Anyone who wants to live well in Germany has only one choice: out into the country! Finally leave the urban Moloch and the high rents behind and become happy in the midst of fresh air, cackling chickens and people who are close to the earth. Thanks to fiber optic cables, the job is taken with you to the provinces, and so is your favorite yoga class. In addition, there are home-grown vegetables from their own farm garden and inner peace every day, because in the village it comes by itself. Do you think that is an exaggeration? Then you are probably not following any prominent newcomer to the country on Instagram, have not yet worked your way through the latest village novels, and have not read any “future studies” recently. They all agree: Kreuzberg and Eimsbüttel were yesterday, tomorrow life will take place in Prignitz and in the Hunsrück.

Where is the romantic country life, please?

Judith Lembke

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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Now it is not that the discovery of the land is new.

Ever since the aristocracy fled the cities to their country estates during the plague, the better life always attracted where one did not live - alternately in the city and in the provinces.

The big question is, where is this rediscovered Arcadia hiding outside of Instagram stories and vacation farms in real life? If you drive on the highway from Flensburg to Berchtesgaden, you will at least encounter more cattle fattening businesses, logistics halls and new building areas than grazing cattle, corner shops and half-timbered farms. The village pub closed ten years ago, so the new co-working space three places down is only partly comforting, even if there is soy latte there. Even today, rural life means above all sitting in the car a lot. Because the bus doesn't go when the son is taking cello lessons in the district town, and sometimes not at all.

Anyone who moves out today dreams of the best of both worlds: outside the cheap, large house, exercise area for children, dogs and maybe even horses and chickens.

You consume city life when you need it.

Proximity to theaters, clubs and restaurants is measured in driving time.

And so far everyone has found a parking space in Germany's car-friendly centers.

However, that could change faster than some rural dwellers would like.

With city tolls and car-free inner cities, the perceived distance suddenly depends on the frequency of local public transport.

Maybe there is still hope for the village pub.