Could Country Living be the Perfect Lifestyle For Us?

We’ve always had a very romantic idea of what it would be like to live in the country. All that fresh air and open space. Well, for the past couple weeks, we finally had a chance to give it a try.

One of the benefits of being nomads is that we get to try out different kinds of destinations and lifestyles. We’ve had a chance to live in Istanbul which is a megacity of 17 million people. We’ve lived in tiny Dubrovnik with a population of just over 40,000. And for the past couple weeks we’ve been living on a farm in Ontario’s countryside. We’ve got a few neighbours down the road but the closest town is 15 minutes away. 

We always thought that being in the countryside would be an idyllic lifestyle. We’d be far away from the chaos of the big city; we’d be surrounded by nature. There would be long walks with our dogs. We would occasionally pop into the local farmer’s market to get a fresh baked pie. It would be a different pace of life. 

What we’ve discovered is that country living isn’t all long walks and fresh pies.

We’re actually plunked down in the middle of farmer’s fields without a store or coffee shop in sight. When we headed out of the city, we left a lot of conveniences behind. 

Just last week you saw us trying out small town living in Blue Mountain, Ontario. It was a nice taster of being out of the city with lots of hiking and a trip to the beach. But there were still a few too many neighbours. We wanted to be just a little bit more remote. So we’re trying out something we dreamed about for years — living in the countryside — by taking up residence in Mulmur County, a place you’d be hard pressed to find on a map. 

We found our country retreat on Airbnb. I was a little worried when I first saw the building. It’s a barn or garage structure, a little lacking in curb appeal as you’ll see in the video. But the upstairs apartment is very welcoming in its rustic chic style. There’s a wood burning stove — not that we need it in the summer. There’s a classic soaker tub in the bathroom and lots of charming touches throughout. 

However, once we found the place, we immediately realized how isolated it really is. The two weeks that we booked could feel like a very, very long time without any of that big city buzz. 

The first big challenge we ran into with our idyllic farm life is that we are 100% dependent on a car. If we want to go anywhere we need a car. There’s no Uber out here. There’s no bus into town. And since there isn’t much in our immediate vicinity, if we need any little thing we have to go by car to get it. This is very different from what we’re used to. Typically we choose an apartment that’s centrally located. We can usually walk anywhere we need to go. Maybe we take a bus occasionally. And if we do need a cab, it will pick us up in minutes. 

Here in the country, if we need milk or bread or coffee, that’s a 30 minute round trip drive into town. Which brings us to the next challenge: the amenities are somewhat limited here. 

The nearest town is Creemore with a population of almost 1,200. This is a charming historic town with a grocery store, a couple lovely cafes and galleries. And that’s about it. Once you’ve walked main street a couple times, you’ve really seen it all. So we had a walk, a window shop, a bite on a patio and we could say that we had experienced Creemore. Again, this is quite different from life in the city where you’ve got an endless supply of shops and restaurants. So it’s been a real adjustment for us. Not that we spend much time shopping or dining out but it’s nice to know that the option exists. 

Instead, we just have to be a lot more self reliant living here in the country.

We find we need to plan ahead and make sure we have everything we need. No one wants to drive half an hour when you suddenly run out of coffee.  Fortunately we love our own cooking and don’t mind whipping up the majority of our meals at home. By now we’ve figured out that we can be plunked down anywhere with a couple weeks of groceries and we do very well for ourselves. We just have to forgo those random cravings for vietnamese food or sushi. 

Of course, there’s still one more challenge to living in the country. We’re basically stuck out here with just each other for company and the dogs aren’t much for conversation. It’s a little isolated. I mean we wanted to be here for the peace and quiet but it’s a whole lot of peace and quiet. And when we want to spend time with friends or family, someone has to make a pretty significant excursion.  

So those are the realities of country living. Still, there is a significant payoff. We’ve had the fresh air and long walks and time for quiet reflection that we were hoping for. We get to wake up every morning and have our coffee with a view of blue skies and rolling fields in the background.  

We’ve also learned that there’s no one perfect lifestyle for us at this stage of life. We love the variety we get by being nomads. We love the freedom to try a lifestyle on for size and see if it suits us. And it’s been really great to have these two weeks in the country and get all the peace and quiet we need. And we’ll be equally happy to head back to the city and have any type of food we can possibly dream of.  All of this just reinforces we’re not quite ready to settle down yet. We still have a lot of exploring and experimenting to do.