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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to expect people to stay away from our AONB?

243 replies

Llig · 16/05/2020 20:02

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?

OP posts:
CatandtheFiddle · 17/05/2020 10:14

And also - do people travelling into the NE realise that the R number there is too high? And will get higher if visitors act so thoughtlessly?

Ilikeviognier · 17/05/2020 10:15

Afraid it’s the government”s fault. They should have said stay home or stay local. People Are bored and want a change of scenery and it’s very contradictory being told you can now travel to exercise, whilst simultaneously being told to stay away from beaches etc from local councils.

But at the same time, if you can now travel, people who live near the beach etc have no right to tell others to keep away.

It’s a mess basically.

Dreamersandwishers · 17/05/2020 10:32

@Pixie2015 Come on over, we’d be happy to have you 😉

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 10:38

OK, so I used the word 'our'. Doesn't mean it belongs to me. You surely know what I mean.

Oh we know exactly what you mean and you re wrong, it's not "yours". The government have allowed people to travel for excercise and therefore they are doing nothing wrong. Too bad if you mumsnetters don't like the government advice, fortunately you don't get to make the rules.

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 10:39

Afraid it’s the government”s fault. They should have said stay home or stay local

Why should they have? I am assuming you are an expert in the field and could have advised the government differently? Just because you want to keep things miserable doesn't mean the government were wrong with their decisions

Heronwatcher · 17/05/2020 10:46

Yes YABU. I currently live in a city, approx a mile from the nearest excellent hospital. It has a whole A&E dedicated to corona. Would it be reasonable for me to say that no one outside a half mile radius can use the hospital because of the risk to the local population? We are all people of the UK, we have to share the country’s resources fairly. Most of the people visiting your village will be nice, normal people. Maybe it’s your turn to be unable to go outside for a few days until the initial fuss dies down?

Branleuse · 17/05/2020 10:50

Its not your area of natural beauty

All outdoor green spaces are much more busy than usual because theres fuck all else to do.
Why is everyone getting so territorial?

KatnissMellark · 17/05/2020 10:53

In that case OP, perhaps you should stay within your own 'bounds', and not visit any supermarkets or hospitals, as they're not 'yours' Hmm

IWantT0BreakFree · 17/05/2020 10:56

picnics in the middle of the village aren’t. The exercise business is an excuse. Most don’t wander far from their car.
They get upset when the shepherd or farmer tell them to go back to whence they came but wouldn’t want their old folk put at increased risk. If they want just to exercise do so from the start of a footpath well away from villages; there are plenty

The guidelines have changed. Picnics, sunbathing etc is now permissable, not just exercise. People can travel as far as they like within England. Those people are doing nothing wrong. I understand that you feel inconvenienced but so does literally everybody. And the fact remains that you have no more right to those open spaces than anybody else, regardless of where they have come from.

IWantT0BreakFree · 17/05/2020 10:57

picnics in the middle of the village aren’t. The exercise business is an excuse. Most don’t wander far from their car.
They get upset when the shepherd or farmer tell them to go back to whence they came but wouldn’t want their old folk put at increased risk. If they want just to exercise do so from the start of a footpath well away from villages; there are plenty

The guidelines have changed. Picnics, sunbathing etc is now permissable, not just exercise. People can travel as far as they like within England. Those people are doing nothing wrong. I understand that you feel inconvenienced but so does literally everybody. And the fact remains that you have no more right to those open spaces than anybody else, regardless of where they have come from.

Atalune · 17/05/2020 11:00

The trouble with these threads is people blame the other group of people and it’s the government we need to hold to account.

The gov need to give better clearer instructions.
The local gov and authorities should be funded well enough to to police local areas a fine those not socially distancing.

The government are at fault her.

Ilikeviognier · 17/05/2020 11:01

No I’m not an expert. I’m not claiming to be. What I meant was- the guidelines were not clear and if they wanted to keep people away from areas of natural beauty, they should have made the message more clear - e.g- by keeping the stay home message. Personally I don’t want to “keep things miserable” for anyone. Especially given that they have just said that a vaccine may never be found.

Ilikeviognier · 17/05/2020 11:02

Agree with Atalune

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 11:02

it’s the government we need to hold to account.

Why? Clearly if the government has allowed it then its completely safe to travel for excercise. Please do explain why you think you are better informed on the subject than the government is.

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 11:05

the guidelines were not clear and if they wanted to keep people away from areas of natural beauty, they should have made the message more clear - e.g- by keeping the stay home message.

Message seemed very clear to me. They didn't want people to stay away from natural beauty spots, otherwise they would have said that. It was a very simple message: you can travel for excercise just keep to social distancing. What bits are unclear to you?

I've found the people who claim the message wasn't clear tend to be the people who just didn't agree with it.

CherryPavlova · 17/05/2020 11:05

travel to the countryside – but continue to follow the Countryside Code by respecting the local community

Putting people at risk by selfish behaviour is outwith the guidance.

People travelling to a tiny village and leaving rubbish, placing local elderly at risk and running around in fields of sheep is neither respectful, adhering to Country Code or locals being inconvenienced.

Ilikeviognier · 17/05/2020 11:10

Sorry I disagree- I have no issue with the advice personally, but others obviously do otherwise this thread wouldn’t exist and there would be no debate around telling people to stay away.

ToffeeYoghurt · 17/05/2020 11:16

The trouble with these threads is people blame the other group of people and it’s the government we need to hold to account.
This.

If the government wants to stop non essential travel they need to start with border restrictions. They can't single out selected areas for protection. They can't tell people not to travel to beauty spots whilst at the same time they're allowing hundreds of thousands to arrive at our airports with no checks or quarantine. Particularly as some of those arrivals might be headed for the beauty spots. Possibly returning locals.

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 11:19

If the government wants to stop non essential travel they need to start with border restrictions.

But that's not what the government wants. They want a slow ease of lockdown and by allowing travel for excercise, that is one small step. You are making up your own interpretation of what the government want because you don't like their advice. That isn't helpful to the current situation at all.

EskSmith · 17/05/2020 11:35

It makes me laugh the posters calling the op out on being entitled (I agree they are) but also plainly showing their own entitlement eg.
Yabu for travelling 10 miles to a supermarket - for many rural people that IS our nearest supermarket, I have a Tesco express 5.5 miles away, in which it is virtually impossible to socially distance or a Tesco Extra 12.7miles away. That's it.
Let alone he poster who said they hadn't been in their car, we don't all have food shops in walking distance.
I think we all need to show a little more tolerance and understanding for each other. And yes absolutely those not socially distancing are idiots.
Btw @Unescorted - great post Smile

rookiemere · 17/05/2020 11:36

Government needs to decide it it wants to keep R below 1 or go for stealth herd immunity. At the moment it seems to be attempting to go for both and as a Scottish resident who will end up with all of the pain of an increased English R number as I'm sure it will be used as a reason to keep us all in for longer, but none of the benefits of being able to even just go on a different walk, it's enraging.

It makes no sense to keep restrictions in but then tell people they can drive wherever they want as long as they are back in their own homes for the evening. Surely telling people that they could drive for say up to 30 minutes each way would have allowed people a bit more freedom and variety, without the inevitable rush to tourist spots.

GreytExpectations · 17/05/2020 11:39

It makes no sense to keep restrictions in but then tell people they can drive wherever they want as long as they are back in their own homes for the evening.

Eerr yes it does. There is a difference between people all flocking to non essential businesses such as bars, pubs, cafes, hairdressers, fashion retail shops ect where social distancing cannot be practiced and taking a drive to the open countryside for a walk where social distancing can be practiced. Surly you can comprehend that?

ToffeeYoghurt · 17/05/2020 11:48

GreytExpectations
I agree with you that the government doesn't want to stop non essential travel. That's why I said if>

If they want journeys, people can travel where they want (in England). If they change their minds and decide they want to focus on lowering the R rate then they need to start with the airports.

Personally I'd rather we'd had a stricter shorter lockdown - including border restrictions - and used that time to prepare properly for a safer easing. That didn't happen and we can't go back. We can still mitigate the damage. So I'd keep us in lockdown with no unessential journeys for another two or three weeks. Use the time to finally get PPE, drugs, masks, border controls. Then we could more safely start to reopen.

But it's not up to me.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 17/05/2020 12:37

2 city folk came to dispose of a body in our AONB this week. You can all fuck off, as far as I am concerned.

CatandtheFiddle · 17/05/2020 12:47

2 city folk came to dispose of a body in our AONB this week

Whaaaaa?

If it was an animal, they can fuck off; If it was a human being., I hope the murderers are now banged up. Must be really upsetting for you. Just awful.