Complaining about Village life?

OMG I think we live in the same town/village. Does your MP have the initials BJ?? And was the hedge along a Long Road??

Best rural notice I've ever seen, nailed to a tree on the edge of a field bordering a narrow country lane. Handwritten in dribbly paint. DANGER!!! LAMBS!

Clearly not put up by anybody with the faintest idea of looking after the countryside, if they'd NAILED it to a tree.

I also live in a small village (after living in a large town and a larger city - we've been here for 13 years now) and our local FB group can be similarly hilarious! Most of it's well intentioned or just baffled though, rather than into CF territory. Someone who'd recently moved in once asked in worried tones what was WITH all the church bells ringing continually and was there something she had to be concerned about? It was the weekly bell ringing practice.

Conversely we do get the odd pearl-clutching post from people who either have lived here all their lives or moved here and want to pretend they never set foot in that there Lunnon - stuff about Nottingham Knockers ALL the bloody time (I'm not convinced all of these young men are Nottingham Knockers!), and during Covid there was so much wibbling about 'young people' coming in from outside the village and hanging out at the Rec and what if they bring IT in with them....

We crossed 2 boundaries moving to our village, from city to the country, from south to the north. Our arrival generated much interest, I grew up in a village on a farm so have an idea of the dynamics.
We love, feel proud, of being central to farming life and watching the tasks through the different seasons. The farm machinery and the skill of the drivers as they fly down the lane outside our house narrowly missing all the parked cars. The harvest particularly.
The lanes are all covered in muck, air often smelly, so what.
I'm sure eyebrows are raised as we both drive old bangers but we don't care about them getting dirty and when it comes to a standoff with another vehicle in a narrow lane, usually because they can't reverse nor want to get their top of the range vehicle scratched on the hedgerow, we have the advantage because, hey, what's another dent or scratch?

Best rural notice I've ever seen, nailed to a tree on the edge of a field bordering a narrow country lane. Handwritten in dribbly paint. DANGER!!! LAMBS!

Ours is dog crap, fireworks and parking.
We’re in the countryside but not far from the flight path and people moan about the sound of an aeroplane like they didn’t buy near an airport

I LOVE these village life threads. I live in a small city and, as far as I know, no community Facebook thank heavens.

I agree it’s lovely living in the country.

When we moved from London to a little village, we loved that our children could play in the woods, walk to the the village school without fear, no dirty needles in the local park, we had a garden of our own and people were friendly.

However, there are some villagers who were extremely unwelcoming of new comers or “foreigners” particularly the older residents.
They were bigoted, angrily resistant to any change, and treated anyone who hadn’t lived there all their lives with suspicion and contempt.

It was a culture shock to move out of town but we didn’t loudly complain- we weren’t spoilt “townies” demanding a Waitrose or moaning about noise.
We laughed about the sign saying “Warning Ducks Crossing “ at the top of the road and had to adjust to the quiet- no police sirens at night and the loud arguments and parties on our old housing estate in central London.

The stereotype promoted on here is humorous but definitely not the reality for most. I don’t like the prejudice- the eye rolling about “typical townies” when most are just trying to fit in and get on with their lives.

Yup for real - if dog walkers have to clear poo up on the green, so should the farmer…

On the lane I live on, there are no street lights or pavements! You just have to be aware of traffic and take a torch.

Typical townies, OOh lets move to the country it will be so wonderful especially after our picnic in that nice village last year and then reality hits, the tractors running the lanes with the harvests, Muck spreading to ready the fields for the next crops, The cockerels crowing at sunrise. The fact that there isn't a Waitrose LOL, The church bells that have chimed for centuries, The fact they can't get everything they need in the village shop, and yes the internet is slow bit hey life is lovely living in the country it's just all done at a wonderful pace instead of rushing around half demented,

This whole thread has made me laugh. I’ve been sat chuckling. In my village they don’t like newcomers, and are grumpy twits if I can call them that. The village elders as I call them like to meet in the pub once a month. (Mainly because we only have two pubs nearby.)

Baring in mind I’ve lived here my whole life, I’m in my 30’s they also dislike me, as if I’m a newcomer. How dare I have my own house, and my own new car, lots of gossiping about how I bought said house and said car also. It amuses me, village life is full of gossip and people moaning.

Everyone knows everyone’s business, however I can also say I always can say a friendly hello to a neighbour, or know if someone’s ill and when to be worried about them.

It really isn't a myth that the Tories are stopping housing being built; the UK builds very few houses indeed.

As I mentioned in a previous thread, you can insist on building on brownfield-only in towns if you like, BUT don't be fooled into thinking that it's a case of "Oh good, out of sight is out of mind, just bung them into the cities instead." Building large amounts of housing in urban areas and developing dense urban cores within cities has numerous advantages, but it will change the nature of cities in ways you may not be comfortable with, and rural dwellers will need to be prepared for this if that is what they choose.

Keeping the countryside expensive and exclusive will also cause a number of other issues, especially as countrydwellers continue to age and require more services and support.

In America, large parts of the country are becoming uninsurable due to climate change amplifying the forest fire risk, yet people continue to push the envelope in terms of living in remote areas surrounded by huge, beautiful yet very very burnable forests.

I think a big mistake is when "introverts" decide they want to move to the countryside to practice their introversion and avoid being around people (since introversion became such a commonly acclaimed lifestyle statement in the last few years).

Bad idea. In a village, you need to get on with your neighbors because you may rely on them at times of need, and the more remote it is, the greater the need! Think of utility lines conking out, getting snowed in/flooded, fires and other disasters, when you are a long way from government help and state services. Or breaking your legs/having your car break down when there are no or very few bus services where you are - you'll need a friendly person to take you to essential stuff like hospital appointments.

The self-described introverts would be better off living in a bed town at the edge of a city, where buses and government help is always there when disaster strikes.

Human poo makes very good fertilizer, apparently, if properly treated. Just as well otherwise places like North Korea with hardly any livestock animals would be even hungrier than they are at the moment...

I do think bonging bells at 10pm is a bit much. You'd think they'd want to ensure the farm workers are able to get a good night's sleep at least?

It's like finding a common enemy to bond over it. Like complaining about the weather, the potholes, pints are so expensive nowadays, kids used to play in the street, etc. I think it's a way of feeling they understand each other, that they are feeling and experiencing the same stuff, they belong to the same group. I do also think it can create a toxic culture, though, where people stop appreciating the good things that happen and focus only on the not so good ones. They need to turn the criticism into something constructive and positive. Like complaining about the state of the parks and making a Park Group to keep it clean, creating a newsletter or blog where the manure weeks are advertised, getting the local shop to offer a 20% off candles and room essences during those weeks, invest in some internet booster in the local cafés... Get initiatives rolling!

I think it could make a great sitcom. Like a British Schitt Creek.

I live in a rural village and almost every week we have someone complaining on the village online group about one thing or another… mostly over things that pretty much come along with rural village life.

As someone who grew up in a village and then lived in another one for a good few years, it strikes me that complaining about random trivial aspects of village life is, and always has been, an inherent part of village life. So are you not perhaps doing the same thing?

It’s most likely bio-solids. Treated human poo. It’ll only smell for a few days, good for waste management and a cheap fertiliser for crops. Your poo needs to go somewhere!

I also knew someone who was upset and indignant when she got an earful for just double parking her car in the high street while she ran into a shop. Apparently 'everyone did it' in her village.
Everyone has to learn to adapt when they move from an urban to a rural area, or vice versa.

😕

Your neighbouring farmer uses human poo?

I'd be tempted to wind them up by asking why they don't like the village opera house, sports bar or comedy club, then giving very confusing directions to the venue of their choice.

I had a relative who moved from a country village to a city suburb. She bought a house right beside a parade of shops and was then amazed to discover that delivery vans arrive very early in the morning and that people chat and talk outside the chipper late at night.

@Ontheclifftop I agree with you, a young couple new to our village got absolutely slammed for politely asking if there was any way the bell ringing practice could finish earlier than 10pm. They have young children, the practice is twice a week and the bells are extremely loud. Yes if you buy a house next to a church you should be prepared for bells but not necessarily at 10pm on weeknights.

I find the smell of human poo on the fields overwhelming and I would really appreciate some advance notice so I can go away for a day or two while it is at its worst.

A lot of superior sneering going on here. Of course some people move into small villages and get a shock when they realise they local shop closes at 5, tractors are a regular occurrence on the roads and cows often moo during the night.
But likewise a lot of country folk move up to towns and get a shock when they realise that they have to change lanes pretty damn quick in rush hour traffic, yes they will have street lights outside their bedroom window during the night and no their kids can't run wild and free around their garden at all hours in a narrow terrace.