I moved from city life (grew up in Bristol then lived in central Canterbury) to a rural village in Cumbria with my husband and (at the time) young baby and I absolutely love it and would never move back unless I had to.

We can drive to cities if we want to - I’m about 2 and a half hours from Edinburgh or closer to Newcastle and Carlisle - but in a small village you have genuine connection and safety and I wouldn’t trade that. 

In local towns we can also drive to all the stuff you mentioned. 

When I moved here I was chatting to a friend who had always lived locally and she asked about what I used to do in the evenings in my old city. I explained that I went out a bit but basically couldn’t walk through streets by myself after dark and she didn’t understand why. 

I’ve been here long enough now that I frequently go walk the dog on unlit streets alone at 10pm without even bringing my phone and feel 100% safe - I’d never even have considered that in my previous life because I’d had too many run ins with being harrassed or made to feel unsafe basically by strangers. Here there are no strangers, literally everyone knows everyone. With a young daughter I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

Plus there’s other stuff to do here - lots of outdoor time within easy reach, we do hiking, forest schools, camping, people I know sail/climb/run/cycle/hunt/horse ride etc and there’s clubs for all that. 

We've found it easier to make friends where previously we had people on the street we’d lived on for a decade that we didn’t even know to nod at or know the names of. It’s easier to build connections here so I have a group of friends who all go out for drinks etc.