Security for rural home

[montecristo]

What are the best ways of securing a rural home when I am away - alarm connected to some kind of callout service springs to mind, but what else do people here do?

Monitoring it via webcams seems pointless when I am travelling, for example.

[montecristo]

The only neighbour is very old and lives alone; I can't ask a 90 year old man to wake up at midnight and possible burglars.

Another option would be those lights that switch on and off randomly.

[montecristo]

Some good ideas in here, thank you.

I agree that alarms are annoying, and probably pointless in terms of response times. I'll look into random and TV lights.