8 obscure date ideas that will appeal to rural singles

Rural singles who online date with Muddy Matches enjoy exploring connections based around common ground, shared interests and joint outlooks on country life.

As you’d expect of the original home of rural dating, the range of interests, hobbies and field sports singles bond over on Muddy Matches is wide and varied. It’s also unashamedly knee deep in life outdoors.

From ferreting and farmers markets to hunt balls and heritage crafts, there’s a rich diverse of things that forge relationships; over 160 are celebrated, without any judgement, on dating profiles.

Here we explore eight rural date ideas off the beaten track that best fit with those interests and hobbies that we know daters are flocking too right now.

Go foraging together.
Fuelled by the nation’s rediscovery of nature, foraging has fast become a common hobby that can be easily shared and enjoyed. Knee deep in the countryside, a date out foraging offers all the fresh air and freedom for some quality time together. Rural singles say its liberating and the shared intrigue of discovery is a wholesome quality for any couple.

Catch a point to point fixture.
Point to Point amateur horse racing is a classic date opportunity, especially with over 20% of the singles recognising a love of the circuit. There’s plenty of fixtures on the race list over the coming months, and its just a good, hearty day out with a bit of horsey appreciation on the side. It’s also something you can dress up, or dress down for.

Seek out a heritage crafts workshop
There’s been a resurgence in old fashioned heritage crafts like blacksmithing, pottery, iron forging, glass blowing, and even sheepdog trailing over the past few years as people find comfort in tradition and nostalgia for a simpler life. With these skills on the rise in dating profiles, digging out a local workshop or masterclass to try your hand, and that of your date, at something neither of you have tried before is memorable as a shared experience with plenty of laughs along the way.

Get stuck into an antique hunt in charity shops.
Antiques remain in our top 20 attractions on dating profiles and everyone loves a treasure hunt, right?  Antique finding in charity shops is now a big thing on blogs and vlogs, with challenge videos getting millions of views. It’s a good date as it gets you talking, walking and with a little bit of friendly competition in the air.

Pull out all the stops at a polo fixture.
It stereotypically represents the high end of countryside life, but a date at a polo fixture gives plenty of opportunity to impress. And it’s forged in shared interest; more country singles showed a passion for polo on their profiles than football, cricket and even rugby. The sport of kings as a date will take some beating.

Brave an open water swim together.
We’ve seen a surge of interest in open water swimming over the past 12 months and its emerged as a popular past time in dating profiles – a hangover from lockdown. It’s a challenge, no question, and not for the faint hearted. But it will reveal the spirit, character and will of your date as to whether they can dip a toe in the water, let alone dive right in. Those wetsuits also break down many of the other insecurities people have on dates from the off.

Tackle an upcycling or restoration challenge.
Fuelled by the likes of The Repair Shop, we have seen much demand to add restoration and upcycling to the muddy list of hobbies recently. Why not set up a date with a live art challenge or upcycling objective. Paintbrushes make for a spot of wholesome fun, crashing, , ripping and pulling apart is equally satisfying, and all with the shared joy of finishing something together that you’re proud of.

Set up an obscure cuts cook-off
There’s an offal lot of fun to be had. Combining an off the wall love of butchery, artisan produce and gourmet food, set up an obscure cuts dinner date where you test each other’s taste. It’s great to get under the skin of how your date thinks, what their boundaries are, and what their spirit is like. An obscure cuts cook-off is super popular right now and so there’s plenty of room to learn.

Trusted by almost 1 million rural singles, Muddy Matches has been the UK’s original, award-winning home of rural dating and ‘go to’ place to meet, match, date farmers for over 15 years now.

Inspiring connections forged on common ground and shared outlook on country life, who will you unearth?