AIBU to expect people to stay away from our AONB?

[Llig]

I live in the North East, a village within an area of outstanding natural beauty. AIBU to want people to stay away for the time being?

People need exercise for sure, totally agree with that. But the swarms of people descending on us right now is an absolute joke. As a village we have (mostly) followed all government guidance, particularly as we have a lot of elderly residents who are at hig risk. Since the rules have been slightly relaxed, our village feels overrun. No social distancing measures by these visitors either. A friend even caught a bloke weeing behind the public toilets as they're currently locked. What is wrong with people?

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

My daughter lives in a seaside resort but the local council has not opened any car parks in the resort itself and there is very limited street parking, most of which will be full of residents cars

theyre out of order for pissing everywhere thats just thoughtless but as boris has relaxed the rules theres not alot you can do

Nothing to do with who has rights over any area, but YANBU that people should not be there if they are not social distancing. I think the govt needed to spell out that if you travel to somewhere for exercise or picnic etc, you cannot get out of your car when you get there if it is already too busy to effectively distance. People need to be ready to turn around.

I live in a small flat (not even properly furnished before lockdown hit) with one open plan living area that gets hot and noisy with appliances, and no outside space. It's still nice but just pointing out I am not saying this from the luxury of my private garden or big house. I would rather spend the day relaxing here than drive to some overcrowded tourist spot to dodge other people. Fair enough if others want to go there, I do get it, but if it is crowded, turn around.

You're being ridiculous and a NIMBY. Och, it's grand for those city-dwellers to be practically on top of each other, but it's not acceptable in "our" countryside.

Newsflash - it's not YOURS, it belongs to the nation, including all those city dwellers you're so keen to exclude.

I lived in London for 6 years, I now live in a National Park. I do not begrudge folk coming to enjoy the countryside near me, since they own it as much as I do. Get a fucking grip.

My thoughts? That the Coronavirus pandemic has revealed exactly who the entitled, controlling curtain twitcher losers are in society.

You cannot control the actions of other people. There are hundreds of threads similar to this one- why do you need to make another one. No one needs to read another thread much to the premise of 'I'm so good at lockdown and x is so awful because y so can we all sit and circle jerk each other off because we're superior and so intelligent and would never do what x does'.

You don't have any authority in your area. I assume you own, if that, your house. That's it. That's all the authority you have. Now, if you were a farmer complaining about people tramping through their fields, I'd be sympathetic. Absolutely. Because that's not only affecting your space that is 'yours', it's also affecting how you earn your money and the safety of your family as well as livestock. But... that doesn't apply to you.

If getting your exercise in is so important, you can simply go out when it's not as busy. People are allowed to go places to exercise and it is nothing to do with you.

People absolutely love hating on anyone who isn't a local in their quaint middle class village, but have absolutely had no issues in going on 3 holidays a year to various destinations across the world. I guarantee you haven't given much of a thought to the locals then. But, nope. When it's on your own turf, different story.

Catch a fucking grip.

You've been 10 miles from home. Is that the acceptable distance because that's how far you want to travel? You can't know where these people have come from.

OK, so I used the word 'our'. Doesn't mean it belongs to me. You surely know what I mean.
It wasn't just your use of that word, it is the fact that you seem very entitled and believe that other people shouldn't be visiting your local area. When in actual fact, it doesn't belong to you any more than it does them. They have every bit as much right to be there.

My family are unable to get out for their exercise because the paths are covered in people, motorbikes and cars. Is it not just respectful to keep within your own bounds?
It is extremely unlikely that you are never able to exercise safely in your local area. Lots of these people will probably be coming from busy towns which are genuinely crowded and unsafe. They have just as much right as you to seek out open space.

Why do people feel the need to travel so far for their exercise? In usual circumstances we are significantly quieter, so it's not like they come to us when there isn't a global pandemic.
Because they want some fresh air and to lift their spirits by being in beautiful surroundings. Probably all the same reasons that you love living there. And when there's not a global pandemic, people are generally working/at school/socialising/at the gym/on day trips/insert a million other things here. Surely that's easy enough to understand.

I get it, as I also live somewhere nice. Fortunately, the few 'strangers' who have visited have been well behaved, so no problem. It's when people crowd in and prevent you from stepping outside your house, and disrespect the place that it's a problem. I don't know why people think they can misbehave in a way they wouldn't in their own backyard. Or maybe they behave badly everywhere?

I haven’t travelled further than my legs can carry me away from my home during lockdown (including return journey). I haven’t been in a car for nine weeks.

I think everyone should stay local.

But it’s not your AONB. And is your problem of being unable to go out because of a fuckton of people is not unique. Everywhere is full of a fuckton of people - in my narrow corridor of city dwelling.

It does not belong to you, your neighbours and villagers.
Are these people coming into your garden or house, NO they are not.
All the time you keep moaning OP the more people are not aren't going to come to where you live, no tourism, no people spending money in the village pub, supporting the local economy. Think about it.

10 miles is a long way to go. If everyone in that supermarket travels10 miles to get there then that's quite a large area full of people all taking their germs to one indoor supermarket in one town. At least the countryside is outdoor so transmission far less likely.

Pray for rain and cold weather.

People are just doing what they have been told they can do! Unbelievable at a time when the virus is on the up in the NE - wish NE were part of Scotland.

I am amazed that the English government hasn't put a limit on the distance people can travel to exercise. The problem isn't people travelling to different areas, but that people tend to travel to a few 'honeyspots', which makes social distancing very difficult in those locations. The welsh approach of exercising only where you can access by walking or cycling is designed to prevent this, precisely because of the problems in places like Snowdonia which occurred just before the full lockdown.

Alas , there’s a group of people who just interpret government guidelines to suit them.

Um, I think that is what you are doing, isn't it? The guidelines do say you can get in your car, travel and then go for a walk.

How lovely for you to have ownership of an AONB. Have you considered moving to a heavily industrialized area polluted by constant traffic beneath the Heathrow flight path? Perhaps in a flat with a couple of children and no outside space. Then, if you think it might be nice for you to have a look at some trees and grass for a change, you could look forward to being welcomed by people like yourselfnwhen you do. Unutterably selfish.

Unless you own the area you live in YABU.

OP, I know what you mean.

I don't think you're going to get much sense tonight though.

There may never be a vaccine and even if one is miraculously here by next year it would take years to vaccinate an entire population. It will come to your village at some stage. I used to think we could/should hide from this but we can’t. The best time to have got Covid was February, the second best time if you are healthy is now as we are not in flu season. We cannot lock down until a vaccine and it was never the plan. When I accepted that and did all I could to protect myself/my family I felt a lot better about it all.

I see NIMBYism is alive and well. Oh OP, how ghastly that the hoi polloi have chosen to visit your obviously superior village. One would hope that people of that ilk would know their place and remain where they belong.

Don't blame the player, blame the game.

Fill a plant spray with a (very) diluted bleach (or Zoflora) and water mix.
As people pass you whip around and spray them from behind (so it doesn't get into their eyes or mouth), and of course the pavement that they have contaminated.

It's the only way to be sure.........

I wouldn’t have thought the Heathrow flight path is that much of an issue at the moment, longwayoff.
The thing is, people who don’t live in the countryside only tend to know the well known tourist areas as places to visit, so they flock to the same places to fall over each other in. There are obviously plenty of places with qualities somewhere in between industrial dumps and AONB, but where do you start when you can’t ask for advice because you aren’t supposed to be going where everyone is heading to?

You could fashion a holster to hold a bottle for each hand.

If you changed the setting on the plant spray from fine mist to a more direct and narrow "squirt" you could re-enact "The Quick and the Dead"
or "High Noon"

Minutes of fun!

I agree with you OP, it’s not great to have so many people flock to a small area bringing the risk of infection with them. People should stay away, the government have really screwed people over by saying its fine to travel and go where they like.

It’s especially dangerous in the NE because the numbers are still high, the other issue is that there have been a lot of instances with people in the NE not following the guidelines and so the infection rate has been a lot higher than elsewhere. The advice can’t be right for both the south and the north when the south are clearly a few weeks ahead.

The guidelines need to be changed to accommodate the problems in different areas, I know that car parks are generally closed in most beauty spots around me (north east) but people are still flocking there.