Has lockdown made you want to move house/area?

[Wondermule]

Just curious whether it’s only me that feels this way!

Yes.

I never realised how noisy my bloody neighbours are on both sides of my mid terraced house. I guess because I am usually out at work etc Now I am so sick of the sex noises and screaming toddler on one side and the abusive wanker screaming at his wife on the other.

Also abusive wanker neighbour has built a huge 2 storey 'garage' in his garden and just gleefully announced his plans for a loft conversion.

I feel increasingly hemmed in on all sides. I was brought up in the country and more and more I want to go back. Lockdown in suburbia is pretty shit. I'd move back 'home' in an instant if I could persuade DH and the DC to come too.

Yes. I want to get well away from the house and the same streets. I’m so over this area now. I will always associate it with this awful time.

@WhatAreWordsWorth

No, the opposite actually!

We moved here in January 2020, so most of our time here has been spent in lockdown. It’s made us realise what a great decision we made when we bought this house! It’s detached with a sunny garden and we each have our own office.

We also have lots of lovely walks on our doorstep, but we’re not in the middle of nowhere and are within walking distance of some decent shops and supermarkets.

I’d have hated lockdown if we were still living in our old house. We had neighbours from hell and both our house and our (tiny north facing) garden were extremely overlooked so I would’ve felt really claustrophobic.

Lockdown has made me appreciate that we’re very, very lucky.

I can relate to this. So glad I moved when I did, lockdown in my last place would have been a total nightmare.

I actually like where I live and we got on brilliantly with neighbours in our cul de sac. All socialise together, kids play together. Etc. Before this I'd have described us as close and good friends.

Throughout this, they've blatantly breached all covid rules. One of them especially has a stream of people coming. Nail tech, hairdressers, friends, relatives. Partner has bud mates round, bbqs etc. I don't particularly approve but we all make our decisions what's right for our own family and it's their business. What I don't like is that in group messages, the neighbours profoundly stress how well they've done sticking to rules and how sick of it they are. One said she hasn't seen her mum since Xmas but I'm at entrance to cul de sac and have huge window at front of house when my computer is based for wfh, I cant help but see whoever comes in to street. Her mum was there for a day last week, It's the outrageous lying I can't be doing with. Not just them, other neighbours are same. It bothers me friends lie like that and it's insulting to be honest and I think I'd quite awkward. When they tell me how well they've done, I genuinely don't know what to say, I can't entertain their lies but also not my place to sound them out. So whilst I don't want to move, covid has altered my perception of my neighbours.
Actually think living somewhere rural with no neighbours must be quite nice.

I live in Connecticut and we have been absolutely inundated with New Yorkers who have grown tired of no schools being open, no space with everyone working from home etc. So clearly many people have reevaluated what works for their families.

I love where I live. I’ve also been ‘lucky’ and worked throughout so not fed up with my home.

No. We are happy here. Some lovely neighbours and enough space.

Yes. We would like to move out of town and closer to the sea. We live right in the middle of the Midlands so I’m not sure we could get any further from the sea at present

love the area we live in, it's very special and people have realised that so now what was one of the cheaper parts of the city is very sought after. Lovely parks, high street etc. But all the houses are small and lockdown has me see we need more space, desperately.

I'm amazed at all these people saying lockdown has made them discover places they never knew in their local area. What were they doing before?! I have not discovered a single new footpath or place in my area as it seems there is nothing left to discover.

That said it's not a bad place to live. It's pretty urban and tatty and there are way too many students but there's some good green spaces and I'm close to my family so no plans to leave.

We moved to the coast before lockdown and I'm.so glad and grateful for that.

I've had a half-serious fantasy for a few years about moving somewhere more rural / closer to the city my husband commutes to for his main job / with more downstairs rooms (yes reading that seems a bit at cross purposes but does all make sense together). Our current house is a fabulous compromise in the small city we live in, close to the centre of town by bike and great countryside walks. But we could probably aspire to somewhere bigger with a better garden etc if we moved "out" and I've often thought through how I'd continue the teaching I do from home if we moved.

I've now got the opportunity to resurrect a previous career, part-time around my current work. The advantages of our current location for that are immense so moving is off the cards! It's something I'd thought was closed to me, realistically, several years ago.

No, the reverse.

Yes we need decent walks from our doorstep. We are in Wales where driving for exercise has been illegal for months on end a couple of times now and it is so hard when you are surrounded by ugly streets.

Yes! We have moved from a crap suburb (I always hated living in) to spectacular countryside. We still have neighbours but they are really lovely. More importantly, we didn't used to live walking distance to a pub, but now we do. Looking forward to them reopening. We now also have a tiny mortgage as we moved from an expensive area to a cheap area. Schools are much, much better. I'm so happy we made the leap.

I never realised how annoying my neighbours are and I live in a detached house,, they are so noisy

@Wondermule where are you looking?

God yes.

Paper is actually thicker than my mid terrace walls. People moved in last summer and I have the pleasure of their kids screaming and rattling baby gates from 6am - 10am, the aggressive, angry man smoking weed in the garden all night and the women who plays Heart FM at full blast from 9am to drown out aforementioned stair gate rattling.

We moved house in autumn 2019. So lockdown hasn’t made me want to move, but I am very glad that we didn’t spend lockdown in our old house for many reasons, including smaller house and garden, proximity to neighbours, children not being able to play in the street etc.

We moved late last year - more to do with growing family than lockdown but the extra space is very welcome.

Ish. I love my house and the area we live, but the amount of time spent in the garden when our neighbours are in their homes all the time too has really flagged up how terribly overlooked it is, theres a row of flats built just beyond the garden fence. I've become really conscious of my kids running barely dressed in summer and find myself constantly telling them to be quieter. I'm desperate for a bigger garden that's less overlooked!

No, I love where we live...

My secret dream is to buy our neighbours house and knock through. I would hate for them to move though, they are so so lovely.

We moved last year, just before lockdown.

Away from noisy neighbours in a terrace who will have been furloughed.

We didn’t go far but in a semidetached with thick walls, sunny back garden with an outdoor loo, a view of parkland and trees. We can walk to the beach.

I used to feel trapped where I live if I didn’t get away every month, but I’ve discovered lovely walks...and new places.