Given the choice and money being no object would you prefer the peaceful surroundings of the countryside with everybody knowing everybody else (and also everything they do) or is your penchant for city living with it's anonymity and vibrancy?

I think we have the best of both worlds in Sheffield/NE Derbyshire as the city is easily accessible and yet we are but a short drive into the heart of the Peak District. I suppose that means that you need never be starved of culture/clubs if you live out in the sticks.

I would love to live in the heart of the countryside away from the tensions and pressures of modern living. What do you think?

city living for me everytime

i'd be really bored living somewhere rural
like to be at the hub of things and i think sheffield has become more vibrant in recent years as a result of its regeneration initiative. long way to go mind

Given the choice and money? Well I think it's called having your cake and eating it, but it would have to be a city pad for Monday to Friday, (quicker to get to work, nightlife, shops etc), and a country retreat for the weekends.

I grew up in a rural area and now live in Sheffield city centre to study and at this point in my life there's no way I could choose!

I've got the best of both, vibrant student life in the city and slink off home when I want the quiet life.

Suppose I'm just going to have to work hard at my degree so one day I can earn enough to have both :? !

Having done both (brought up in deepest darkest Cumbria, Uni and a few years more in Sheffield) heres my opinion.

Countryside is fantastic to grow up in, til the age of about 15/16, then it gets boring. Running around the fields, mucking about in woods, swimming in the lakes etc, without the fear of anything happening to you (or more importantly, without your parents worrying about what the kids are up to).

Once i hit 16 i got bored, same old people, same old pubs etc. Uni couldn't come quick enough and i was off to Sheffield. Absolutely loved it, the hustle and bustle, things to see etc.

At the moment for me its city living every time. However i think that may alter if/when i have kids.

Originally posted by Barra
Once i hit 16 i got bored ... same old pubs etc.

:o

blimey wish i'd have been brought up in the countryside! :D

I've done both too, i have to say i much prefer the city. It is nice to have the countryside so close in Sheffield though, but wouldn't wanna live there.

You know what does me about the country side, the lack of shops. My ex lived near whirlow farm and if you needed to go to the shops and you don't drive then you are in for a long trek.
Living in the urban theres a shop on every corner so I say Urban.

We've lived out in the country now for four years and are quite happy with it. Sundays and Bank Holidays are a bit of a trial in the summer with bikers and boy racers zooming around, but getting up in the mornings to just the sound of birdsong instead of the roar [and the smell] of traffic is adequate compensation.

Shopping doesn't bother me, - the wife does it :D

Judging by the number of vans I see up and down the lane, Tesco and Asda 'On Line' do good business in this area, but it's just a fifteen minute drive to Hillsborough and More Reasons.

But most of the residents here are really townies like us who've made the great escape, so it's not a bit like Ambridge or Emmerdale.

Living in Matlock Bath would suit me fine, no worries. Surrounded by stunning scenery and close to Sheffield and Derby for essential shopping. Lovely.

It's even got a couple of Indian restuarants.

I think while the kids are young it is probably better for them to be near to town/ city stuff - don't have to be driving them everywhere.
But i think when they grow up I will be moving to a sheep farm somewhere in the deep dark countryside - i find meself getting increasingly more paranoid and agrophobic from living in a city.

Being brought up in an age when Mosborough was a village that had fields between it and Beighton, Halfway, Hackenthorpe, Ridgeway and Eckington, then gradually seeing them eroded by the over flow from the city, it has to be the wide open spaces of the countryside where you can let your kids play, and not be worried if they are out of sight for a couple of minutes, and the first smell you get in the morning isn't of diesel fumes, and the first noise you hear is the birds singing not the sound of some skip hire driver emtying last nights bottles........but then it might be my age, bluddie eck am starting to sound like me Dad.

Originally posted by Bedhead
:o

blimey wish i'd have been brought up in the countryside! :D

The advantages of having a part time police station in the town and pubs stuck way out in the middle of nowhere!

Birdsong is nicer than glass bin emptying.
Grass is nicer than concrete.
Tress are nicer than buildings.
Fresh air is nicer than diesel smog.
Calm is nicer than congestion.

Originally posted by jackthedog
Birdsong is nicer than glass bin emptying.
Grass is nicer than concrete.
Tress are nicer than buildings.
Fresh air is nicer than diesel smog.
Calm is nicer than congestion.

But i get all of those things in the city, only half in the country. :D

Originally posted by Snook
But i get all of those things in the city, only half in the country. :D

Not following you matey.