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

Dare I say it? A lot of the Home Counties and the Cotswolds are the same or similar, with some very noisy, well off people, but quite severe pockets of hidden deprivation.

Sounds like the OP (AND a few others on here) have a huge inferiority complex and/or a stick up their arse. Jeeeez, I have never seen such inverted snobbery, or such spiteful comments about people who have done better in life than you.

I know people who have moved from Surrey to get away from that behaviour...yet they are still obsessed with houses etc...

I agree OP ditto Royal Tumbridge Wells. Full of people who work in London, but would prefer their children are bought up away from the ethnic and social mix of metropolitan life.

there are loads of people like that in surrey and I can certainly feel like a bubble of people that have a 'hot holiday' a ski holiday and a uk break every year.

But there are plenty of people living in housing authority housing working evening shifts in the bookmakers and doing morning cleaning shifts at the local boarding school. 50% of my son's class are on pupil premium and the school is in the middle of a local authority housing estate.

I'm sure it is unacceptable to judge people in this way in 2018! It says so much more about the OP than anyone living in Surrey. Just imagine the uproar if someone said they dislike most of the people in Hackney or Brixton! Come on, let's try to be a bit nicer to each other.

I moved to Surrey last year and love it. I also love gin and made sloe gin from Surrey sloes last years. It is the best tasting sloe gin I have ever made. Elderflower champagne from Surrey elderflowers yesterday and expect that to be good too. There is much more to Surrey than house prices for me.

One thing I did really notice in Surrey was what people spent their money on. I transferred from my job in Cornwall to Surrey to be with my then boyfriend. Exactly the same job, exactly the same pay, same company etc. When I was in Cornwall everyone drove old bangers, no one cared and I didn’t know what anyone spent their money on. Same job in Surrey and everyone had cars less then 3 years old and loads of foreign holidays. I couldn’t understand it, maybe it was credit cards, maybe wealthy families? I just find the difference so obvious and became very self conscious of my 20 year old Fiesta and went and got myself a new car to fit in!

Here I am lying in bed (half term treat) 5 miles outside of Guildford. Through my bedroom Window I can see rolling hills and hear birds sing. Red kites and Buzzards circle above. Quite nice really. I can also get up, hop in the car and be on the A3/M3/M25 in 10 mins or walk to the station and be in London in 40 mins. I was born here and have lived here all my life. Of course it is not perfect. It has become incredibly crowded, despite being reviled everyone seems to want to live here. The people you describe tend to be those who have moved out of London......so many of them at our school. And frankly they are pretty obnoxious. But those of us who are local, or many who were born here, moved away, but then came back, love it. Don't believe in myth and stereotype, there are just that.

I live near Richmond. Don't drink, and nor do I drive...people here are the loveliest and kindest that I have ever met in a place, though.

Born and bred poshest part of Surrey here and private Surrey school too. No Jag though. I now live in an equivalent part of Yorkshire. You get snobs everywhere but you can choose not to associate with them OP.

Same job in Surrey and everyone had cars less then 3 years old and loads of foreign holidays.

Everyone?

So the people you met in a short period of time if living in Surrey were all wealthy. Not exactly breaking hews, is it?

I live in the nice bit of Croydon and it's just as talk about houseprices and schools as the rest of Surrey!

Most of Surrey is lovely but a bit too staid/materialist for me. We're moving back to Brighton in the summer so I can get back to my tie-dyeing and yoghurt knitting.

I agree OP ditto Royal Tumbridge Wells. Full of people who work in London, but would prefer their children are bought up away from the ethnic and social mix of metropolitan life.

There's a nasty undertone to your post. Some people choose to live outside of London simply because they want more open space, less pollution and less congestion in their life away from work.

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

Well, I suppose you would say that I am from there but I chose to leave when I was 18.

I have lived in lots of places including Australia, France and Peru and spent several years in other countries so I wouldn't call myself naive or narrow minded, I still hate Surrey as I find the focus of a lot of the Surrey folk very different to what people think are important in other places and very different to what I value as being important.

I now live in Brighton so feel free to make generalisations about it . I know it is quite a disliked place too but I love it!

Tunbridge Wells area has a terrific choice of schools and some gorgeous countryside. It’s close to London and to nice parts of the coast. I think those are the main draws! It’s had a bit of a White Company suburban aesthetic makeover in the past 20 years which detracts from its erstwhile charms.

yeah - my car is 15 years old and loads of my friends can't afford a car at all.

However, I would agree that when I leave surrey I notice how many more cars there are like mine around than when I go into town round here.

wealth is on display in surrey and its easy to miss people living more average styles of people living in poverty. But they are there in big enough numbers. Surrey Social Services just had a terrible ofsted rating. imagine being one of the most vulnerable people in the country and having an inadequate social services to support you.

'Nasty sandy soil', not in my bit of Surry. Heavy clay round these parts.

I've often thought how nice it must be to live in the Midlands or North, I think it would suit me, but Surrey's my home and I can't be arsed to move. That's how most people feel, surely.

I live in Belfast and the main topics of conversation I hear are.....house prices, extensions and the best catholic schools. I can assure you it’s the main topic with people from all walks of life in the childrearing years, for very obvious reasons.

A bit of inverse snobbery maybe OP?

There are people in Surrey who vote for Jeremy Hunt as their MP. Yanbu.

I was going to say about the schools in RTW, amazing ( white, middle class, virtually no PP) state schools= huge draw. Of course Surrey has Tiffin ...

There are people in Surrey who vote for Jeremy Hunt as their MP. Yanbu

The County of Surrey is fairly big and covers a vast range of areas and communities (although technically not Croydon as this is a London Borough). I cannot believe you are condemning the whole population of one County on the basis of how your family behaves!

I have lived near to Surrey my whole life, and spent a good while working for local Surrey Councils and really do not recognise the genralisations of which you speak.

The largest women's prison in Europe is in Surrey

YA sort of BU. I grew up in Surrey and loved it at the time, but having since moved to Liverpool (about as contrasting as it gets!) I do recognise what you describe, and wouldn't be keen to move back for that reason. But obviously it is unreasonable to call everyone who lives there a greedy twat, yes There's good and bad in most places, and it's a big county made up of very different areas - the part I grew up in had more ethnic (but not cultural) diversity than where I am now, but judging by other people's comments that's not the case in most of Surrey.

Must say I'm a bit surprised by how many people are agreeing with you, though - from the thread title I was expecting you to get an absolute pasting!