Long distance love blooms online for Ruth and Sean

A nine-hour road trip for relationship has seen mud lover Sean plan to upsticks from Suffolk to be with this muddy match on the moors in Lancashire.

When it comes to muddy love, the ‘perfectly matched’ Ruth and Sean, who met online whilst country-life dating, are roots and all.

“We are a couple of self-confessed dendrophiles; we naturally migrate to the woodland,” Ruth tells us. “We both enjoy walks, wildlife and living in the countryside.

“I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone after dabbling in and out of dating sites for 5 years,” Ruth says, revealing she was initially attracted to Sean’s ‘cheeky smile and sparkling eyes. His shared appreciation of real ale also appealed to her!

“I had tried Plenty of Fish, Tinder and Match but found my soulmate on Muddy Matches, so thank you.”

Ruth, a published author, mutually matched with primary school teacher Sean in early January 2021. However, due to COVID restrictions, they spent the first few months of their fledging relationship virtual dating through a Zoom screen.

“Our first date was a Zoom date in February, but we had regular nine-hour long phone calls before we finally met in person in April.” Ruth recalls.

“We didn’t have any option but to get to know one another through texts, phone calls, and zoom dates for several months.” Sean adds. “When we were finally able to meet up, it didn’t feel like a first date in many ways as we were already very comfortable together.”

Not that IRL would have been easy had it had not been in the middle of a global pandemic; they were still 250 miles apart and faced a nine hour round trip to see each other.

“My first reaction, when Ruth contacted me, was that Lancashire was too far away, but I was interested enough in her to see how much attraction there was between us.

“I’m glad now that I did as it has clearly worked out for us.”

Ruth too tells us she had reservations about the distance but, like Sean, is delighted she chose to extend her search radius.

“: I always had this set criteria in my mind that I was only looking within a certain radius, but my writing is set in Cornwall and there is something about the lifestyle which pulls me in.

“So, I checked southern seaside areas, including Suffolk. As I live on a moor in Lancashire, and Sean lives in Suffolk, we have long weekends together every fortnight and weeks together during half term” Ruth adds.

The country couple’s first in person date was a 9 hour long outdoor picnic at Rutland Water Park. Ruth ‘brought far too much food,’ but the pair both admit they ‘have never looked back.’

Now, a little over a year into their relationship, Sean is planning to put a stop to the long-distance love by heading north to move in with his muddy match, her ‘three cats and a wolf (ok, he’s a Samoyed)’ this summer.

“He’ll be needing a decent pair of wellies as he acclimatises to the north” Ruth jokes. “I’m very much so looking forward to our life together on the moor.”

And what a muddy lifestyle they will have If the adventurous muddy bucket list they are planning is anything to go by.

“We have started to compile “the list” which is growing rapidly every day, anything which pops up on our socials which looks inviting inevitably goes on,” Ruth tells us. “We both enjoy long distance treks and wild camping so have been planning some trips which would also include outdoor swimming when the warmer weather kicks in.

“We have spoken about a few areas including Sandlings, Bodmin/Dartmoor, something which includes a foraging experience and explore more of The Lakes, Peak District, Scotland, and Wales.”

Those wellies Ruth talked of are likely to get plenty of use.