Soooo excited, myself and my OH have just been to look at a property up to let, we have been in our current rented home for 9yrs and its falling to bits and the landlord will only do botch repairs and we're a bit sick of it.  However its a gorgeous place we live in with plenty of land .
This place weve just been to see is a further 15 miles from where I work, meaning I will have 30mile trip there and back 4 days a week!
Oh is ok he only works 9miles away.

The cottage is beautiful in the courtyard of a country estate with ares of land to exerccise our dogs on , a vegetable patch , no nearby roads and a lovely garden

My current car only does 26mpg so reckon Ill have to sell it and get a cheaper more economical diesel or something. Have told the owner we'll have it but now im panicking thinking what if we move and dont like it etc....  I dont mind driving really, and its only going to take me an extra half an hour.

Am I mad? Or does anyone else travel a long way to work?  This is only 30 miles away but because its very rural is all silly little lanes and no fast roads !

I dont want to put you off but this morning it took me 2 hours to drive 16 miles.  It was exceptional  because an accident had closed a village bypass.  Even so, normally I have to leave the house at 7.40am to get to work by 8.20am. If I leave at 7.50am I will be lucky to make it for 9am and that's with half the journey covered on 2 good bypasses.

I would definitely try driving at rush hour both ends of the day before you make your final decision. I only do this particular journey twice a week but it drives me nuts.

I had an embarrassing situation too when just sitting in narrow lanes behind a huge crane thing that just compounded an already dire traffic situation. I had to get out and explain to the van driver behind me that I wasn't abandoning my car but bursting for a tinkle and would be back in 2 :-o  Then I had to fight through undergrowth and into cover to do the necessary. Literally, looked like I'd been dragged through hedge backwards.  When I found my way back the traffic hadn't moved an inch though.

Personally?

I'd take the house and find a job closer to home or work from home ;)

Where is it?  If you don't want it I'll be there in flash :-D  Sounds idyllic :-)

We moved to a rural area. My husband now has 30 miles to work and we find the petrol costs crippling. He's looked for another job closer to home for a year now but no luck. So do consider if you can afford the travel. It's the cost that is getting him down more than the travel itself, even though it means him leaving home at 5 am some days. Other than that -no regrets!

I would definitely try driving at rush hour both ends of the day

I will not be travelling in rush hour, I work permanent 1600 - 0200 so coming home will be a breeze nothing on roads at all.

My only worry really is cost of travel, but as I say if I sell my current veh which only does about 26mpg and get a more sensible 50mpg wont be any worse of than now will I?

Dill  The cottage is in Derbyshire peak district, we went back up there yesterday and drove around all the lanes nearby, didnt see one car!! and we also didnt see one person! lol
It is just fields everywhere and ALL have public footpaths through, hardly any cattle either , dogs will love it and thats whats driving me

Sounds like an ideal house for you and the dogs and do you really want to stay in a house thats falling to bits?

Cherly, that accident was a real exception, it was  a fatility from 3am in the morning. (Assuming you mean the baldock bypass)  Any journey's in that area never take that long! :-)

Hey similar situation to us! My dad travels 3/4 of an hour to work, he says its well worth it.He sets off at 7am  Nooo your not mad at all, the house sounds gorgeous :-)

No, you are not mad! I moved to a rural location in south Hampshire (not as rural as yours though) three years ago, and have a 55 mile drive to work each day. I am lucky that the drive is mostly on country roads, little bit of dual carriageway, with no towns to pass through, and only really gets a bit busy when I reach my destination (Bath). I pass Stonehenge every morning at about 6.40am - wonderful in the morning light, when it's empty of people - I love seeing it everyday.

Anyway - petrol is a major cost, and the one I thought of first. I probably pay about £130 per week on fuel. But, the aspect I forgot about is that with more mileage comes more servicing, more new tyres and more wear-and-tear on the car. You need to budget this in. I also pay more insurance because I do 20K miles per year in my main car.

However, nothing beats living in a place that you love (town or country). Nothing lifts the heart in the early morning like a barn owl wafting across the road, or the glimpse of a hare as it rushes in front of you.

Claire

Thanks Claire and Polo just feeling jittery after living here for 9years you get so used it and its like the fear of the unknown!
I think we are doing the right thing, plus we have a bit of friction with our landlord at moment as apart from him being tight as a rats arse (excuse the phrase) has allowed on this farm year after year the most horrid farmer who neglects his cattle and sheep.
Last year he received an 18mnth prison sentence for his cruelty and made front page of the local paper, he has been banned from keeping livestock!

But guess what? he is back this year with more cattle and sheep, he has just put them into his brothers name and is carrying on as if nothing has happened, 3wks ago he was done again for leaving his collie with a broken leg without medical care!

We have already found several dead calves , cows and sheep and he wont come and collect them, he just waits till the foxes eat them and forgets about it.
Its so horrid to see and this is another reason we are wanting to leave, plus for 8 yrs when the cows burst through the fences and get onto the road it is our door passing pedestrians knock on to tell us they are out, and me being me wont leave them, i go and round them all up and get them back into the fields!  Of course there is never any thanks

sounds very nice!!!!!  It would be good to get out of where you are now, with the patch repairs the landlord is doing.

About travelling to work, but for school,  I travelled back and forth for a bit, and it took me quite a long time.  I would leave my house at 6:30 and get into school at 9am.  And then all the same in the evening.

My aunt does it every day, from the country side to her work, it takes about 1.5 hours. 

Its hard, but you can use the commute to relax and take time for yourself!

50mpg wont be any worse of than now will I........hey, tell me what vehicle does 50 mpg? Pleeezee :)

I've done a 30 mile round trip to work, five days a week for the last 12 years and never found it a problem. I've even had to come home during the day on the odd occasion to let the dogs out if no one else was around.
 

I now live in a rural area.  Originally I lived in central London, where I could be closer to clients, very busy life with shops/restaurants/work everything just on my doorstep.  Then when I was having my boys we moved to the suburbs I thought that would be harder living and loving being right in the centre of a busy life, found the travelling no problem and the little bit more travelling to shops, work etc fine.

Then came the big rural move, same worries as you, but it is funny you just settle in, winter can be a pain with muddy country lanes, but that is where my 4x4 comes in, then nothing is a hinderance, you just set off a little earlier to work, to be honest if I loved my home, the dogs had plenty of room and you love being in the country, don't feel cut off and can still have friends and family over then travelling to work is very little compared to your whole happiness, and the feeling of arriving back home makes it all worth while anyway.  When you are travelling a long way and returning to a home you are not happy living in, life feels a drain.

I still get goosebumps now coming up the country roads to my home, I feel lucky and happy and nothing else matters. :-) Even traffic jams. :-D

Calmstorm, both the vauxhall vectra diesel estate and the toyota avensis estates do just over 50mg combined! which is what i would be doing. Mostly country roads, bit of town then a few miles motorway

Hi Carrington , Thanks for that, thats my way of thinking, its a small price to pay to live somewhere really nice

Its a lifesyle choice. If you wake up draw back the curtains and think what a beautiful sight, then the world is good. We all have to make lifestyle choices, I know of a man who commutes over 120 miles a day but he and his family love where they live and he feels its a balance he is happy to make.
If you really love the place, mad or not go for it!
We downsized!! to a wooden house I kid you not its Cedar Shingles, with a fabulous garden so when we retire, we can always rebuild the house (if we can afford it) and I open my curtains and its lovely. I have birds, squirrells, frogs and fish in my pond, mice and my loft!!! and dogs digging up my lawn. But with a cup of tea in the garden and a good book its heaven. Go for it mad or not, we all need mad.
My son's tell everyone we live in a shed! but at the weekends its my house that has the BBQ in the back garden, and the boys visit regulalrly for a bit of peace.

If you are renting then it is much easier if it doesn't work out.  My sister has been trying to sell her house in the country for ages.  They have no shop, no papers delivered, no local pub - nothing - everything you need you have to drive to get.  Not a popular choice at the moment.   She just would like to walk into town and leave the car behind.

Oh definately go for it !.
So what - four days a week you have a car journey but still means that three days a week you are in a lovely home which you enjoy !.

Good luck

Val

Calmstorm, both the vauxhall vectra diesel estate and the toyota avensis estates

Thanks for that! I need a roomy vehicle, and mines getting a bit old now, I always thought for more mpg I would have to go small, so now be looking for a vauxhall i think :)

Hi Calmstorm.

I had a Ford Mondeo estate there for a while ( one year) just went back to a Vaxhall Zafira.  It is 1 year old, 1.9 diesel 120 BHP. It is the top spec so probably heaviest as it has the leather interior etc BUT even with that  MPG is 50 MPG running back and forth. I went to Border Union last weekend my first trip longer than 60 miles and it did 56 MPG. Can't ask fairer than that. :-)