To think living in a small town is a bad thing

[Emmielu]

I used to think living in this small town I'm in was great! Friends, shops, doctors, dentists, schools all within walking distance! However as I've grown up & made a variety of friends from mums to people I went to school with, I've realised it's not as nice & great as I thought it was 8 years ago in my early teens.

Everyone knows you even if you don't know them, they know your business. Even if you're new to the area you have to be careful with becoming close to someone incase they disobey your trust. I think it's quite sad cause I love this area & the fact my friends & family are here but I just wish I hadn't grown up here. Anyone else get that feeling sometimes?

Yes, that's why I chose to move away from one

Yes, I grew up like this. I now live in London .
To be honest, the other extreme has it's good and bad points too, there must be a happy medium somewhere, I suppose, but I can't think where. Country pile and city pad, maybe? (I wish).

Personally I would prefer to live in a city as I like an urban feel. Have to say that living in a small town is just perfect for bringing up children, my children love it here and I couldn't be doing with all that in and out of cars that you have to contend with if you live in a village.

Yes, this is why I now live in a city.

I have lived in a village, hamlet and small town. Small town was the worst.

In laws moved from one because they felt like they had met everyone.

You should tell someone you suspect of 'betraying your trust' an outrageous lie and see how long it takes to get around. Then you will know who to trust or not!

I miss my small town :(

Stupid job making living in stupid smelly London the best option

I'm born and bred in a small town apart from a stint abroad when I was younger and then I came straight backand I'm still here. Yes, bad news travels fast and there are no secrets especially if you've got something to hide.I love living here but would like my kids to spread their wings and not stay like we've done.

I grew up in a village and DH and I always intended to live in cities.

Life has put us in a small town - we want to go back to cities. I think this town does have a reputation for being particularly insular.

I grew up in big city, but now I live in a very small town and I love it. It just feels friendlier and safer and a much better place to bring up my son. I have found since moving here that a lot of the people who say they don't like this place are the ones who were born here. It's funny really ~ the grass is always greener, as they say :)

SuperTressy you live in Devon, who wouldn't want to live there . I would love it and am very jealous.

I love living in a tight knit (is that a phrase? I'm too hot to think straight).

I am the chief gossip

Oops missed out community from my first sentence.

Hate small towns.I lived in one for a year before moving back to london. Enough said

Would love to live in a small town.

I've been in a restaurant kitchen all day, I think I have heatstroke

I think that in a way its harder (living in a small town) with children.

If you are on your own you can be the eccentric mad woman of the town.
But if you have children you don't want to embarrass them, its not easy to turn down invitations etc.

I would pretend to everyone that i have few imaginative projects on the go and i'm very very busy woman (then i would send the kids out to play and i would mn)

I grew up in a very small town and hated it. Small towns sadly can breed small town attitudes. Being born there is definitely tough - everyone knows your mum, dad, cousin and aunty Dora and massive assumptions are made about you as a result. I left at 17 and never went back. Peers still ask me when I'm coming home - still home to them.

Also, I went to primary in a wee village. Hardly any children means less choice of pals which means that if you become unpopular (because becky's dad told Sally's mum that your aunty Dora was a witch) you are completely alone.

I'm not bitter, honesty!

I love it but I have lived in lots of them and wouldn't want to be in the one I grew up in.

I also grew up in a small town. Got out as fast as I could.

I'm from a small town which I loved and still love (left to go to Uni and never been back ). However, my sister and brother both detest where we grew up, my adopted sister because of the delightful racist bullying she suffered there

Everyone does know your business but I always liked that! I enjoyed feeling a part of a community, even just by being there

I now live in a small village, which I like, but this is the first time I've not been within walking distance of banks, libraries and high street shops like Boots!

How small is a small town? Mine's got 59,000 ish residents, is that medium?