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!)?

I grew up in flat landscapes and can feel claustrophobic in between hills/in a valley, as though anything could come over the horizon and I wouldn’t be prepared (scenes from films of soldiers marching over hills really freak me out – the two things are possibly related!). Can definitely relate to a feeling of unease. Interesting thread!

But you're often not at the top of a hill

How do you know? not as often as I'd like, tbh, especially at this time of year, but we have a variety of hills not too far off.

My village is one of the highest points in the city and my house is on the edge of greenbelt (not a stealth boast, my house is exLA) but there is a trig point on the top of the hill about 5 mins walk away and if you go up there you can get great views over the city below and brilliant sunrises. Lovely to have a walk up there.

Some of the flatland people need to go somewhere like Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge in the South Pennines, aka Little Switzerland. Not the biggest hills in the UK by any stretch but very very steep hills and valleys. You get buildings built into the hillside with four floors at the front and two at the back.

I grew up and still live in one of the flattest parts of the U.K. I hate it. Much prefer hills.

I live on the side of a mountain (1000ft above sea level) and can’t imagine living somewhere flat. That would bore me.

I font understand those people who say Center Parcs is hilly. They must be flatties then.

I'm from the west country and moved to an area in the mountains (where my DH is from) many years ago. I hate the thought of living on the flat/in a valley these days, and have lived on the side of mountains (in various different houses) for a long time. Its so lovely to look out of your window onto sky and mountains, rather than the side of someone elses house. However when it snows, we're stuffed!

And as for the west country, my DH thinks its really flat! It's all relative!

I grew up in Essex, flat as anything. I adore hilly landscapes and seeing mountains in the background! I've lived in a few places where that was the case (Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Sussex) and I miss it so so much. Especially Sussex, I lived in Brighton and always managed to live in houses up high so opening the curtains each day to a gorgeous view was wonderful! We planned to relocate up to Yorkshire to get that again but dh was headhunted for a role he would have been very silly to turn down so we're relocating within Essex instead, slightly sad about that!

Obviously no mountains in Sussex, but hilly! Mountains was more Shropshire as we were on the border of Wales 😍

I grew up hilly and dislike flat places too. I live in an almost-flat place now but it's very treed and more mixed farming than lincolnshire so not oppressively dull to look at. Looking forward to moving back to hills next month

I spent a lot of my younger years in the Fens and then moved to the South Downs. They looked like mountains to me at 7.

I grew up somewhere hilly.

I liked to go to the top of the hill and look out over the panorama.

I couldn’t live somewhere very flat. I fine Cambridgeshire and London quite claustrophobic for this reason.

But I also don’t like feeling hemmed in by hills.

I visited Hebden Bridge and found that very enclosing- couldn’t wait to get out.

I also like to be near the sea.

Grew up in Bucks so hilly. Now love in Cambridgeshire so flat and big skies. Now wonder we have a timeshare in Scotland!

I grew up in a mountainous area. I have a real fear of flat open spaces. Can't even bear looking at them on TV. We had a short car journey through a really flat landscape recently and it was absolute torture for me. I felt really weird and thought the journey would never end and all I could think was that we had to return on the same road! Nightmare.