Have we done the right thing by moving?

Does anyone else hear a low rumbling sort of noise in the countryside or is it me going bonkers?

I moved from suburban city living to a small market town but one with easy rail & road access back to the city. I now have the benefit of a quieter & cleaner environment and have both the countryside and social/ leisure amenities on my doorstep. It is not isolated or too rural for a townie like me!

casssandra we had building work going on for years not far from us. I won't go into it on here but suffice to say I can sympathise with you.

Judith all moves take time to adjust to.However if time goes on and you feel you made a mistake, move again ( we did just that.)

My advice would be to accept your surroundings, don't complain or try to change things if you want to integrate into the community.
One of the pet hates of many rural people is townies moving in then complaining about the local people going about their business. Animals, birds and farmers wake at first light and need to get on with the days living. At Harvest the combines will still be working after it gets dark, they have no other choice. We had people move into the village who complained the church bells were too noisy and wanted them stopped, also complained to the council that cockerels were crowing! Embrace your new life and enjoy it.

Clearly none of you who complain about noise from birds and animals have suffered noise nuisance from next door neighbours running am illegal woodworking business in their back garden and using industrial grinders saws and jackhammers from seven in the morning until eleven at night......!

My son in law complained about the twittering of sparrows nesting in our eaves one year.......Wild bird life is not confined to the country!

Moving to the country is not a bad thing to do BUT as with all moves you need to understand what you are moving into. So many times city/town people move out to the country with only a hazy idea of what life there will be like. There are many noises/changes/difficulties that need to be thought about. I particularly laughed over the story of a city couple who tried to sue a neighbour because the cockerel was waking them early every morning. Oh dear.

What to do? Get used to it or move again and next time do your homework. Sorry.

We have thought about moving to our favourite village that we visit about twice a week to start our cycler rides. But after looking at the positives and negatives of both places we found moving had a great many negatives. Drs, dentist, nearby shops and very poor broadband! We have birds and green space where we are but also excellent Drs and dentist, which are important at our age. So here we stay

I live in a small dormitory town and the bird here make a ruckus first thing. I was woken up by pigeons at just gone five and then the sparrows started. Now I'm up and doing stuff they've gone quiet

That black net looks really good Allule. Will look into it. We don’t have a problem with flies particularly, it’s mostly bees that come into our garden room. I spend a lot of time with a feather duster trying to persuade them out.

We moved to the seaside 140 miles away from our first home as we wanted to downsize and move away from motorways that were gaining size and noise! Strangely our lovely new home is actually larger than our first one and we needed some more furniture to fill it! I found I had a knack for buying furniture from Gumtree and renovating it so our new huge garage became my workshop and I had a new hobby.

Our garden is much larger and sunnier and has become yet another hobby to share with hubby. The garden is so quiet and filled with birds which hubby is enjoying feeding so that has become his hobby. In fact our garden is so quiet that one day when we had first moved in I kept hearing gravel being moved as if it was being dropped from a lorry. After hearing this for sometime, I went to see which of our neighbours was having it delivered and was amazed to find it was the sea at high tide three roads away!!! A bit different to hearing the M2 roaring all day one mile away.

I noticed that none of our neighbours had hanging baskets which I thought odd until our first winter! Barton Winds come blasting across Christchurch Bay from The Needles and straight up our driveway at 90 mph! We haven't bothered with hanging baskets?

When you move you have to relearn how to survive your new locality and tweek your life and expectations and take each day. Enjoy the differences and go with the flow.

Out of London, in the villages that used to be working, but are now basically commuter/retirement/hedge fund types, they want countryside that is pretty but not too stinky! Even horses are frowned upon. Had one woman complain about me riding up a tarmac path. Residents had designated it as theirs.

Peardrop you make it sound lovely. I hope this helps Judith. I know I said you have to be practical but this does sound appealing.

Belgravian good decision very wise. I hope you make a good recovery. Yes, a second home would be lovely preferably in Florence lol but finances prevent.. We bought a mobile home on a lovely quiet site beside the Mournes and spend the summer months there. Its close to amenities too. You've got to be practical.

I mentioned our screen doors earlier.
Thought a photo might be helpful....glass on the left; black net on the right.

I wouldn't swap the countryside for anything. The pace of life is wonderfully slow, the awareness of the seasons is uplifting, being away from the ratrace is calming. Give it time and try to adapt, it'll be worth it.
Go to bed early or use earplugs if you can't get used to the dawn chorus of birdsong.
Accept that the sound of farm vehicles is more gentle than 100s of cars, lorries and buses.
Keep the area immediately around the house free of bushes and trees but grow herbs which flies don't like such as tansy, basil, most lemon scented things like lemon balm and sage. Put them in pots or raised beds near doors and windows.
Hang wasp and fly traps around the garden, the pergola or garden umbrella.
Get to know your neighbours and ask for tips to help you adapt.
Sit back and enjoy a fresh cup of nettle tea with new friends.

I live in a rural area and I think moving from London 48 years ago was the best thing my husband and I have ever done. I very rarely see a fly and the birds only wake us early in the summer with the Dawn Chorus.We are visited by lots of wild life including deer, foxes and hedgehogs and my grandchildren love visiting the cows in the field up the road. You don't say how long ago you moved but I do hope you settle in and start seeing how lucky you are.

My daughter lived in Shepherd Bush for awhile, it was so much quieter than our country life!

Yes, they can be very noisy! Add in the curlews and the dingoes during the night too and it's a wonder anyone gets any sleep.

. Could be far worse then Jalima!

But, having done it and living the dream, surely it’s better to sit back and enjoy the good bits for a few years and be prepared to move on again? Judith doesn’t say how old she is but has probably got a good few years before decrepitude sets in. The countryside is noisy. Especially in early summer, but the birds quieten as the year goes on and tractors chugging by can be got used to. They’re not as frenetic as the rush hour cars nose to tail desperate to get to and from work. Where we used to live there was a haze of frustration over the busy road outside!

Try sleeping through this just outside your bedroom window very early in the morning:

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sound+of+the+kookaburra&&view=detail&mid=5FA0B16E349237C67DC75FA0B16E349237C67DC7&&FORM=VDRVRV

I never understood why people who are getting to retirement age feel it’s a good idea to move away from transport links, hospitals etc just at a time when they are facing the probability of needing them more. You also hear of the cases of the townies who move into the country and complain about the noises the animals and birds make somwhy is it a surprise

We live in a small commuter village (not big enough to be a town). Drive 5 minutes north and we are in the country. At the end of our road we have the Thames Estuary and train station which gets us into London in approx 40mins. One DS and family live 1 road back from our seafront (blue flag beach). Other DS and family in walking distance.

I have the moving bug as house is probably bigger than our needs, but reading all these posts, from very informed gransnetters I think I shall stay put until the man upstairs calls my name!!!

It is only for a very few weeks at this time of the year that birds sing very loudly in the early hours of the morning, and I am sure you will soon grow accustomed to both the sound of them and of the sheep.

Depending on what kind of windows you have, you may be able to find cheap nylon net screens in the right size that you can fit yourself. If that is impossible and it would be too expensive to have them fitted by a firm, most shops that sell dressmaking material will either have stout nylon netting, suitable for screens in stock or be willing to order it for you.

I made screens for our motor boat by sewing Velcro onto the edges of the net that was cut to measure door and window openings and then we glued the other piece of the Velcro round the frame. You could probably do something similar on the windows you want to be able to have open, during the summer.

I hope you soon settle down and realise that you have not made a mistake by moving. Country life has many benefits IMO.

‘Their’ - DUH!