Is this village life?

[Hocuspocusnonsense]

I’ve moved from London to a village in Surrey to raise a family. I have 3 young children

The village has a duck pond so I took my children to look at the ducks and an elderly couple spoke to me and my children, all nice and friendly until they asked if I’ve always lived in the village and I said no I’ve moved here from London, to which he replied ‘We’re sick of you Londoners moving here’ and walked off.

I joined the local toddler group and it quickly became apparent that everyone knew each other, most had grown up in the village, went to school together etc and no one was interested in chatting because they had their friends there.

Since being at the local village school I have lost count of how many times I’ve been asked which road I live in....I know it’s to size up how much my house is worth. And to top it off just before the Easter hols I had a mum ask me in front of another mum “Do you receive the holiday club vouchers, you’re low income aren’t you?” I was really taken aback. I actually have a good career not that I broadcast it (earn £40k) but I drive a Fiat and my car is 9 years old, most mums drive newer, bigger beast cars.

Is this normal village life?

Surrey is basically a burb of London, so that is a weird reaction! I lived there for years and it was nothing like this.

If you don’t want people knowing every aspect of your life (and judging you) then live in a town. Villages are close-knit communities, and everyone does know each other. It’s why, after growing up in a small village, I’d never live in one again.

It is village life apparently it’s like that in Wombourne, wolverhampton too 🙄it’s all about who’s who who knows who.
the comment from the old couple is hilarious

It's not village life it's Surrey life

I grew up in a Suffolk village but move to my nearest city 14 years ago i
D ne ver go back.villages are often small minded they dont like strangers much and being single in one isnt good. I d never tell anyone to move to a village city life is far better in every way. I feel far more at home than ever did in my old village.

The phrase “Surrey w⚓️s” wasn’t founded on nothing. Surrey villages are practically London suburbs anyway, but as someone living in SW London I’ve never been tempted to move there because I (possibly unfairly) imagine most of the county residents to be like that 😂

My husband can never get away with a cheeky pint whilst walking the dog or popping to the village shop without me hearing about it later 🤣 we love it though.

No, definitely not, you need a new village!

I’m originally from London and have lived in a rural area and the Isle of Wight. There are a lot of people who are really rude about anyone who dares move into their area. And it is really hard to make friends ‘locals’ aren’t interested in including anyone or making new friends, at school gates or work. I was told by an Estate Agent “oh not more of you moving here” .

I've lived in a village for many years, yours sounds like a nightmare but I'd be patient there's bound to be some nice people around.

We are moving to another even more remote village and already I've been messaged by the village busybody who asked 'how many of you are coming....& why are you moving here,.... Let me know when you're coming etc etc'
Just keep these people at arm's length, it's not put me off she's just one person & doing a bit of research of my own she's not popular with other villagers.
I think you've just been unlucky so far. Do your DC 's have new friends?

Or lie, say your family was from the village years ago & you've come back or some other bullshit that gives people enough to accept you're there.
Personally people who make life harder for newcomers have too much time on their hands

It was rather my experience.I would have made a go of it but my husband hated it ( we moved from North London to a village in Herts)
We couldn't afford to buy a bigger house to accommodate growing family so moved to the suburbs of a town in Cambridgeshire ( not the expensive bit!) We found it much more accepting of non locals.
I'm from the country myself ( Gloucestershire) so I didn't go into a country move starry eyed.

As far as Surrey is concerned, that horse has already bolted and it is now mainly a London suburb. As a child, I had a flock of aunts who lived in and around Hindhead and Hazelmere, and it was much less suburban those days. DS1 lived in a Surrey village around ten years ago and hated every minute of it. So no, I don't think you are getting the typical village experience in Surrey.

We moved to the Shires a long time ago, when the DC were little, as we could afford better houses in nice rural settings. It was fairly unusual in those days and we found it welcoming and generally all round good, especially for the DC. We've been here so long we are honorary locals, the DC have long grown up and gone back South or abroad and now we are seeing a lot of new developments everywhere and lots of incomers.
Providing the new housing doesn't swamp the villages, contains some HA and affordable housing and the new people don't moan about tractors, shooting and general country life, everything jogs along nicely.

I think it sounds like village life to a certain extent. My Grandad has lived in the same village for about 45 years now. He’s integrated himself, first responder, in the darts and domino’s teams etc. They still point out he’s from away! You may grow to be excepted but you will never be ‘one of them’.
Gosh I don’t mean it to sound so much like a cult 😂

How is it now op? I just drove through my very silly village and it reminded me of your post.

It sounds like Royston Vasey!

That's a shame OP, village life is definitely not like that where I live and I wouldn't have a clue where everyone is originally from. The only concerns I have heard from locals about new housing is in regards to the size of the local school.

It was the opposite for me - my husbands family could trace their roots back to the 14th century, but I was shunned and outnumbered by incomers