After lockdown has opened up our eyes, do you still love where you live? Has lockdown made you want to move school/area?

[Chiccie]

I live in a commuter town and I’m used to driving everywhere. Lockdown has made me realise that I really want to live in a community where I can have neighbours as friends. Has lockdown changed your opinion about where you live?

Loved it before and love it even more now. Its about 3 miles from a retail park that has an m and s and wilcos and no queues like the bigger supermarkets. Can get on the transpenine trail in 5 mins, a nature reserve and a lake nearby. The kids did watersports all summer, we have an allotment 5 mins away, we walked and ran, our neighbours are absolutely perfect and I love them a lot. Our neighbourhood is good. Our schools have been excellent really, especially this lockdown. We have 2 biggish towns a 10 minute drive away and a big city a 10 min drive then 20 minute train away.

It's perfect.

Pre Covid we lived in an isolated village and no buses to local town and can’t walk there. School and work over an hour away.
We bit the bullet and moved after the summer. I got a new job and it’s all a bit crap as house is now on the market abs kids in new schools but schools shut now. Although we have moved near family we have my parents and cousins etc we don’t have friends here really as all my friends have moved away. We moved so that the DC could grow up here and not so isolated. But selling a huge 4 bed house and will buy a 3 bed tiny semi if lucky. So we have the make compromises. The other way around - I can see the appeal if we had family that lived in an isolated village and move nearer them. But we have moved closer in to a city. But I think lockdown will last for a lot longer than the summer.

@Aprilx

Lockdown hasn’t made the slightest difference to how I feel about where I live, I don’t even understand why it might.

Well, if you are Ok, that's fine but I have lived in places in the past where it would have been an absolute nightmare.

I think i understand what you mean OP and yanbu. I actually moved out of a large city 10 yrs ago, to a village. I now have a big hse, lovely garden and beautiful scenery but 0 friends here. My neighbours have lived here for a lifetime and have all the friends & family they need. I just cannot seem to make friends with any of my neighbours. They are polite etc and say morning if you see them but that is it. My work is the same, people who have lived in the area all their lives- not interested in making new friends. As a result i have spent the last 10 yrs on my own effectively . No one to have a coffee with, no one to go to the cinema with, no one whose door i can knock on, no one knocking on my door. I have been in a sort of lockdown for 10 yrs if you like. I too drive everywhere and will often take my youngest teenage DC on day trips ,just to get us out but cannot do that at the moment. I would love to make friends in my neighbours but it just not happening and i have tried everything over the yrs i really have. Before moving here i was always friends with my neighbours and colleagues and other mums and had a great full life filled with people. Just all stopped as soon as i moved here. When things opened back up last yr, no support bubble for me or coffees in the garden! Same old.

Would give anything to be back in my old smaller hse, i had great neighbours and colleagues there. Then again i lived in a city and there were always people moving into the area and starting work, looking to make connections, that does not happen here. If you are a sociable person, this kind of living takes it toll. I am looking to move in the next few yrs, back to a city.

Lockdown has made be incredibly glad that I live where we do.

Beaches, woodlands and miles of empty space on our doorstep. But we're also in a large enough town (though still small - 7k) to have access to supermarkets, healthcare and schools, as well as takeaways etc.

The community has really pulled together during COVID and I feel very grateful for that.

We moved to this street 3 years ago. The street has always had a brilliant sense of community. We celebrate festivals or we did pre lockdown, we take turns caring for elderly neighbours, we share out home made bread, honey, cider, juice, home grown vegetables. We are in a sort of lefty area in a suburb of a big city. Lots of parks though and open spaces as it's Yorkshire.

Had plans to emigrate before lockdown, still keen to leave the UK altogether for a while, just not sure when now.

I like my house, I love the countryside/ coast, but I've felt very sad about the village community. I thought it would be really supportive, but we've felt very isolated and diminished. (Shielding household for context) Both physical and emotional support have been sadly lacking, and we've been sidelined and made to feel like "drama llamas" for sticking to the rules.
We've seriously thought of moving.

Moved a few weeks before the first lockdown last year and I'm so glad I did. I absolutely love where I live now.
I'm really far away from all my family and friends but I live in such a beautiful place that it doesn't bother me.

I'm in London (not a cool bit) and can't wait for everything to reopen. My neighbours seem nice, but I'm not a chatter/joiner so don't get involved with things. I've been out so little, I don't think it would have mattered where I lived for the last year really, but looking forward to normal resuming.

Moving was one of those conversations we'd occasionally have and agree "we should move" and to do the DIY needed and put some money away and we just didn't bother. Then lockdown 1 happened and it gave us the push. Our old house was fine but no green space in walking distance, was quite a rough area in terms of litter, petty crime, uncared for houses and shops etc, the local school was performing badly. We always knew these things but they became more glaringly obvious without the distraction of going out to work, out socialising etc. Plus our child is coming up to school age.

We moved between lockdowns and now have pleasant walks, shops (nothing grand, but useful) and better schools on our doorstep which is good as our child starts school this year so we were able to apply. I don't think we would've without the lockdown.

Made me really appreciate my area. Gorgeous part of London, everything on doorstep, right next to some huge parks. Has made my daily walks so much more pleasant and meant never had issues with supplies. We may never move!

I live within easy walking distance of shops, but I found my lunch time walk (when I get time) is around streets.

I have fallen in love with an area not too far away that has a beautiful park on its door step.

I like where I live but lockdown has solidified the idea that it is not going to be where we remain. I want to move somewhere that has actual footpath’s, I don’t have to live in the suburbs, and the schools are better.

I do love where I live but I am a 4 hour drive away from my parents and siblings and although we only usually see them every couple of months, not being able to see them for over 5 months has made me realise I could never emigrate and see them so rarely.
I am very very envious of people who live in walking distance of their family but at least I have some lovely friends. If we hadn’t been able to meet up for walks this time round I think I would have gone under completely

This is, something I've thought about a lot since lockdown and it's made me realise just how much I like living here and how moving out of London into the suburbs was a great decision for us. There are lots of parks and woodlands but also a small high st with the usual essential shops and lots of cafes and restaurants with walking distance.

The area itself is nothing special (though quite nicely situated), but reading about other people's experiences on here has made me appreciate the fact that my neighbours are both friendly and able to mind their own business! I've realised how much I'd struggle with living in a small community where everyone knows each other, in general but in particular when everyone is under a lot of stress.

@User2378901

I do love where I live but I am a 4 hour drive away from my parents and siblings and although we only usually see them every couple of months, not being able to see them for over 5 months has made me realise I could never emigrate and see them so rarely. I am very very envious of people who live in walking distance of their family but at least I have some lovely friends. If we hadn’t been able to meet up for walks this time round I think I would have gone under completely

Yes - we don't live near most of our family (my DPs are half an hour away but all other family 3-4 hours away) and we rely on holidays, weekends away, birthdays, Christmas get-togethers etc. to see them. Without being able to do that it has been quite lonely.

Yes! I moved into an off-grid converted Citroën Relay van in January.
Going to take it around the world as soon as is possible and safe

Lockdown has made me like where I live much more.

I live in a commuter town but very close to an AONB. The town itself is ok but isn’t that nice, and I hated my commute.

But I’ve loved being near to the convenience of the town and near to an AONB during lockdown. And have lost the worst thing about living here - the commute.

We love our area more having discovered a lot more walks.
I have reconsidered my house though due to neighbours. They’ve just been loud at times, one side smoked a lot of weed in summer which comes through my windows, another had loads of loud parties throughout the lockdowns. I’d like a detached and in the posher estate but they’re £150k more expensive and smaller than what we have now so not sure it’s wise.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of woodland and footpaths around my Midlands city, even though most of them are bogs now and the dog fouling is the worst it's been.
I so want to live close enough to the sea or even lakes/mountains where there aren't 1000's of rules about what you can do. That's not likely to happen in the future though since I need to be where all the research is.
It's so depressing looking at Wild Swimming and seeing an enormous Midlands-shaped void there...

I am considering moving a bit more to the southwest (but still mostly Midlands) when the DCs are no longer full-time dependants though - at least it will be nearer to places I want to be.

Absolutely. More so than ever. It's beautiful, so much scope for walking, cycling, boating, swimming! Enough shops for basics, so really no reason to leave. Great community response.

Someone I know was bemoaning the fact that where they live in Wales, restrictions had just been loosened slightly so that you could exercise/walk with one other person, but only from your door. She said there wasn't really anyone she could walk with without driving first. I counted and I have walked with 13 different people from my door since Autumn. And there are plenty more that I could get in touch with and suggest we met up and it wouldn't be weird. It is a very connected village. If I walk with one person, or to the shop, there will be plenty more to stop and chat with (at 2m distance!). I can't imagine how isolated I would feel without that.

We can easily get to interesting cities quickly too, but that's not been so useful lately.

i like our town, it has most things we need close by and lots of beautiful places to walk to if we want. I live in a block of flats and don't really know my neighbours that well but it's not something that bothers me at all. I've got my friends and family that I can connect with online. The only thing I don't like is living in a flat....how I wish we were in a house, bit more space for all of us and maybe even a small garden for summer. I wouldn't have to worry about whether the DC are being too noisy, they could jump and stomp and run around more. more storage for outdoorsy stuff like scooters, bikes, boots, buckets.