Congratulations! You did it! I knew you could!

If you have grown up in the city, this will be one of the biggest and scariest plays of your life.

Many people make the move to the country full of energy and with big dreams, then spend the first year becoming progressively overwhelmed, isolated and exhausted as they and their family try to adjust to many unfamiliar and challenging issues they may never have dreamed existed! 

Some that we had to learn to summit were: 

• We’ve run out of water! And it’s Friday afternoon!
• How do I cut our own firewood? Which wood is good to burn?
• Oh no! Bugs are eating my lettuce!
• It’s too far to town to shop every day!
• The neighbour’s cows got through the fence, again! What do I do?
• Where can I find a reliable tradesman?
• My neighbours are so friendly! They want to talk to me all the time!
• Or, my neighbour is so grumpy! How can I get in his good books?
• Oh no! Jenny has her first tick! What do I do? (Hint: We rushed them to hospital! No need to do that 😊)

But it doesn’t need to be all stress and anxiety like that for you! 

Country Life Mentoring was born from lived experience. Desley and I escaped the city ourselves, raised our 6 kids in the country, and we now have over 100 years combined country living experience. We’ve bought, developed, and farmed multiple rural properties, and now we teach folk how to do that themselves. Our other family business is an organic market garden, and we have been teaching people how to grow their own food for years.

In every great escape story, the hero decides to leave the old world behind, encounters an overwhelming obstacle or a mortal enemy, and a guide appears who has done it all before and helps the hero overcome. In your story, you bring the courage, the vision and the commitment to your family and your new lifestyle and I bring the lived experience, the practical know‑how, and a steady presence while you learn the ropes. My role is to walk beside you as a trusted guide who has already made the journey.

You’re the hero, I’m your guide.

This is not about telling you how to live. It’s about sharing real‑world experience, asking the right questions, resourcing you, supporting your decisions, and helping you recover quickly when things don’t go exactly to plan. This is about helping you start country life off on the right foot so you can go the whole way. We mentor you through the first year or 2 of your experience, building your knowledge and skills, helping you make new connections and settle into your new community, deepening your capacity to deal with the new challenges, helping the kids adjust then thrive, and advising you at every step as you find the rhythm of your new life.

We will:

• provide you a bespoke relationship-based and development oriented mentoring experience in a supportive and educational capacity
• provide one-to-one and/or family group mentoring to support your transition to rural living, including general guidance on integrating children into rural life
• visit with you in your new home, walk over your new property, and provide on-the-ground feedback, suggestions, and advice
• provide guidance on adapting to rural culture, building neighbour relations, and supporting you to identify appropriate strategies for building local networks, friendships and community connections
• assist you to anticipate common lifestyle, relationship, emotional, and practical challenges associated with moving from an urban to rural environment, and to develop adaptive strategies
• provide general guidance as needed on aligning your rural lifestyle choices with your family, financial, and wellbeing priorities
• offer mindset coaching and encouragement to support resilience, problem-solving, and confidence as you encounter new rural experiences
• provide guidance on planning for variable weather and environmental conditions, and general information about safety awareness on rural properties
• supply general information and guidance about the practical skills commonly required on rural properties, and recommend learning pathways, opportunities and resources for you to build those skills
• refer you to appropriately qualified professionals and service providers where issues arise that are outside your capacity, and outside the scope of the Country Life Mentoring Service

I believe that every family needs a home on the land, with sufficient space for a garden and orchard and some animals, and for parents and kids to have a sense of freedom and independence. I also believe that this life provides both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self supporting life that will bless the individual, the family, their community, and the country for generations to come.

I’ll do whatever I can to make that true for you.

Rod Bailey

Fee

Every family's needs differ. Please contact us for a bespoke service tailored to you needs. Fee will be negotiated based on your coaching plan. Contact us for more information.