To ask for your experiences with Bath/strange atmospheres

Omg that map!!! Everywhere I’ve lived until currently is about 5 miles away from an area of yellow/orange highlight! 😂 explains a lot! How strange. Derbyshire was the most hated (by me) of previous areas funnily enough.

Always had a feeling I wouldn’t like Wales ( no idea why, but still never been); Cornwall holidays as a child never felt relaxing I always looked forward to escaping & going home; as pp mentioned the drive through SW Scotland to the m6 completely agree that’s creepy. I went to Bath as a child but can’t remember how I felt. Felt really uncomfortable in Dover couldn’t wait to leave and was only there for one night.

Off to read more about radon now!

Never been to Bath, Hastings, Buxton etc. Recall not liking Glastonbury or Stonehenge as much as I thought I would.

Loved Cornwall, Brighton and Cambridge immediately. Norfolk is fine generally but I do get a negative vibe in Cromer, especially the big old creepy hotel near the pier.

The place that I couldn’t wait to leave was Lancaster! On paper I should like it but it just felt bad. The castle/prison was worst but the whole place felt like death.

I also dislike Leeds, it feels bleak and cold and soulless. Love Manchester though!

Something about Edinburgh puts me off from going there, no idea why.

Wow, very interesting about radon gas! The radon map shows that the small village Betws y Coed mentioned by another poster is on a hotspot of radon gas.

@PlomBear

Train stations (and airports and such) are liminal spaces. If you google, there's loads about them and why they feel so weird.

www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/understanding-how-liminal-space-is-different-from-other-places/

I hate Blackpool with a passion. Every single time I've been, it has rained solidly (even in August- forcasted hot and dry and rained.) I feel like the place leave a grubby coating on me and I can't wait to get away and wash it off.

My poor sister had a nightmare of a time in Halifax- stayed in an old pub for a work thing and was convinced that something was watching her all night. She came out the next morning and found her car had been vandalised and then one of the course leaders became really ill. She said as soon as she left, the feeling started to lift. It was a few years ago and she's never been back.

I think it’s great - encourage all these loonies who think like this to stay away and leave beautiful Bath emptier for the rest of us to enjoy! I hear Wolverhampton and Taunton are gorgeous you should all visit there instead.

This thread is insane. There are literally hundreds of studies into the effects of post grad study on mental health. All universities acknowledge that it's an issue. There are zero studies into the effects of Bath on mental health...Somerset council don't have a policy on this

Bath air can be quite stifling. Surrounded by 7 hills the centre can feel quite airless to me. Pollution seems to get stuck there. But that wouldn't explain your issues if you were at the Uni (on top of one of the hills) and living outside the city.

Never read such a load of old nonsense!

Bath has that feel because no-one is allowed to add any history to the place. Its controlled by the council and everything has to have a classic historical English feel. It leaves the place feeling stuck in the past.
Its also very small and isn't very private with the locals being quite gossipy people. No housing is built for younger people to afford so more and more old people buy houses to retire to leaving the demographic heavily of the middle aged and up. This means that to have a business you have to cater towards old people and tourists which means business wise the young and innovative set up shop elsewhere.

The younger people here are mostly students and leave so arent as vested in the city as longer term residents. The buildings are heavily protected by planing permissions as is most of the space so its just stuck in the 1790's with a social vibe of being stuck in the 1970's by the 55 plus year olds who can afford it due to inflating property prices plus the discounts they get for being over 55.

This gives the place a very distinctive lack of youthful energy plus resentful residents whos young children cant buy anything in the city they are from. Which makes them more hostile towards anyone who is young and more inclined to block student nights/plans for shops that cater for younger people. etc. Its firmly in the grip of the 55 plus year old baby boomer who are either liberal voters and hate big business and love little cake shops and arts and crafts, or 55 plus year old baby boomers who vote conservative and love big business and also love little cake shops and rugby. This crowd is also snobby to a degree I've not seen anywhere else.

Its beautiful to look at but its just out of touch for anyone who is under 40 and has any type of international outlook.

I am from Exeter and love the place
We moved overseas when I was young, coming back to the uk in my late teens I was shocked at how dead certain places felt. Other posters describing it as having the life sucked out of you is spot on. I never experienced this in the Southern Hemisphere which is where my family moved to. I also never, until this thread, realised other people may have experienced this feeling of deadness or suffocation in some parts of the uk. I wasn’t aware of the radon thing before reading this thread, will have to have a look.
Funny I have never been to bath but have always felt against going IYSWIM. Just don’t like the idea of the place.
Stonehenge felt like a flat battery to me at first but after a few hours there I could tune in. The energy is so very slow and old.
Portsmouth creeps me right out, so bleak and depressing.
I think I have been to Glastonbury and liked it? Can’t remember. Was going to go this summer but am outside the uk so that’s off the table for this year...

@songsofexperience I am pretty sure that radon is a heavy gas and so opening windows etc does nothing, you'd need to have a door open in every room and a fan to blow it out. The only way to reduce radon is to fit a pump which drags it out.

I agree with the radon gas theory. Mil lives in a high radon area and radon is responsible for so much more than we know, imo!

My Son was at Uni in Bath for 3 years and absolutely loved it. We visited frequently, and although I never got any bad vibes as such, there was always a strange odour in all the buildings I ever entered. Not just the student houses (which - lets face it have a pong all of their own!), but in public places, civic buildings, pubs, shops etc. I could only describe it as a 'mineral' smell. Maybe it was the dust that pp have referred to, or the fact its a Spa town. Very odd, but the City itself is beautiful.

Lots of these places have a long history - settled by people for a long time. Combined with that they have maybe a reputation - whether that's tourist town or something else that maybe isn't met by a visitor. So different people are picking up different vibes.
I have never been a fan of Bath, hate Glastonbury and love Cheddar Gorge!
Other places I have struggled with are Fort William, Newquay and Chester. (I think all are supposed to be lovely tourist towns that have disappointed me)

I felt ok in Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury, I've also been to Betsy co ed a lot and felt ok.
Randomly I always feel really excited when I go to Manchester or London but that's probably more to do with the fact that it's usually a weekend away with fun stuff like the theatre or a gig and they are rare. Ha

This thread is so interesting. I can't believe the similarities in peoples experiences, it cant just be a coincidence. I'm going to look up the radon/laylines stuff.
I felt uncomfortable in Bath and Buxton and it's funny how spa towns keep getting a mention.
I completely get the 'empty' feeling about bath. I'm a lover of big cities I love the hustle and bustle. But despite it being full of people it felt like a shut down sunday. Very odd.

I'm surprised only one person has mentioned ilkley. Creepy.

I really don't like the witch at Wookey Hole

I visited Glastonbury in 1997 (so I don't know if that was before the really bad drug problems PP have mentioned) and was so completely freaked out that I had to leave within 10 minutes of arriving.

I've never felt that way about a place before or since.

Ooh yes, and I once got a The Fear driving through cheddar gorge one night .

I love near Bath and find it quite soulless. I enjoy visits to Glastonbury though.
But the Somerset levels fill me with an indescribable dread and fear. I had to visit a remote farm just outside Glastonbury on the levels and it felt so menacing, i I was genuinely very frightened. Really really weird atmosphere.

Hmmm I seem to like living in places with high Radon too lol

I dont think I've ever felt woo about a place. Lived in Bath for 6 years and loved it, liked hastings and brighton too. I do think places in the commuter belt like Woking are depressing though, and felt quite unsafe in parts of east Manchester.

I’m fine in Bath, Exeter, Glastonbury and Cheddar Gorge.
Don’t like Portland, Exmoor, Dartmoor and Cornwall.

Interesting how different people react to different places.