Hi all,

I know I run the risk of getting abuse for this thread but here goes.

Does anyone recommend somewhere to live in the countryside commutable distance to Basel either by car or train (i.e. in under a hour).

My wife and I would like to live somewhere in the countryside, but we are looking somewhere where my wife (pregnant) could join an English mothers coffee club or kids club. I am worried about moving to an area where she would have minimal social interaction, so an English playgroup or mums group would be great!

Ideally it would be somewhere between Basel and Zurich as these are the two areas I work in.

Are there any expats here who live in the more countryside areas, if so any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

If you look back at the last time you posted this question, you'll see that ecb, bexie and Wattsli1 all made some good suggestions to you for nearby villages in the countryside.

How rural do you want to get? Do you want back-and-beyond get-away-from-it-all with the corresponding single shop, smell of fertiliser and two buses a day - or is a pretty view of hills 10km away enough if you have an S-Bahn and a huge Migros 5 mins walk away?

HI Quark

Thanks for the reply, yes it was the post last time that really set the seed for my worry about leaving my wife isolated. So I have done some research but the one big thing we are looking for is specifically English mothers clubs. I got allot of good info last time with especially regards to living in France and Germany. We have decided to stay in Switzerland. When I say Countryside, I mean we would like the scenery but the big factor is finding an affordable house (which seems to happen only as you move away from the cities). So even if it is a town\village it doesn’t matter as long as my wife can interact and I can travel to Basel by either car or train.

We're currently looking at a very pretty house in the Kannerkinden/Buckten area of Basel Land. Population is only 500 and there are no shops within walking distance and the nearest S-Bahn station is 2 km away. The bus schedule is pretty sparse with about 6 in the morning, 6 in the evening and nothing on weekends.. so basically you need a car.

Am I mad? I would preface that by saying that I was born n raised in London and even though we currently live in the village of Sissach, its still pretty big (3 main supermarkets, COOP Bau Hobby, bus station and fast trains to Basel & Zurich etc.. and we even have a McDs )