Intro

Are you over the big city life? Tired of the rat race? Now more than ever people are waking up to the idea of jumping ship and bidding farewell to the big cities.

My wife and I have put together 7 reasons why we chose to leave the city for a more rural lifestyle.

Many people live in the city because of the perks that it brings. Places like restaurants, night clubs, leisure clubs, churches, cinemas and one of our personal favourites continental grocery stores. It's hard to argue with these points when choosing where to settle.

My wife and I lived most of our lives in the city of London. That was until 2019 when we decided to do something radical. We decided to leave London for good in search of a better life, one filled with opportunities, fun, security and joy.

Here are 7 reasons for leaving the city which we think you should consider in these ever changing times.

1. You want more affordable living

House prices in all major cities are astronomical when compared to most rural areas. The average house price in the UK pre COVID was £252,000.

According to the office of national statistics, "the average UK house prices increased by 10.3% in the year to November 2022. The average UK house price was £295,000 in November 2022, which is £28,000 higher than this time last year. Average house prices increased over the year to £315,000 (10.9%) in England, to £220,000 in Wales (10.7%), to £191,000 in Scotland (5.5%) and to £176,000 in Northern Ireland (10.7%)."

Fast forward to 2022 post COVID, there has been a huge increase in the cost of buying a house.

There are several factors that have caused the huge increase in the price of owning a home.

Why so expensive?

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic many people had to change the way in which they work. Seemingly out of nowhere remote working was expedited to the centre of our vocabulary and the need for more space at home was a huge catalyst in driving up house prices. Simply put, more people wanted to buy a house but they were in short supply.

This means that sellers were spoiled for choice as buyers were seeking an escape from the hustle and bustle.

For most people, leaving the city is the only way to afford to buy a house in order to get on the property ladder. A typical example is of a London house costing £540,686 while a similar house prices on the outskirts of London would cost tens of thousands of pounds less. We chose to do exactly this back in 20019 and it was the best decision we could have made for our family.

2. You want more space

It’s a no brainer, who doesn't want more space? Of course you can have space in cities but it comes at a higher price on already mounting costs. Moving out of most major cities will open up doors for you to make your money go further. While £30,000 may not be enough for a spacious 2 or 3 bedroom house in London other cities and towns may allow you to comfortably get you on the property ladder, trust us we know.

This is exactly what we did in 2019 after feeling hopeless that we would never get to buy our first home in the city of London. Miraculously, we managed to save just under £20,000 while living out of one room with our eldest daughter. While we knew that affording a house in and around London was out of our reach it came as a huge shock that just 30 minutes out of the city of Birmingham we would buy a 4 bedroom house with a garden, garage and courtyard. Yes this is where we now live and we absolutely love it. We wanted space and we sure got it in spades.

3. You want friendly neighbors and a tight-knit community

Being a fairly young family we had low expectations of what to expect from our new neighbours. As long as they kept to themselves, were friendly enough and weren't too noisy we thought that would be marvelous. Living in London had made us hard and a bit insular when it came to mixing and mingling with our neighbours. A simple hi and good morning would suffice. Man were we shocked when random folk would stop to have a full on conversation with us while unpacking the shopping. I mean aren't they busy with no time on their hands to chat and get to know the new neighbours? Turns out that more often than not moving to a new town van birth you into an already existing, thriving and close knit communities that will bring joy and a sense of security that most fast paced city life has no time to offer.

We are a living testament of that since joining our little street. We are the babies of the street ( a title we have given ourselves and we wear it with pride) and we have since adopted several grandmas, uncles, aunties as well as brothers and sisters which comes with nieces and nephews.

The bottom line is that we have made more of a community in 3 years than we had done in 7 years back in London. Of course there are no guarantee that you will have perfect neighbours but as long as you are up for making new friends the right neighbours will come your way.

4. You're over traffic jams

Ok, let's talk about traffic jams people. Cities all around the world are notoriously congested and busy. I remember Living in north London and driving home from the local supermarket in rush hour taking me 35 minutes. Now that may not be the world's longest commute but considering that the same journey of peak could take me just 7 minutes is when the pennies start to fall.

Traffic is inevitable wherever you go but (yes there is a big but) I have noticed a substantial decrease in the amount of traffic I experience in the town we now call home. On top of that the stress and anxiety of driving and getting caught in traffic has been substantially reduced because the aggression, sense of urgency, impatience have been deflated by the lower demand for the local asphalt around town.

Gone are the days when I would be beeped and intimated with several aggressive and unwelcomed hand gestures faster than the traffic lights can change from amber to green. I now even find myself fostering an attitude of courtesy and patience towards my fellow road users. While public transport is nowhere near the convenience of the big cities we feel so much calmer sharing the roads with other commuters with very little to no signs of road rage. Let's just say we only travel to London and Birmingham city only if necessary or perhaps if we are missing high levels of stress from deadline drive, inpatient and somewhat selfish and entitled motorists that are in a hurry to go nowhere fast (I will meet you at the traffic lights).

5. You're looking for a strong job market

Okay okay. So it's my job to convince you that leaving a great big, fast paced and diverse city can open opportunities for you to join a strong job market. Before you say that cities are the best places to find work, let's just look at this from a different angle. While you are not wrong with your lucrative job market stance, I really want you to consider how moving out of the city to a less competitive area may actually catapult you to new and varied opportunities for work.

Just think, although there may be hundreds or thousands of jobs being available in your chosen field in the city. That same role may have double or triple the amount of applicants. Although the vacancies may be fewer in a quiet town outside the major cities you may well find the the competition for the role is far less. This means that the demand for staff is greater than the vacancy. In other words there will be more jobs for you to choose from which inturn can place a premium on your skills and in turn you could command a higher salary or rate of pay.

These factors really need to be taken into consideration before making the move out of the city to somewhere quieter and slower in pace. With lower living costs and great opportunities to earn well you will be able to save both time and money while leading a more fulfilled life.

6. You want Outdoor Lifestyle

While living in London I remember being woken by the screams of what sounded like a murder being committed live. Turns out that was just the sound of ferrol foxes answering the call of nature in their mating season. While most cities offer phenomenal park and green spaces which to be fair at the time when we were living in London, we felt we had the outdoor lifestyle made. Boy were we wrong.

Turns out that a great outdoor lifestyle in the city is often at level 1. Yes level 1 is the lowest level. Where we now live we are surrounded by trails, lakes, rivers, fields, parks, mountains, farm land not forgetting

to mention the various wildlife parks, zoos, safaris, camp sites and farms to explore. If that all fails then you local Webb's or garden centre is also available.

Honestly there is just no contest when it comes to outdoor lifestyle when you've ditched city life. The only obstacle is your sense of adventure.

7. Cleaner air for longer life

The sources of air pollution are intrinsically linked to how we live in cities. While many people see cars and transport as the most obvious causes of air pollution, nearly 70% of particulate matter is related to the built environment such as heating of buildings, construction and traffic related to it.

In 2008, we estimated that 4,300 premature deaths in London were due to long-term exposure to small particles. By 2017 that figure was around 9,000 premature deaths.

The people most affected by this poor air quality are unsurprising. Care to have a guess who are the most vulnerable? Yep you guest it, children, elderly and those with underlying health conditions. The irony is that those who are most at risk are the ones with the smallest carbon pollution footprint.

My wife and I were very conscious of the levels of pollution in London after watching a channel 4 documentary about the dangerous levels of pollution in our capital city. The team at channel 4 follow some young children as the travel and play in their Haringey primary school. The research team from King's College London were alarmed by the levels of toxic pollution found in the school playground and in their classroom.

This was a wake up call for my wife and I as we like most parents were concerned for the safety of our child and so we knew that a move would be the safest option.

It's no secret that the less populated and congested an area is the cleaner the air will be (with a few exceptions)

Moving out of the city is sure to boost your life expectancy and reduce the risk of serious respiratory illnesses. There are websites with some powerful tools to help you identify areas which have less polluted air that while it may not be the only decide in factor for moving out of the city, it can provide additional incentive for making the switch. Hair is a website which is useful when looking for clean air zones to live in. Invisible threat: air pollution in your area

Bonus: To make new friends

The list of items that could be added to this list is vast and nowhere near exhaustive. So I thought I would have a honorable mention with this bonus tip as it may prove to be a great incentive for those who are looking to leave the city.

It was easy to make new friends as a kid, when your new BFF may have just been the person eating lunch next to you in the dinner hall. As we get older, however, forming new friendships becomes more difficult. There’s nothing wrong with being content in our existing relationships, but there is something to be said for continuing to form new bonds and connections as we get older. Moving to a new place forces you to do just that. Whereas you may not have had much incentive before to get out there and meet new people, getting settled in a new area requires that you branch out and make connections. If you’re nervous about it, start out by just trying to meet your neighbors. As your confidence builds, you’ll feel ready to expand your circle and really let your roots dig in.