Rural Romance Online
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by: miranda_koko
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Word Count: 478
Isolation, back-breaking work, drought and floods and lack of understanding are just some of the problems that country people have to deal with. On the other hand there are the joys of the beautiful landscape, wide-open spaces and country pursuits. Often country people like to socialize with other rural dwellers. This accounts for the huge popularity of rural dating sites which have sprung up in many countries, including America, Australia and England. A large American site, Farmers Only.com even uses the slogan, “City folks just don’t get it!’
Jerry Miller set up the site when rural people told him about how difficult it was for them to meet potential partners. The dating site is very popular and has over 64,000 members.
There have been 40 weddings so far and there are 20 planned.
According to an article in the Winston-Salem Journal one success of the site was the match of Amanda Szymnanik and Scott Harbaugh, Jr. They lived over 400 miles away from each other and they both found it difficult to meet potential partners. City people were usually not interested in the hard work involved in farming or the struggles and lack of money. Now they are married and setting up a farm together.
Although questions on member’s profiles may include: “What crops do you grow?” or “What stock do you farm?”, not all of the site’s members are farmers. Many are people who work in the country, such as teachers living in rural towns.
Rural dating sites are also gaining popularity in the U.K One of these is countryside-love.co.uk set up by the O’Brien family. They wanted to bring romance to country people who are finding it difficult to meet people. Mike O’Brien said in a BBC interview that: “It’s very difficult to find anywhere to meet people or to get to know other people…if you live in a village and get separated or divorced…..and go into the pub and see your ex husband or wife….it’s difficult to form new relationships.”
One member said in the same interview that she hoped to find someone who liked horses and was willing to ‘put up with the mud and the 5 a.m. starts.’
The site which attracted more than 85,000 members in its first three months doesn’t only appeal to farmers. Horse-riders, hunters, fishermen and people who just love the outdoors have also joined.
These sites offer rural people a fresh and attractive way to meet potential partners. The designs of the websites are also likely to appeal specifically to country people and are almost likely to make city-dwellers wish that they lived in the country! One journalist wrote that ‘you can almost smell the apple blossom’ when looking at the countryside-love.co.uk site! Hopefully, these sites will help many rural dwellers find romance.
My blog: The Best Dating and Marriage blog
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My blog: The Best Dating and Marriage blog
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