Country Dating: Meet Rural Singles in the West Country

When the nearest single person is miles away

If you farm, you already know the problem. The day starts before it is light and finishes when the work is done, not when the clock says so. Lambing, silage and harvest take whole weeks out of the calendar. The people you see most are family, neighbours you have known since school and whoever is at the market on a Wednesday. The pub is a twenty-minute drive, and you are too tired to make it most nights anyway.

It is not only farmers. Plenty of people in the South West live and work in the country: on smallholdings, in village shops and garages, as vets, foresters, builders and carers who cover a patch of thirty miles. Rural life can be lonely in a way town-dwellers do not always understand, and most dating apps make it worse by offering matches who think a forty-minute drive is an expedition.

Someone who understands the life

What most rural singles want is not complicated. Someone who will not mind that Saturday plans depend on the weather. Someone who knows that "I'll be done by six" means seven, or eight. Someone who might enjoy the life rather than put up with it. Westcountry Singles is for people who live in the South West, and members choose their own town, so a lot of the people you meet will know the countryside from the inside. You will find members in market towns and villages such as Holsworthy, South Molton, Launceston, Bude, Tavistock and Minehead, as well as in the cities.

There is no separate farmers-only membership, and you do not need one. Your profile does the job: say what you do and what your days look like, and the people who are put off were never going to be right for you.

Making the site work when you live miles from town

Set a wider radius

A town-dweller might search within ten miles. You probably need thirty or more to see a decent number of people, and that is fine: you are used to driving. Set the distance you would happily drive for a Sunday lunch, not the one you would drive for a quick drink after work. Our page on finding singles near you has more on choosing a realistic radius.

Be honest about your days

Say what you do, the hours it takes and the seasons that swallow you whole. "Dairy farmer, up at five, around most evenings after eight and some Sunday afternoons" tells the right person exactly what to expect. A photo outdoors, with the dog, the view or the tractor in it, says more than a dozen adjectives.

Message when it suits you

The site works in your phone's browser and can sit on your home screen like an app, so you can read and reply in the ten minutes after milking or last thing at night. Early-morning messages are normal here. People who mind will tell you, and people who do not are worth knowing.

Plan first dates that fit

Meet halfway in a market town, on a weekday afternoon if that is when you have time. A walk with a pub at the end suits most country people better than a restaurant in the city. Our first date ideas have plenty more, and a busy public place is still the right choice for a first meeting.

The rural West Country

Dartmoor and its edges

Tavistock, Okehampton, Moretonhampstead, Ashburton and the farms in between. Members here often look both ways, towards Exeter and towards Plymouth. See Devon dating and Plymouth dating.

Exmoor and North Devon

Hill farms around Dulverton, Exford and Lynton, with South Molton, Barnstaple and Minehead as the nearest towns. North Devon dating and Taunton dating cover the two sides of the moor.

The Somerset Levels

Flat, wet and beautiful, from Langport and Muchelney across to Glastonbury and Bridgwater. The Somerset dating page covers the county.

Mid and north Cornwall

Bodmin Moor, Camelford, Launceston and Bude, and the farms between the A30 and the north coast. Start with Cornwall dating or Truro dating.

West Dorset

The Marshwood Vale, Beaminster and Bridport, with Dorchester as the nearest county town. See Dorset dating.

Every other part of the region is on our locations page. Over 40 and would like a site for older singles too? Have a look at Mature Westcountry Singles.