Are people insular in rural villages in the north?

[bellaiceberg]

Im already in the north but looking to move. I like peace and quiet, wfh and am happy renting.

I have been looking at a few places, villages surrounding carries look quite beautiful and are very affordable (my rent limit is around £700pcm) for the north.

I did a bit of research on MN (possibly not a good idea haha!) and many people said villages around carlisle and in the north are insular.

God help me i don't want that. I can take eccentric, weird, arty, whatever but not progressively... backward.

Anyone have experience?
Am with long term DP and we can both work anywhere in the uk but would prefer to remain within a decent train distance to north west due to family/friends. We re currently in Garstang.

Eating pesto is suspicious! Good luck finding what you’re looking for.

It's tiny I think, but no floor plan to confirm.

It's part of Moorhouse Hall so I'm assuming the 'maintained gardens' are a view rather than something you could personally set up a bbq on

Backwards means their views are old fashioned but not that the person is racist, sexist and homophobic. Unfortunately, these attitudes can be found anywhere, North, South, rural areas, cities etc. Don’t mix it up with your experience of North.

Everyone's easily offended tonight.

What's making you think Carlisle area? Have you looked at the north east? That gets a lot of good press on here.

Or what about somewhere around the Bay? Cartmel?

thanks, too idea, but I like the dated furniture! I imagine the gourds are accessible, and have no issue with that as I don't have time to maintain them. The place just looks so peaceful, but then a picture isn't everything, I am a bit concerned about the kitchen!

christ, my keyboard is a beast. grounds are accessible, not gourds, although if there are gourds I will happily quaff from them.

@Londoncatshed

Backwards means their views are old fashioned but not that the person is racist, sexist and homophobic. Unfortunately, these attitudes can be found anywhere, North, South, rural areas, cities etc. Don’t mix it up with your experience of North.

oh go home.

I'm in the NE and villages near me are quite the opposite of insular, they're very friendly and open. Plus we do have culture up here too, we're very progressive since we got running water 😅

God help me i don't want that. I can take eccentric, weird, arty, whatever but not progressively... backward.

I live in a very rural area and my DCwent to the local village school. It was like stepping back in time. They did have one computer in the library - I say library, I actually mean corner of the hall/dining room/gym/Year 34/4 classroom (a multi purpose room of ever I saw one) The library consisted of two bookcases.
My DCs loved it there but were even happier to move on to their high school with a 350 Year 7 intake in a neighbouring town.
One extreme to another.

Village folk were VERY proud of their patch of land. Born and Bred.

It’s a different way of life and yes, it’s very insular.
We are only half an hour from a large city though. People who commute and actually leave the area daily are a bit more worldly wise I find.

@bellaiceberg

I also meant progressively backwards, not backward. Which means homophobic, racist, sexist, etc. Im not sure how this offends anyone. Who the fuck wants to live somewhere like that?

I find that most villages are pretty tolerant of anyone willing to just get on.

They might be suspicious of people outwardly different initially but as long as you are a decent person who is decent to others in your approach it won't matter what/who you are or what you look like.

If you enter village life as 'the only gay in the village' to use a crude example and are constantly looking for offence then you will probably find it because people can't be arsed with the dramatics. As I said, it's mostly live and let live.

TheCumbrian thank you.

@MajorNeville

I'm in the NE and villages near me are quite the opposite of insular, they're very friendly and open. Plus we do have culture up here too, we're very progressive since we got running water 😅

im glad to hear there's water. We even had it in Wigan! We also sent a pie into space, I shit you not!

Here is the pie in space from wigan

@Londoncatshed

Backwards means their views are old fashioned but not that the person is racist, sexist and homophobic. Unfortunately, these attitudes can be found anywhere, North, South, rural areas, cities etc. Don’t mix it up with your experience of North.

True but village folk can be a bit strange to say the least. I heard a woman discussing ‘Strictly come dancing’ last week in the village shop. She doesn’t watch it anymore she said. She doesn’t want to watch two men dancing together. ‘It’s disgusting’ apparently. Ok then.

’progressively backward’ isn’t that a contradiction in terms?

@DandyHighwayWoman

’progressively backward’ isn’t that a contradiction in terms?

no more so than a dandy highway woman

True but village folk can be a bit strange to say the least.
I heard a woman discussing ‘Strictly come dancing’ last week in the village shop. She doesn’t watch it anymore she said.
She doesn’t want to watch two men dancing together. ‘It’s disgusting’ apparently

I was in Sainsburys in Lancaster a few weeks ago and overheard a very similar conversation.

What's your point?

Unless.... perhaps the people in Sainsbury's were also Villagers on a day out to the city?

@TheCumbrian

*True but village folk can be a bit strange to say the least. I heard a woman discussing ‘Strictly come dancing’ last week in the village shop. She doesn’t watch it anymore she said. She doesn’t want to watch two men dancing together. ‘It’s disgusting’ apparently*

I was in Sainsburys in Lancaster a few weeks ago and overheard a very similar conversation.

What's your point?

Unless.... perhaps the people in Sainsbury's were also Villagers on a day out to the city?

I’m sure there are plenty of examples of narrow minded attitudes from all over the country. The more vocal ‘locals’ nearest to me hold very different attitudes to the people I encounter outside of this little ‘community’.

Areas around Carlisle and the Eden prone to flooding which I would probably be more worried about than insular neighbours tbh . Brampton is nice.

I wonder whether some posters on here are being deliberately disingenuous or just defensive.

The OP lives in the North, they’re not slating the whole of the North. They’ve read some stuff about a few places and are checking out if it’s true.

Villages can be very insular, especially rural villages where people might not move around much. For some people that feels safe and like a strong community, for others that feels exclusionary. Horses for courses, but denying that it can be true is just daft.

@ineedsun

I wonder whether some posters on here are being deliberately disingenuous or just defensive.

The OP lives in the North, they’re not slating the whole of the North. They’ve read some stuff about a few places and are checking out if it’s true.

Villages can be very insular, especially rural villages where people might not move around much. For some people that feels safe and like a strong community, for others that feels exclusionary. Horses for courses, but denying that it can be true is just daft.

I agree with all of the above.

@bellaiceberg

no, no prejudice intended, I was quoting what I have read here and don't fancy the idea of closed minds. I am just fairly ordinary and am happy to fit in generally. I meant no offence, I should imagine ive tried to make that clear. Apologies for clumsy wording.

Your mistake is taking any notice of what you read on here, which being disproportionately middle class London where a vocal minority has misguided perceptions of 'the north' being like what you are trying to avoid.

BarbaraofSeville

I’m ‘up north’ and live in a village.
It is very insular. No getting away from the fact. It is what it is.

"villages can be very insular"
no - people can be insular - as a "northerner" living in the collection of villages that is greater London, I've found a large proportion of people living inside the north/south circular, including my partner, get the screaming heebie jeebies and circle the wagons if they travel past the M25

FrankieStein403

Haha! That’s very true! You’ve just reminded me of a friend of mine who not only never travels outside of London but never leaves Richmond!