Let’s be honest: living or walking in the countryside is glorious… until it isn’t. Rolling hills, winding lanes, and tree-canopied footpaths are a dream for the soul, but an absolute nightmare when you’re trying to explain to someone exactly where you are. And if you’ve ever tried to get a delivery to your cottage that’s “just past the farm, through the second gate, and around the corner from the pub that burned down in 1992,” you’ll know how frustrating rural living can be when it comes to location.
Enter What3Words, the free app that’s quietly revolutionising the way we pinpoint places—and saving lives while it’s at it.
Developed by a British tech company, What3Words (w3w for short) has split the entire globe into a grid of 3-metre squares—57 trillion of them, to be exact. Each square is assigned a unique combination of three simple words. That means no matter where you are in the world—from a Cornish cliff path to a remote Scottish glen—there is a 3-word code that identifies your exact spot.
It’s location, simplified. No postcodes. No dropping pins. No explaining “I’m near the field with the grumpy-looking sheep.”
Instead, you could be standing at ///waddle.thank.spud and your friend, the breakdown truck, or an air ambulance team would know precisely where to find you.
For those of us who live in the sticks, this app is a game-changer.
Rural areas often lack clear signposts, visible house numbers, or accurate postcode mapping. Many country lanes and bridleways look identical, and let’s not forget how unreliable mobile signal can be just when you need to send a location via traditional means.
But with What3Words downloaded to your phone (it works offline, by the way), you can find—and share—your location in seconds. This is invaluable for:
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Breakdowns on country roads with no markers or service stations
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Ramblers who take a wrong turn or get disoriented in woodland or moorland
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Emergency services trying to find remote farms or accident scenes
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Visitors who can’t find your front door because Google thinks you live in a hedge
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Parcel deliveries where postcodes cover vast distances or lead to the wrong house
One local dog walker I know used it when she found an injured lamb in a field and didn’t know how to direct the farmer. Another friend, stuck in a dead car with no road signs for miles, used the app to get roadside assistance within the hour.
If you’re tired of scribbling down step-by-step directions or pinning desperate notes to your gate (“NOT THE HOUSE WITH THE BLUE DOOR – NEXT ONE!”), What3Words lets you include your three-word address in delivery notes. Drivers with the app can pull right up to the correct gate—or barn, or front porch—without looping the entire village six times.
Even some courier companies like DPD and DHL are beginning to integrate What3Words into their systems, especially for hard-to-reach homes.
The app is free, and using it feels a bit like magic. You tap a button, and the three words that describe your current spot appear instantly. You can search for other addresses too—handy if you’re planning a walk or want someone to meet you somewhere specific.
Oh, and it’s weirdly fun to see what words you get. You might find your front door is ///marble.buzzard.toast or ///cabbage.river.shoe. It’s practical and entertaining.
Whether you’re a hiker, dog-walker, driver, farmer, or someone whose house is basically invisible to Google Maps, What3Words is the tiny app that makes a huge difference. It doesn’t just save time and confusion—it can literally save lives.
So go on—download it now while it’s fresh in your mind because when you’re lost in the countryside, “middle of nowhere” won’t cut it. But ///lantern.sofa.acorn just might.
