[britfish]

Pequele, I didn't know you were from NH! You are going to have to make it to a New England get together!
I am also from NH, we are in the White Mountains which is considered the North Country. Yes, its cold here, but really you get used to it. The dark is the hardest. Its dark at 4:00 in the afternoon in the winter, your days are short and you do get stir crazy but w/ kids you just go outside and find things to do.
Housing prices have gotten crazy in our area. I just read an article in the paper that house prices will drop 10% by Dec. of 2007 in this area. I live in a tourist area and a lot of people from out of state buy $200,000.00 vacation homes and they drove all the housing prices up for some time. Hopefully things will slow down in that aspect.
For us to get special services it is usually quite a drive. The eye Dr. is 1.5 hr. one way, the IA dr. is 2.5 hrs. one way. But its a small state (population) so we never wait long to get an apt. Also, Irving Gas has a great program which helps reimburse for gas when going to Dr. apt. etc. We used EI for 6 months and were very impressed. the program seemed very adequate, but we've never seen any other states services.
There are a lot of tough things about living in NH, but that is the sacrifices you make for rural living. Its still the old country here where you can't make it 2 feet in the store w/out seeing someone you know and if you break down the person who owns the house where you are (and all his cousins) will try to fix your car. That type of small town community. We don't have much beach, but we have wonderful lakes and rivers. Nothing like tubing down the river or canoeing. Rope swings and river bank picnics are a summer mainstay!
Anyway, NH is quite diverse, do you know what area you are thinking of? If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!