Country Life Survey

[derelict]

While killing time at the local (urban) Sainsburys I discovered that its magazine selection runs to "Country Life". On page 42 of the latest issue is a survey on people's attitudes to the countryside.

Apparently 80% of us want to live in the country, but only 20% of us do... (an interesting contrast)

Worryingly 1 in 20 of those questioned thought that Hugh "chicken scragger" Fearnley-Doodah was the best guardian of the UK countryside. That's 25 people. How they managed to get them all in their sample will have statisticians scratching their heads for a long time to come. Likewise the 40 who plumped for Prince Charles. As for the 54% who thought that the people would be friendlier...

Voice of the Countryside Survey | Voice of the Countryside Survey | Houses for sale, properties for sale - Country Life

Not a lot of mention of the wildlife in there as a reason though...

[deer boy]

Seen as i'm 1 of the lucky 20% of people that live in the country how many out of the 80% are people that want holiday homes in the country

[agrumpycow]

Hmmm.....

I always take these kind of statistics with a pinch of salt. 'a survey of more than 1,100 people carried out for Country Life' just says to me that the people who responded to the survey were likely to be readers of Country Life and therefore it is expected that a large proportion would want to live their 'idyllic life' in the country

[Susie]

I have always wanted to live in the country (I used to live in London) and now I do. I love it. If anything, I would like to move to somewhere even more rural.

Perhaps wildlife wasn't mentioned because even in the most built up areas you can find wildlife if you are interested. I know I did.

[shei111]

Hello I dont believe all these surveys either , but im glad that I live rural , but all im use to. shei.

[derelict]

There are some interesting other snippets arising - 'pub landlord' being the most favoured occupation, 60% of respondents claimed they visited Farmers' Markets etc etc - I wish I'd spent more time reading the original take but I suspect it will be off the shelves by now.

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I always take these kind of statistics with a pinch of salt. 'a survey of more than 1,100 people carried out for Country Life' just says to me that the people who responded to the survey were likely to be readers of Country Life and therefore it is expected that a large proportion would want to live their 'idyllic life' in the country

I looked elsewhere web-wise and it looks as though Country Life do this sort of poll quite regularly - about 1000 people - last year only 65% wanted to live in the country (but that was conducted by a different outfit!) - presumably budget constraints determine the sample size.

However 1100 is almost exactly the same as the smallest number of people I've ever seen accessing this site so it would be rather interesting to have that poll run on this site. I've always wondered about that "guests" statistic - I've logged on at some pretty odd times in my short time on here and there nearly always seem to be between 1800-2500 of them... but I can never correlate this with the "Views" stats and have sometimes wondered whether they really exist. I wonder how many would admit to being "Country Life" readers...

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by derelict

I've always wondered about that "guests" statistic - I've logged on at some pretty odd times in my short time on here and there nearly always seem to be between 1800-2500 of them... but I can never correlate this with the "Views" stats and have sometimes wondered whether they really exist. I wonder how many would admit to being "Country Life" readers...

Actually Derelict, most of those "guests" are search engine bots and not real people.

I would also like to point out that there are cons to living in the countryside - I live about a mile from the nearest bus stop (for a very sparse bus service) and I sometimes long to be able to have a takeaway delivered

Jenny

[derelict]

Originally Posted by jennyb

Actually Derelict, most of those "guests" are search engine bots and not real people.

I would also like to point out that there are cons to living in the countryside - I live about a mile from the nearest bus stop (for a very sparse bus service) and I sometimes long to be able to have a takeaway delivered

Jenny

Well that solves one problem - but I thought it was possible to identify search bots by their IP addresses - and to block them. I know this has been done elsewhere for Yahoo which is apparently the worst offender. I wonder how many of the 20,000 registered members of this forum actually use it...

and I agree that the countryside has its downside. My personal experience involves no water for baths during the summer as the water level dropped below the spring line... hair-raising driving by other drivers along country lanes -the road kill was horrendous and occasionally extended beyond the merely animal - absentee neighbours, rampant theft and mouldy margarine from the local shop... nice to visit but you wouldn't want to live there!

[derelict]

Originally Posted by derelict

Well that solves one problem - but I thought it was possible to identify search bots by their IP addresses - and to block them. I know this has been done elsewhere for Yahoo which is apparently the worst offender. I wonder how many of the 20,000 registered members of this forum actually use it...

Humble apologies - I just saw ((or rather read!) my first "what's going on?" section where the spiders from cyberspace are indeed separated out. I still think they could block the range of Yahoo IP addresses altogether as they swamp everthing else to no good effect...

[stripee]

I agree with agrumpycow's post regarding the readership. I sometimes read it in the doctors/dentist. Country Life wouldn't be likely to mention wildlife as a reason for living in the countryside, not unless it was being shot and cooked.

[derelict]

Originally Posted by stripee

I agree with agrumpycow's post regarding the readership. I sometimes read it in the doctors/dentist. Country Life wouldn't be likely to mention wildlife as a reason for living in the countryside, not unless it was being shot and cooked.

Oops - I never thought I'd find myself defending Country Life but... I suspect the bulk of its readership reads it like my father read Farmers' Weekly - i.e. despite the fact that its staple content of pedigree beasts, chemically-enhanced crop yields and shiny new machinery was a million miles removed from his reality. (Occasionally when he was in real fantasy mode a copy of the Power Farming version would mysteriously appear after a trip to the local market... ) Lifestyle aspirational stuff...

Country Life did run a survey - I came across it on the WWW - on counties in which "wildlife" was a factor - scored out of 5 as I recall. What interested me was whether the absence of wildlife as an issue in the recent one was a product of the metropolitan mindset of the research agency (i.e. it didn't occur to them to ask) or reflected the mindset of the respondents (they didn't care).

As Deer Boy says if I was living in the country I would read the survey with great care as it might reflect the mindset of my next set of neighbours... a couple of days back I read a post on here where someone sacrificed their wildlife-friendly orchard/woodland to feed a trendy wood-burning stove...

[stripee]

I agree derelict, its fun to read and look at all the delectable country properties. It's not really my kind of magazine, but it's good for the dentists. And these polls can be thought provoking.
I've lived in the country all my adulthood, the worst thing right now is my internet connection (dial up), water in the phone line from the rain makes it drop off constantly and the pages time out! Mobile phone only gets signal under certain tree not inside house...

[derelict]

In the Independent last week the tragic events in Maesbrook, Shropshire were said to be linked to the frenetic pursuit of a "Country Life" fantasy...


Two bodies found at Osbaston House - Home News, UK - The Independent

(just for confirmation - slightly out of date now)

[ron1863]

I live in the countryside and all the people around me would never want to live in a city - too noisy and smelly, but my friends and relatives who live in the city would never contemplate moving to the countryside, too quiet and nothing to do. I guess it's mainly what you are used to.

[Susie]

Originally Posted by derelict

As Deer Boy says if I was living in the country I would read the survey with great care as it might reflect the mindset of my next set of neighbours... a couple of days back I read a post on here where someone sacrificed their wildlife-friendly orchard/woodland to feed a trendy wood-burning stove...

It is amazing that trees managed to survive for the millions of years that man has been lighting fires really.

[derelict]

Originally Posted by Susie

It is amazing that trees managed to survive for the millions of years that man has been lighting fires really.

I think that's a product of the number of people v. the number of trees you start with. The bad news is that if you believe the mathematician Roger Penrose then trees are done for - some years ago I heard him talking about things which the most powerful computers could not calculate but which were apparently instantly obvious to intuitive mathematicians (his underlying thesis being that the human brain can function in a different way from your average desktop computer) Apparently once a predator has picked on a species that species is a goner unless something else intervenes. I'm sure it will be in one of his books. Another thing for my winter "to do" list...

[derelict]

Pretty close to a case study for this thread... worth a listen if only for the red kites

BBC - Radio 4 - Open Country

Originally Posted by http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/opencountry.shtml

Close to London yet cropped with the sheltering hills that gave it its name, The Chilterns offer glorious vistas which have attracted everyone from the A-list celebrities and politicians that weekend there to the red kites which have been reintroduced and now breed merrily in the beech woodlands. According to some surveys the area offers the best rural life in England, a pleasing vision of middle England with higher salaries, bigger houses, long life expectancy, good schools, low crime and even more sunshine than the rest of the country.

On this week’s Open Country Elinor Goodman looks to find out if there's any more to this countryside paradise on the doorstep of London and with house prices averaging as high as £500,000 whether it offers a socially sustainable rural life or just a countryside retreat for high earners.

The dangers of being home to so many commuters and the number of visitors to the area are also something The Chilterns Society are worried about. Chalk streams have long been endangered by man's abstraction and now the growing lack of livestock farming in the area and the need for infrastructure within the urban rural fringe may change the face of the landscape forever.