To think people shouldn't walk to my village?

[Bohwens]

Hello,

With the knowledge that this will make me sound quite snooty, I firstly apologise and explain it is because I worry for my own and family's safety as we are all asthmatic and at heightened risk from COVID-19.

We live in a very pretty little village, in a small conservation area in a semi rural location. We are about 2 miles from the nearest modern housing estate. Usually, the lane through the village has a couple of regular dog walkers.

Now that we are lockdown and people are getting out to exercise in the sun (great), the lane is like a motorway. There is a constant stream of people from the housing estate coming for their walk to the village. I understand it must be dull to walk around a modern housing estate. Over 500m there were 30 people. Usually you might see 1. We can't even go for a short walk without risk of coming into contact with people.

Entire large families are coming with 5-6 children out of control on bikes etc, treating the lane past our houses like a park. I've spotted people touching our walls, gates etc, even caught one nosing in the garden!

Many of these people are not staying into the side to observe social distancing, and have dogs off the lead that need to be fetched away.

AIBU to think people should stick to their own areas for their exercise? In a way, I something feel that if they wanted beautiful walks outside their front-door they should have coughed up the extra £100k to live here...

I'm with the OP. I wouldn't want riff-raff from the local housing estate walking on my street or looking at my garden.

Can I suggest OP that you reopen the stocks on what I'm sure is your charming village green and put a few of these horrid people in it. Perhaps you could have some of these disgusting lowlifes hanged from lamp posts, as a warning to anyone stupid enough to disturb your absolutely super rural idyll?

Touching your walls and gate and looking in your garden??? 😂😂😂

Have you tried gathering the other villagers and building a giant wicker effigy? That might help.

Or if that's too much trouble, you could sit on your porch while playing a banjo and glaring at any outsiders you see.

Don't lick your walls then.

2 miles is very local.

Yes it's annoying if they are idiots that don't distance appropriately. However it is perfectly permissible for them to walk to your area.

We keep cycling to the new build housing estate (and beyond it) because it’s well appointed with nice cycle paths.

Clearly this would be OK with this OP though, because my house cost at least £100k more than one of the new builds. And that’s the only good reason to visit an area.

Must remember to stop cycling around the massive houses I definitely can’t afford in the other direction though. Clearly that’s just Not OK.

I've got a colleague who's been complaining about people she's never seen before walking past her flat onto the paths through the fields behind. She even made remarks about the look of some people, implying they never normally did any exercise so shouldn't be walking past her flat now. You couldn't make it up.

I’ve just come back from a walk from our housing estate through 2 local villages. Everyone there said a cheery hello. Try being welcoming in these hard times. It makes a big difference.

I something feel that if they wanted beautiful walks outside their front-door they should have coughed up the extra £100k to live here

You remind me of the Location Location Location a couple of years ago when Mrs Snooty didn't want a house because she could see the houses where the plebs lived from her house. The horror of it!

You won't catch covid from people walking past your house, even if they are a lower social class than you.

Rather than complaining on here why aren't you having words with the border patrol staff who are failing in their duty of keeping out the riff raff

YABU especially the end part.

I can't afford to buy a property in a pretty location but if there are public green spaces to go for walks there then I will.

Did someone forget to lock the gates?

Is this a reverse? Has someone had a go at OP for sniffing their hydrangeas?

Op, what do you mean by nosing in your garden ?
Were they actually in your garden...or leaning over to admire your pretty flowers

When an antibody test is available make sure to get your walls and gate tested to see if they're now immune!

"We can't even go for a short walk without risk of coming into contact with people."

Neither can the vast vast majority of people. But that's the point of trying to keep to the 2 metre social distancing rule. Yes some people might be a little unruly and not really make effort to keep distance (just like anywhere else in the country), but you can only control your behaviour so do your best when you venture out. I imagine the majority of these people walking through the village are making efforts and you've just picked out a couple bad examples.

They are local people, this is their local area.

Presumably this is a joke or a journo trying to get a piece about attitudes to WC or estate families?
OP if you’re genuine you then are an utter f-cling snob of the worst kind. People who have An extra £100k to spare, and I’m generalising I know, probably wouldn’t be on the estate in the first place.

Your house, your road, your village. We get it, it's yours and you don't want to share it!

My hope OP is that now the people from the estate have discovered your village they keep coming long after lock down, exercising together as a family, and enjoying a change of scene.

if they wanted beautiful walks outside their front-door they should have coughed up the extra £100k to live here...

And you should have coughed up more to live in a gated community somewhere, or somewhere with your own private land if you didn't want the riff raff walking on public roads and pavements near your home.

If people in Street A in the housing estate didn't want people from Street B walking through their street would that be ok? It is no different to your ridiculous complaint. You can't dictate what direction people walk in when they leave their front door for a walk, on public pavements that are local to them!!

When an antibody test is available make sure to get your walls and gate tested to see if they're now immune!

Exactly how much time are you spending at your window counting people OP?

Large families with 5 or 6 children, all out of control, of course.

30 people over a 500m distance.

And the difference of £100k to live where you live, over the homes of these dreadful people.

And why have you put the word motorway in bold. Is that to show the measure of your horror.

I think you need to get out more OP, perhaps go for a walk. I hear there's a housing estate not more than 2 miles away from your village and it's completely devoid of annoying people out and about with their unruly kids.

I said good morning from a distance to a woman standing in the drive of her very lovely detached house down a lane near where I live. It's my local dog walk anyway but prior to lockdown would usually do a couple of times a week ,and other days drive a little way for different walks. It's similar to OPs location not far from a large estate of houses.
She proceeded to sound off saying it was ridiculous how many people were walking past her house. And families! On and off all day long. I asked if they were keeping their distance and if so what else did she expect them to do. Home all day with children they needed their one walk a day. As did I.Then told her even I was walking there more often as we had to stay local. But like her I was incredibly lucky.I also had a nice house,big garden and lovely view.I hope she felt ashamed. Miserable woman.

Alas OP, if you wanted to live in a genuinely isolated area, you should have coughed up the extra £100k to be beyond walking distance from other people.

THEY LOOKED AT YOUR FLOWER?!

FFS.

WHAT DID THE POLICE SAY?!

I worry for my own and family's safety as we are all asthmatic and at heightened risk from COVID-19.
In this case you should be staying at home where it’s safe.
The people walking past your house won’t cause you any danger.
Unless they are trespassing in your garden, in which case put a “Private” sign on the gate.

This has to be a wind up?

'Poor people must not walk through my village'

You sound pathetic

If I walk two miles from my house, there are houses worth 3x as much, the other direction two miles away, the houses probably half as much. Hadn't occurred to me that I should only walk in the vicinity of houses in my rateable value bracket 😀