Insular towns and villages

[Cactus1982]

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?

Someone posted about moving from London in our usually frantic Village FB page, most posts get 50+ likes but this one got 3, and one comment from a lady recommending herself as a cleaner

Theres a village near me that is like this, you need alot of money to buy a property there, it was once home to a famous painter

They dont even have street lights

My nan has a friend who lives there, she brought the land behind her house because she didnt want someone to buy it and build house there as it would ruin the view!

But it has a lovely river, where people swim during the summer, it gets really busy, it has 2 car parks, the locals managed to kick up enough of stink to stop the council from charging people to park, so good from that point of view

@Incognitool

Leicestershire. Large, prosperous village, not far from Leicester. I grew up in the country myself, but I’d never lived anywhere so insular. It wasn’t a ‘total silence when you walked into the pub’ situation, just an incredibly narrow outlook — no one who hadn’t always lived there really existed. No one interested in things, places or people not in the immediate vicinity really existed. No one with foreign friends, a ‘strange’ job, or who didn’t spend their money on understandable things really existed. Having a foreign accent, renting a house, being WOHM, having lived overseas, giving any intimation you might not still be living in the village at your death — all deeply suspicious.

I’m an open-minded person, and I did everything recommended — had child in baby groups, preschool, then village school, I volunteered, got involved in local events, ran a popular club, went to the pub, supported local businesses, litter-picked, campaigned for the retention of the bus service etc etc. After eight years we left.

I'm intrigued where, I can think of a few places around where I grew up in Leics similar to this

I must say I think I've been lucky so far, in meeting nice people in various little villages all over the UK, I've travelled a lot in Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria. Never had a bad experience.

The thing is, you get nice people and rude people everywhere, so pretty much all places will have a mix of these characters. The nasty people who make you feel unwelcome would be like that anywhere, and the nice people who go out of their way to make conversation, show you round, give you tips etc make it all worthwhile.

I must say I find the Welsh very friendly, and I've gone to some real remote parts throughout my life. But then maybe I've just been lucky I don't know. As I say, you get nice/nasty people everywhere. It is a shame when people experience hostile behaviour, especially if you've got children with you. It makes you feel very worried I would imagine.

But so far so good.........

Scunthorpe-lasted 2 years but it was hell.

"I can only imagine the facebook group for the more insular villages would implode if you said you were moving from London. Maybe throw in a comment about having a £1m budget to buy a new home, as you'll be selling your two bed flat in London grin"

That's basically Escape to the Country.

@mewkins

Happened to me in Bala too!

Bala's very Welsh speaking and the people you meet speaking Welsh there are likely to be native speakers who speak English as a second language. Why the hell would they be speaking English to each other and keep their Welsh only for the occasional moments a tourist comes in? Welsh is not Latin. We do actually speak it in real life. It's not there just to puzzle you.

I must say I think I've been lucky so far, in meeting nice people in various little villages all over the UK, I've travelled a lot in Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria. Never had a bad experience.

I grew up in a village - it didn't happen there and I've lived all over the UK never experinced it anywhere but that town - a local place for local people - and places very nearby just outside also said place was insular and unwlecoming to non born and bred -DH worked outside town.

It was more than not nice people and rude people being a strangely preveleant vibe not wanting to mix with people they hadn't grown up with - did impact on the kids being included in things.

Lots of our family said we were imaging it till we left then told of all the example they encountered when visiting us. It was a huge relief to leave - it really shocked me how much happier we all were.

Certain places in Dorset are like this, I'm from one of the small towns, was very glad to leave.

Banwell! And yes, the pub really did go quiet. We still bought a drink though!

The New Forest and SO45 postcode/Waterside area - beautiful area but ruined by incredibly insular, unfriendly locals.

I lived there for 7 years, during which time I was verbally abused, threatened and menacingly glared at during my time there, even when simply driving down the road minding my own business..was so glad when DH's job meant we left the area.

I do miss the beautiful New Forest but not the locals.

Forgot to mention that the local Facebook groups say how welcoming and friendly they are/the area is - but nothing could be further from the truth. Living there nearly killed me.

There does seem to be an idea that there's no conceivable reason people might speak Welsh other than to be rude. But it's not rude to speak your own language in your own country. And as I and PPs have said, the idea that people would choose to talk to each other in their second language, just in case an English person turned up and they could switch to Welsh to spite them, is ridiculous.

"This does happen. It has happened to me personally several times."

OK. You live in Gwynedd and have done for many years so how can you seriously think that two shop assistants in a Welsh speaking area speak English to each other all the time except when serving an English person? You must realise that this doesn't make sense.

FIL is admaant he's had the switch to Welsh thing - but I've holidayed, did extended studying/research in welsh speaking area and now live here and have never encountered it.

DH says he witnesses someone after Brexit vote on replacement bus crossing border to get home get aresy with two women speaking Welsh - they were apparently taken for non British and told off for not speaking English in England - apparently another man said loudly they're speaking welsh in wales mate and there was this embarrassed Bristish silence for rest of the journey.

I live in rural Lincolnshire and it's very much like this. The local FB pages are all filled with shoddy memes and quotes like "you know belong here if you used to buy sweets from old Bill's cart when he came through" and that kind of stuff.

Plus anything that goes wrong, such as general noise of rubbish, and there's a fair amount of "I wonder if anyone on the new estate knows who did this?" as if it can only be them causing trouble.

It's so Hot Fuzz, it's unreal sometimes!

Every outback place I ever worked in, in Australia and there's easily 30 of them.
I was accepted immediately because I was working the one of the pubs, but a random would have been stared at and viewed as v odd.
I think most locals would be friendly, though would ask a million questions, and they'd think you had a screw loose or were up to something.
You also need a hell of a thick skin to brazen it out.
There's a documentary on Amazon Prime, called, "Welcome to Coolgardie", which is eye opening to put it mildly.

I used to live in the northeast in an old pit village that was like this. There was a new housing estate, which had roughly doubled the size of the village, and there was a very definite us-them divide between the original villagers and the incomers. I sat next to a woman on the bus once who had moved there from the next village down the hill, half a mile away. She was lamenting how far she was from her family and friends!

Which village, I grew up in the northeast and know them all.

All I can think of is that these people must be very sad about lockdown ending! They’ve probably never been happier.

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam

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

I was going to say the same about one place I visited on holiday years ago. Very strange, a little bit Wicker Man feel about the place.

Good cider though.

newnortherner111

@Gwenhwyfar I have been told of the same thing. Happened to my dad's cousin when he went back to his granddad's village a few years ago. He then advised them in Welsh who the local school headmaster was a hundred years ago.

It happenned to me too in Bala. Very unfriendly shopworkers. I assure you it definitely goes on

Oh it absolutely does.

I've lived here in North Wales for nigh on 30 years but still have my southern accent.

It happened to me once in a shop. Unfortunately for the shop worker and other customer I do actually speak some Welsh.. so i was able to reply to thier rather rude conversation about me 🤣

I live in a large village that is hostile to locals. The local accent is hated. When dc were small other Mums at playgroup moved away if they heard a local accent and it has been said to me they would hate their child to pick up the accent
At first I thought I was imaging it but it's happened to other people. Friend and I joined a group and the facilitator asked where we were from as they didn't recognise the accent

@Iamthewombat

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

So true!!!! I lived in one of these villages!!!

Interesting that there are so many of these places out there. I can’t imagine have such a small minded mentality, but there you go.