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Insular towns and villages

259 replies

Cactus1982 · 20/04/2021 19:23

Has anyone else ever lived or worked on of these places? By insular I mean fearful, mistrustful and in some cases down right hostile to ‘outsiders’? There’s a large village about fifteen minutes outside of the town I live in that has always had a reputation for being like this. Apparently, in non Covid times if you as an outsider walked into a pub there it would go quiet and everyone would stare at you. I always took this with a pinch of salt until I started working there this last week. I swear that as I walk from my car down the street people slow down and stare intently at me as though I’ve got three heads. I know we are living in strange times, but this is very unnerving. I was also asked by someone how far I’d traveled to get there and when I told them they said ‘oooooh that’s a long way’ as though I’d come from Mars or somewhere. It’s not a long way, it’s a fifteen minute drive! I’d never actually have believed it had it not experienced it with my own eyes!

Are there any other places like this in the UK?

OP posts:
Iamthewombat · 20/04/2021 19:28

Are you in North Yorkshire? If not, then the answer to your question is, “75% of North Yorkshire”.

Cactus1982 · 20/04/2021 19:33

Hahahah. No. Not Yorkshire!

OP posts:
PaperMonster · 20/04/2021 19:47

Loving @Iamthewombat’s answer!! Although over the border there’s a popular Lancashire/Roman village which is very much like that!!

x2boys · 20/04/2021 19:52

Bacup?

HildegardNightingale · 20/04/2021 19:54

Ribchester?

CoffeeRunner · 20/04/2021 19:55

I live somewhere like that. Midlands.

There's a lot of building going on at the moment. The "outsiders" moving in to the new houses are most unwelcome.

Finfintytint · 20/04/2021 19:56

Ha! It’s a mid Wales village, isn’t it?

ImNotWhoYouThinkIam · 20/04/2021 19:57

I've spent time in a Somerset village that was like that. So strange.

HeddaGarbled · 20/04/2021 19:58

This might be COVID related. Our local Facebook page is shockingly hostile about tourists and visitors at the moment.

TheChippendenSpook · 20/04/2021 20:00

I was thinking Ribchester. It's a lovely little village so that's a shame if it's like that .

ItsNotLoveActually · 20/04/2021 20:03

Lots of places in Norfolk and Suffilk like that!

ItsNotLoveActually · 20/04/2021 20:03

Suffolk I meant

Lunaballoon · 20/04/2021 20:05

That exact walking into a pub and everyone going quiet and staring happened to us at Corfe Castle in Dorset. It had a real Hot Fuzz feel about it!

Thefamilybusiness · 20/04/2021 20:06

I live somewhere like that. People actually call it The Village but it's not, it's a very large urbanisation on the edge of a town. My dh is a villager and when I first started dating him I had people actually come up to me warning me not to hurt him "he's one of us" and people telling me that I'll never be a villager. I've been here 20 years now and they still call me a blow in. It's a lot better now than when I first moved in, it took a long time though, it was after I had kids in school that I started to make friends here.

LemonRoses · 20/04/2021 20:07

No. Tiny group of villages but no staring. Lots of cyclists and hikers, so just accepted as part of village life. Cyclists have a mixed reception but walkers very welcome. Everyone knows everyone else, so it feels very safe and trusting.

Diddumz · 20/04/2021 20:08

Yes. I moved to a very insular part of the country when I was ten. It was not fun and the hostility was wearing.

The left when I was 17 to live in a big city and have never looked back,

Cheeseandlobster · 20/04/2021 20:09

Wareham in Dorset felt like that

EcoCustard · 20/04/2021 20:09

I remember going into a few places in Lincolnshire like that. Visiting pubs (pre Covid) and walking in people would stop and stare, and in a few establishments actively fill the tables and seats so you couldn’t sit down. Considered an outsider if not from the village or neighbouring town. It’s not the friendliest or welcoming of places.

Thisbastardcomputer · 20/04/2021 20:09

I went to Wales and it was like this, started speaking in Welsh when they realised I was English

saywhatwhatnow · 20/04/2021 20:10

It is @Cheeseandlobster

Nutrigrainygoodness · 20/04/2021 20:13

The village dd goes to school is like that 😂 they don't like outsiders. If you weren't born there, you ain't welcome there. Or that's how it seems. I'm sure it's not it definitely is

InTheNightWeWillWish · 20/04/2021 20:13

The “village” I grew up in is like this. My mum wasn’t born in the village but lived 3 miles away until she moved there before I was born. She was considered an “outsider”. She’d lived there for 30 years and was still an “outsider”. I moved out of the village at 18 and haven’t been back since but apparently I’m still a “villager”. This is actually a small town in a very urban area that just merged into one, so not actually a village.

My current village, completely opposite end of the country, has a pub like this. The rest of the village isn’t really like that but the pub in the centre gives an outsiders not welcome vibe.

Gwenhwyfar · 20/04/2021 20:16

@Lunaballoon

That exact walking into a pub and everyone going quiet and staring happened to us at Corfe Castle in Dorset. It had a real Hot Fuzz feel about it!
You can get that in a city if it's a locals' pub.
sunflowersandbuttercups · 20/04/2021 20:21

I've been somewhere in Australia like that!

A pub with rooms in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. Just my mum and I - we walked in and the whole place fell silent, everyone turned and gawped at us Grin

They were all really friendly but my mum said afterwards she was actually quite scared being a lone woman with a child (I was about 14-15 years old at the time).

HopeClearwater · 20/04/2021 20:21

Northamptonshire. Large village. One primary school that everyone went to. I don’t even want to think about the gene pool.