I hate Surrey

[BettyBeer]

Is that unreasonable? I properly hate it.
I don't live there but most of my family do. Everyone seems to be obsessed with property prices, extensions and who's in the best bloody school! I even went to a cafe away from my family and the two tables close to us were discussing house prices and where the best catholic schools were.

Sorry if you live there but it just all seems to be greedy, self important twats. Am I wrong to make a sweeping statement about so many people? probably

missmouse, I grew up in Surrey and now live in a nice part of South Wales too ( don't think it's the same area as you, because I've never seen Surrey types here!). Are you in Monmouth, or the Wye valley area??

I grew up in a nice area of Surrey but went to a pretty different state school and had plenty of friends from council estates. My mum sold the family home about 4 years ago and the people who bought it have just sold it again...for about £200k more than they paid. It's only a semi with a small garden!
Still love going "home" to Surrey, though.

Care to share where you are from OP, so we can make sweeping generalisations?

Ha ha! I have only been to Surrey once before and I went on Friday to fetch some stuff I had bought off Ebay. It was building materials to be fair but the first thing the bloke selling asked me was how much my house was worth! I nearly peed myself laughing when I read your post OP! It's a big fat YANBU from me then!

Can you imagine the outrage if someone had posted how much they hated Yorkshire?

I live near Croydon which is in Surrey and couldn't be further from your stereotype. YABU and naive to make such sweeping generalisations.

I live in Surrey and neither I nor any of my friends are "greedy, self-important twats".

Blimey, bit of a sweeping statement.

I left Surrey a few years ago, but grew up very happily in one of the poorer parts of the County. Absolutely nothing like you have described at all.

The part I left however, was one of the wealthiest parts and whilst I lived there very happily, the wealth was a lot more noticeable. Lots of talk about private schools, holidays etc. Still made lovely, unpretentious friends and never felt like the poor relation.

I don't think it's that unusual, or indeed Surrey related, for people to be having conversations about the best schools.

I have no plans to move back to Surrey, but would be quite happy to do so.

Well, I've never even been to Surrey and live in a tiny village in Hertfordshire, but it's exactly the same here.

Hardly reasonable to make such generalisations is it?

My brother lives in Guildford and I thought it wasn't too bad. Quite liked it but I'm never around long enough to actually interact with anyone from there.

I find it so bizarre that anyone could hold such a narrow-minded view!

I was born in Surrey and have lived most of my life here, apart from a few years in Wiltshire and Wales. My friends and I certainly discuss house prices occasionally, drink gin occasionally (although we're more vodka people tbh), but we also discuss many other things that are more important to us.

Of course there are people like you describe, but unless I'm very much mistaken, there are people all over the world who are just the same, so it's not a uniquely 'Surrey' thing. There are also council estates, people who care more about clothes, people who couldn't give a toss about manicured lawns, people who drive battered old cars...I'm sure you get my drift.

Finally- while you are of course completely entitled to your own opinions, it IS offensive to claim to "hate" an entire county and its inhabitants. As a pp suggested- imagine if I were to come on here and say "I properly hate Yorkshire. Everyone there wears flat caps and is obsessed with owning whippets." It's hyperbolic, offensive and untrue.

So yes, you are completely and utterly unreasonable. And narrow-minded to boot.

I know a woman from Surrey and she is the most competitive snob I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I can’t imagine the horror of living in a county where lots of people are like her.

Hm. I’m from Surrey, and once gave a (now ex) friend also from Surrey a huge dressing down for saying the North was awful and she’d rather die than live there. I can’t say there’s much difference except inverse snobbery is apparently acceptable in ways that the opposite wouldn’t be.

There are things I hated about growing up in Surrey, but equally I can accept there were a host of advantages and I’m clearly not against the place as we’re going back in a few weeks to have our wedding reception up at Newland’s Corner, one of my favourite places in the world Also, while there was a lot of privilege, I didn’t see much of it when I was drinking white lightening on Woking bandstand or having an illicit fag around the back of the Planets centre

Anyway. Surrey has good bits and bad bits, like all places. Thread feels a bit goady, mind.

(Also, DP and I have decided against living there, but mostly because of the commuterville element. I’m not sure I could cope with the SWT/now SWR stints my dad used to do back in the day, I find Zone 4 to town a trek at this point!)

I recognise the people you talk of OP and also realise that no, not everyone in Surrey is like that, but there’s definitely a culture of it that exists

I find them excruciating. Over confident kids with an opinion / demands for their ‘rights’ on everything, loud parenting parents, total lack of self awareness or compassion for anyone else, tedious clinical housing that all looks the same, the uniform clothing (‘casual chic’ in shades of pastel with a statement piece per outfit)

Yawn

Rich suburbia can be extremely depressing due to the lack of cultural diversity and the materialistic aspirations that have everyone competing furiously for fairly pointless things.

Lived there for 20 years and do recognise exactly what the op means but like all places there are a mixture of people all over the country!

Obsession with house prices and schools is true in part because its unaffordable for non high earners and there aren't enough school places full stop

Parts of the Surrey town I live in are exactly as you describe and I wouldn't live there if you paid me (and you'd have to, the house prices are ASTRONOMICAL! ).

The part we live in is mixed and normal and friendly. I work with deprived families across Surrey (sadly, there are lots). The opinion you have about Surrey is one of the reasons people don't take the difficulties many people in Surrey have seriously, and I think that's potentially quite dangerous.

I think there are many parts of the commuter belt South East that are very much like your description. I'm sure there are many parts that aren't too so blaming all of Surrey seems a little unfair. However, I've never come across similar levels of commercialism and house price interest outside of the SE (maybe I've just been lucky or deliberately shy away from it!)

Can you imagine the outrage if someone had posted how much they hated Yorkshire?

Exactly, the thread would most probably have been removed by now!

Actually, it's not so much the OP saying they hate Surrey, it's calling all the residents greedy, self important twats.

Don't bloody go to Surrey then!

YABVU to make such a generalisation over a whole county. Like all counties Surrey does have its wealthy areas but there are a lot of deprived areas too- there are no jags where I live (I may be guilty on the gin front though )

I grew up in Surrey. I was born in Epsom, raised in Woking but also lived in Godalming and Farnham. We lived in Cheam when I was little and my family are from Croydon. I think I have seen most of Surrey. I miss it but I see the good bits and bad bits of everywhere.

There is a lot of snobbery in other areas too. I see it quite a bit in parts of Dorset.

I have lived in the Midlands too and found there was a lack of snobbery. Almost non aspirational. I would like to find a middle ground where there's neither.

The one thing I hate about Surrey now though is the congestion.

When I lived in London and was very unhappy, once a fortnight or so I would get myself out, by hook or crook, to a brilliant riding centre on Epsom Common and go for a hack. We galloped for miles and miles. It was one of the things that made living in London doable for me (the other being an RDA centre right in the middle where I volunteered a few times a week 🐴).

I'll always have a little soft spot for Surrey, just based on that.

I always thought Mumsnet was full of people who wouldn’t be stupid enough to make sweeping generalisations about over a million people.

OP, you should come and chat with some of the families I support in my job. Some of them have never been on holiday in their lives. Others have never been travelled out of Surrey because they can’t afford to. Our area receives extra government funding because it is an area of high deprivation. There is a massive social housing crisis and drugs are rife.

Yes, there are posh parts of Surrey, the same as there are posh parts of Cheshire. Try to stop thinking in cliches. It will broaden your mind.