Being a farmer isn't an easy life. You've got long hours, fluctuating food prices and the prospect of your business being basically destroyed by some rain. And to top all that off, if you're single, it can't always be easy to find true love. In days of yore, that was probably because your parents had married you off to one of their mate's kids in order to get some more land. These days, it's more likely to be because you're knackered. And if you tried using a dating app like Tinder, what would be the odds of clicking with someone who lives in your town land?
That's the thinking behind the launch of a new British dating app aimed at rural folk Called Muddy Matches.
Muddy Matches' online dating service was founded back in 2007 by sisters Lucy and Emma Reeves, who were frustrated by their inability to break the ice at rural events from horse trials to Young Farmers associations. The sisters couldn't find any rural dating sites aimed at younger people - it all seemed to be about elderly folk looking for companions - so they founded Muddy Matches. Although there's a definite "horsey set" vibe to the whole thing - I suspect Muddy Matches users are more likely to pay someone to run a lambing shed than step in their themselves - the Reeves sisters say that there are plenty of actual farmers among their 10,000 members, and they're hoping the new app will widen the appeal.
Unlike apps aimed at city dwellers, the app isn't based on finding someone in your immediate area. Instead, it'll allow users to break the ice at specific events. Lucy Reeves explained
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We didn’t see much point having a geography-based app because our users would find the nearest 'match’ lives 50 miles away. So we decided on an event-based app, as that’s the way people socialise in the country.
Imagine how useful it would be at the Ploughing Championships! And if your granny has, like the granny of at least one Beaut.ie lady, been haranguing you to get yourself a nice farmer from the small ads in the Farmer's Journal, this might be a quicker route to rural romance.
So if you live in a remote rural area, does this appeal? And even if you don't, what would be your ideal tailored dating app?
