out, mean neighbor kids. We would choose country over city.

[angela in ohio]

My first choice would be a very large city: lots of arts opportunities, museums, etc.

 

My second choice would be a neighborhood. That's how I grew up, in a small neighborhood on the edge of a small city.

 

My third choice is country. It's my dh's first choice, though, and that is where we live. I've adjusted. :001_smile:

[justamouse]

I've had both (we JUST moved, 7 weeks ago). I'm picking city. Well, town. I live on a gorgeous street now, all old victorians, with .6 acres. It's enough to have my fruit trees and a huge garden, and I can walk to the butcher, the library, the theater, the bookstore, the PO. I could walk to the community college if I chose (three minutes by car, but that's because I have to go around the town square) Main street is wonderful, and the farm stand is 3 minutes away. The music scene and art scene here is just flourishing. I can walk to all of my friends houses-my house is FULL of kids, all the time. And, yet, my street is SO quiet. We, by far, are the noisy ones. I hear the church bells every day, I have gorgeous old churches all within walking distance. I love it.

 

I miss my chickens, and I always wanted a farm, but living so far from civilization was starting to wear on us. I had acres, with wonderful neighbors that I loved dearly, but I wake up now and pinch myself, and tell my husband every day how much I love living here.

Edited August 6, 2010 by justamouse

[wendybird]

Country, hands down. We have done both, and there is no chance we would willingly move back to a city. We can drive to a large city in one hour, so we have choices, but it is quiet, we have alot of animals, and it is simple out here.

[tofuscramble]

I've had both (we JUST moved, 7 weeks ago). I'm picking city. Well, town. I live on a gorgeous street now, all old victorians, with .6 acres. It's enough to have my fruit trees and a huge garden, and I can walk to the butcher, the library, the theater, the bookstore, the PO. I could walk to the community college if I chose (three minutes by car, but that's because I have to go around the town square) Main street is wonderful, and the farm stand is 3 minutes away. The music scene and art scene here is just flourishing. I can walk to all of my friends houses-my house is FULL of kids, all the time. And, yet, my street is SO quiet. We, by far, are the noisy ones. I hear the church bells every day, I have gorgeous old churches all within walking distance. I love it.

 

I miss my chickens, and I always wanted a farm, but living so far from civilization was starting to wear on us. I had acres, with wonderful neighbors that I loved dearly, but I wake up now and pinch myself, and tell my husband every day how much I love living here.

 

Can you adopt me? That sounds fantastic! Best of all worlds.

[BamaTanya]

 

I don't mean to single you out, but I do want to share that our experience has been the exact opposite of yours.

 

Isn't it funny? Seriously. What you describe sounds lovely. Truly. And yet what my sil experienced when she moved "out" has been a nightmare. It sounds as if the families in her area moved there because they wanted freedom to let their animals and children run wild. :glare: She can't even get animal control to come pick up strays unless she traps them first.

 

One thing I recognize in myself is how I tolerate driving. I don't like the speed of country roads. I prefer the start and stop and lower speed limits in the city. I feel safer, even though it's sometimes congested. I don't enjoy "the journey" (driving) -- I want to be at my destination asap! Like country dwellers, I plan my errands together because I prefer to be home and not have to go anywhere. I just like knowing it won't take long when I have to!

 

I'm glad you live in a setting that suits you and I'm thankful for my home. It's good to read differing perspectives, isn't it?

[Laura Corin]

Laura's situation sounds quaint. I'm picturing thatched roof cottages, collies and sheep wandering through town from the meadow to farm. :)

 

The local architecture is stone-built cottages with slate roofs. No sheep in town though - lots of golfers and academics. Our nearest town is St Andrews.

 

Laura

[katemary63]

Country, hands down. We have done both, and there is no chance we would willingly move back to a city. We can drive to a large city in one hour, so we have choices, but it is quiet, we have alot of animals, and it is simple out here.

 

:iagree:Lived in the suburbs in lovely neighborhoods for 20 years. We've been "out" now for 6. I love it! We've got 160 acres and all the freedom and peace and quiet you can imagine. But we're just 15 minutes from a medium sized town (about pop. 25,000) and 1 hour from Little Rock. It's fantastic!

[Wheres Toto]

We live in a neigborhood but its not your typical suburban sprawl. We are in an older dead end community, on a dead end street. When it was built (slowly over years not as a development) they followed the contours of the land so it is very mountainous with lots of hilly, winding roads. We have a lot of almost an acre but we border on a decent size river and on the other side of the river is a county park. There are many, many trees around and combined with the hilliness gives a feeling of real seclusion. I could stand anywhere on my property (at ground level) and there is only one house even within sight and he's about 300 feet away. One other is slightly closer but down a sharp drop and through many trees.

 

DH and I actually just looked up our house on one of those sites that gives satellite pictures and we couldn't see anything but the house itself because of all the trees - our driveway and garage were completely covered.

 

My kids are still young to be out playing on their own but we do have a few "friends" for them to play with. We have a community pool that only about 20 families (of about 50 in the neighborhood) join so we get to know people better. We have community bbq's, pool parties, river-side camping, and kid's activities.

 

There is one set of kids in the neigborhood (moved in last year) that I find somewhat obnoxious. They are always running lose, race the cars on their bikes (although we have a 15mph speed limit and most go slower, so what's the use?) and seem somewhat out of control. They are enough older than my kids that I'm hoping they never end up hanging out in the same groups.

 

So, after that long-winded description, I like our neighborhood. It's peaceful, secluded and DH still only has a 15 minute drive to work (and we could be in NYC in 45 minutes).

 

Forgot to mention the wildlife: we have numerous deer all the time, a family of black bear that visits regularly, a red fox (maybe more than one) and a few coyotes. Not to mention endless squirrels, chipmunks and birds, turtles, frogs and crayfish at the river.

Edited August 6, 2010 by dottieanna29

[Jeannie in NJ]

I live on a resort island. For 10 weeks in the summer, it is jammed but the rest of the year it is isolated. Only 3 of our neighbors are year round like us. We don't live in the part of town that has weekly rentals, the part we live in is full of second homes for people in Philly. The off season is great here. We have a huge library and Aquatic center that are 2 miles from us, they are open all year but NOT crowded at all when it is not summer. Almost everything is open all year, just gets crowded in summer. We stay in our house or go offshore to visit family in the summer. The beach is wonderful after Labor Day, I often go there to watch winter sunrises. Our back yard is meadows and the Intercoastal Waterway, lots of wildlife. I really love it here.

I need to be where I can go to the grocery store in just a couple of min. or even walk to if I had to and that is what I have here. I also like the isolation during the off season but still having a few great neighbors to go to in case of an emergency.

[Denisemomof4]

Isn't it funny? Seriously. What you describe sounds lovely. Truly. And yet what my sil experienced when she moved "out" has been a nightmare. It sounds as if the families in her area moved there because they wanted freedom to let their animals and children run wild. :glare: She can't even get animal control to come pick up strays unless she traps them first.

 

 

 

I'm curious, what state is your SIL in? I'm in NH. Like I said, my neighbors aren't nice but once it's an animal situation, we all pull together. It's really the only contact we have with them. I think because we both have so many animals that we just kind of look out for each others. I do this even though she had a party in my house when I was away and took my car out, which means she had to search through my house to find the keys.

 

A few weeks ago I called the police dept, animal control, and the neighbors to see if anyone had seen a black llama roaming around. I was so worried we had lost him. I had everyone helping out, and was SO embarrassed to find that dh didn't see him laying against his stall wall so he actually had never left. I didn't admit it, just told everyone I found him.

 

Then I get a call the next day from nasty neighbor saying my dog was in their yard, should they catch him and hold him?

 

It was really nice.

 

It's obviously not like this everywhere, your family can attest to that! But I have found country living to be nicer by far. I also find the people far more friendlier - just not my neighbors. :tongue_smilie:

 

I also think a lot of it depends on how you grew up. I could hear my neighbors sneeze and I lived in TONS of congested traffic. I grew up in CA and when I went back and visited recently with my family, my younger son said it looked like a cement city!:lol:

 

Pitbulls, they're adorable dogs but seriously, they shouldn't be allowed to roam ANYWHERE, leash law or not, country or city.

[fairfarmhand]

I live on 15 acres. There is over fifty acres of empty land behind my house and about that much across the street. We have 2 neighbors...one is hidden in some trees (retired folks we never see) and the others are on the other side of our cow pasture. They have kids and the 2 groups of kids play well together. But if they didn't get along, or I didn't want my kids over there for whatever reason, it would be easy to avoid them. Instead of playing with other kids, my kids build forts and tree houses, explore the yard, and climb trees. They find things to do and we don't have to deal with the negatives of a neighborhood.

 

I'd always choose living out in the country over the city/neighborhood ,but then we're privacy freaks anyway.

 

We're 30 minutes from a major city and 20 minutes from small shopping centers.

 

ETA: As far as stray animals go...there is no leash law around here, but people are pretty good to keep their animals put up if you ask them to. We've never had a problem with than; and in TN it is legal to shoot an animal that is bothering you or your property. (incl. livestock)

Edited August 6, 2010 by fairfarmhand

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Country. :)

 

We live on 3 acres just outside of town, so lots of fields around. (There is a neighbor boy within walking distance, and my boys are thrilled, but it sometimes creates more problems that it's worth.) My parents are 2 miles down the road, farther from town and on more land (which is where I grew up).

 

This is an area with tons of agriculture, but our town (2-3 miles away) has everything we could need without being huge. The interstate is 2 miles away and we have 3 large cities within an hour. (And mountains, ocean, desert...lots of incredible recreation 1-2 hours away.)

 

We have the best of all worlds. :)

[mom2abcd]

Country. We've lived in the country, the city, and towns. By far our favorite is the country.

[OnTheBrink]

As long as I don't have to have contact with the people around me, I could be in the city - in fact, I am SUCH a city person.......I would just like a place in the country to visit on the weekends.

Neighborhoods? No.

 

Totally with you on that one. I've come to absolutely abhor subdivisions. I live in the city now, in a neighborhood and it's ok. I'd really love to have a high-rise condo somewhere, though.

 

And, am I the only one who has the theme song from Green Acres going through my head? "I just adore a penthouse view! Darling, I love you but give me Park Avenuuuuuuue!"

[littlebug42]

Honestly, I harbor delusions of wanting to live in the country but I think I would be miserable if we actually did it. I have absolutely no desire to live in a planned subdivision either. We currently live in the city. It has its downsides but I love it here. Our neighborhood is 90 years old and we have lovely neighbors. It has its drawbacks in that the neighbors are very close but we are central to everything and we like it here. If we were to move, I think my ideal spot would be something close to the city but feels like it is farther out.

[Catwoman]

Wow, there are so many factors to consider, and it's so hard to make a decision. I think our biggest problem is that, if we move, we can go anywhere. I know that sounds like a huge plus, but "anywhere" is a big place, and allows us so many options that it's overwhelming! (And that's why we've been "thinking" of moving for the past few years, instead of actually getting up our nerve and doing it!)

 

I'm really enjoying all of your posts! :001_smile:

 

Cat

[Rhea]

Wow, there are so many factors to consider, and it's so hard to make a decision. I think our biggest problem is that, if we move, we can go anywhere. I know that sounds like a huge plus, but "anywhere" is a big place, and allows us so many options that it's overwhelming! (And that's why we've been "thinking" of moving for the past few years, instead of actually getting up our nerve and doing it!)

 

I'm really enjoying all of your posts! :001_smile:

 

Cat

 

This is kind of like us. We can't go anywhere, but aren't too limited. What I see is most people move because the job moves them, or they are moving to a new job, or they are moving closer to family. None of that applies to us and with no clear pull to a specific area we weren't getting past the "want to move" into planning to move. That's why I asked on here where people would live and got ideas, places for us to learn more about. I hope we'll narrow it down and then go visit a couple areas early next summer.

[Catwoman]

This is kind of like us. We can't go anywhere, but aren't too limited. What I see is most people move because the job moves them, or they are moving to a new job, or they are moving closer to family. None of that applies to us and with no clear pull to a specific area we weren't getting past the "want to move" into planning to move.

 

Those are my sentiments exactly! :)

 

Cat