If you grew up somewhere really flat...

[FreezerBird]

...do you feel uncomfortable in a hilly landscape?

I often ponder this. I grew up in the west country - rolling hills and little lanes down dips (called 'bottoms' which might be more widespread than west country but that hilarity is for another thread) where the trees would meet overhead.

I find very, very flat landscapes really unsettling. Really can't cope with big skies and just flatness in all directions to the horizon. It makes me want to hide under a table or something because I feel very vulnerable. I know other people who grew up in the same sort of landscape who feel the same. I now live on the west coast of Wales - sea to the west, mountains everywhere else. Lovely.

I wonder if people who grew up in flat places feel uncomfortable in the landscapes I would prefer? I could imagine you might feel a bit confined?

Or is this just an oddity of mine (and some family members!)?

ME TOOOOOO!

I live somewhere with a lot of hills. There's nothing flat anywhere.

If I go somewhere that's very flat or if I see parts of America on TV that are as flat as the eye can see, I actually feel agoraphobic or as though I'm on the edge of a tall building.

I hate it.

I grew up in the fens, and whilst I'm OK in flat places, I prefer some hills. It's a lot more attractive.

I do appreciate a big flat view though, so maybe it does affect you.

No? I grew up by mountains and hills and now live in Suffolk. I LOVE it here. Big skies and so green.

I grew up in a hilly area too, and flat landscapes do freak me out. Too exposed!

OP how do you feel when you're at the sea on a clear day?

I too don't really like big open sky and I love being by the sea but it occasionally gets to me for a second because it's so vast.

Yes! I love beautiful hilly landscapes but I find them stressful for driving. Advantages to both. Both beautiful.

I grew up somewhere really flat. We moved to the alps for a few years, but I always felt like there were obstacles or curtains in front of the horizon. I did grow to find it somehow quite comforting after a few years, but I much prefer the flatness and open horizons.

I found the Lake District quite terrifying - all those treeless mountains! I didn’t mind being in the valleys, but I had to abort a climb because I felt like I would slide off the side of the mountain.

I grew up on a Canadian prairie. I now live in deepest darkest Cotswolds.

Flat landscapes just provoke ennui in me now.

I grew up somewhere flat. I love hills.

I think it’s down to greenery. Flat places that spring to mind most readily are quite bland, either very samey farmland or developed.

The hilly places that spring to mind are greener with more woodland.

Hills are just more beautiful in my mind.

No, not at all. I grew up in the hills, but I love big flat places as much as any other. I don't get freaked out easily though; I don't have much of an imagination.

Years ago I went to America and visited the Salt Lake Valley. Mountains in every direction I looked. I felt claustrophobic if I thought about it too long.

I like mountains, but not being surrounded by them. I want to see a bit of horizon.

Grew up surrounded by hills albeit in a wide wide valley.
Moved to Cambridgeshire - and found the flatness unsettling

I found the Lake District quite terrifying - all those treeless mountains!

Ah well, now there's hilly and theres too hilly. That freaks me out as well.

Somewhere in between, Sussex will do nicely. Lovely South Downs is just about perfect hilliness..

I just love all the outdoors and find both rolling hills, coast and even great expanse of flatness mesmerising.

called 'bottoms' which might be more widespread than west country but that hilarity is for another thread

I used to live in a market town in West Yorkshire that had 'bottoms'. A set of traffic lights and cluster of shops in a dip just outside the town centre was actually called Town Name Bottoms.

I grew up on the edge of the fens and have lived in very hilly places from as soon as I was old enough to escape! Parents also moved away again when they retired. I don't mind rolling, as long as there are trees and hedges, but big flat fields and open skies are just grim.

I live in Norfolk (very flat). I love hills! I always get a little thrill when we travel elsewhere in the UK and it starts to get a bit hilly - I told it to DH once - he didn't get it at all.

I grew up in Norfolk, and now live in Cambridgeshire. I do like the big fen skies, but I love being in mountainous and hilly areas too!

I grew up in Cambridgeshire and I miss the fens. “On a clear day you can see forever”. I also miss being able to cycle everywhere because you can see what’s coming even on the country roads.

My driving test didn’t have a hill start because there wasn’t anywhere to do one (other than the railway bridges, which were not a safe place to do a driving test manoeuvre). We then moved to Bristol...that was a shock.

This is making me feel marginally less odd! I'm not easily freaked out either really so the strength of my reaction has always surprised me.

I'm okay with the sea - round here it's usually pretty bumpy! Being out in a kayak on a flat calm day can be a bit wierd but you can always see the mountains.

I've just remembered that DH gets it too. Years ago we went to a wedding in Essex (can't remember exactly where) and the b and b we stayed in was in the middle of the most incredible flat, prairie-like landscape. Rationally I could see it was beautiful and extraordinary in its way. However DH and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Left before breakfast fast and ran back west.

I grew up in Lincolnshire which is quite flat. I live in a very very mountainous country now and I miss “big skies”!

I grew up by the sea and feel uncomfortable with living inland for too long! It feels enclosed and claustrophobic, I like having one side open and expansive!

I grew up somewhere really flat.

I now live somewhere hilly. I do have a big emotional response to the hills where I live. I love looking at them, I find it both calming and invigorating at once, in the same way I find looking at the sea.

But I do find some hilly places oppressive. I think when they're steeper and I feel surrounded on both sides. Where I live, I'm high up, so I can see a long way. I wouldn't like to live in a steep sided valley.

I grew up in a suburban area so flat that learner drivers had to practice hill starts on the hump backed bridge over the canal! I hated it.
I moved to Scotland when I was 19 and stayed up here for over 40 years. I love the views from the hills, the stunning landscapes, the feeling of being able to put all the petty hassles of life into perspective while gazing down across valleys and lochs.

I also grew somewhere flat. I love rolling green hills (especially in Dorset) but get spooked by mountains! Not sure I’d like prairies either.