The Differences

A lot of people see the move to the country as pretty straight forward with no hassles.
But moving from what may be a busy town with lots of neighbours and easy access to Schools and Shops can be quite a shock to the system.

It would seem there are two stages in life which may suit this adventure. One is whilst the children are still young enough to grow in the surroundings before they suddenly stumble across the 'boyfriend / girlfriend' bit in mid teens, or wait til they have gone altogether and move there as a couple.

If you have children, then you can be fairly certain on having two cars, one for the school run and the other for your, or your partners work etc.
You may be lucky enough to live within easy reach of Public Transport and experiencing this will bring a whole new meaning to life!

If you're going down the Smallholding Route, then you need research into what is going to be favourite in that area, ie livestock? Chickens? Pigs? Sheep? or just crops. Also where and who you're going to sell anything.

If it's a move for other purposes, like simply to move to Village Life, then that's not so necessary, but with downshifting in mind, it's wise to chose a house with a big enough garden to have your Garden Farm and have a couple of outhouses where you can both store and use as a Workshop.

I moved to a semi-rural situation, so in many ways this has the best of both worlds, surrounded by fields yet no more than a 10 minute walk to the local store.
The rural situation is different - a snowy winters day and you can't get your car out the property leads you to remember that ample in the Kitchen Cupboard is essential.

Then there's the social life, presuming you had one!! The Village Life means that you're seeing a small community a lot and there aren't many things which don't go un-noticed down a lane!
The weekly visit to the Cinema may be exchanged for an evening lecture on Basket Weaving. Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but life is not the same, hence the first paragraph where I mentioned Teenage Kids.
They'll soon be past the helping feed the chickens stage and venturing off to friends in Town, missing the last bus home and staying at a friends.

Should you be moving and downshifting to a business, don't forget that a lot of areas still can't receive Broadband Internet, so if you are running a business partly relying on the Internet, you'll be back to 54k until they get more phone cables in.

The main difference of course is the speed of life. No more the hussle bussle of town life, the traffic queues for the Supermarket Car Park, the feeling of just being a part rather than being a part of and the exchange of views from one maybe of other houses, main roads and railway lines to fields, woods, old roofs and the sounds and smells which go with country living!