Have grown to dislike the Lake District..

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Lived there for 6 years, in Ambleside then close to Kirkby Lonsdale. Absolutely breathtaking scenery and perfect for a wilderness lover such as myself, but I have only just realised recently that I don't want to go back...

I left to tie up some family estate issues and planned to move back over after covid calmed down (ahem, will it ever!), and since I prefer to rent, this is easy enough to do. There are some exquisite properties and those that I lived in were gorgeous, so it made sense to plan going back.

I have located a new place in the South Lakes and have been offered a moving date for September but I am not so sure at all now and want to have a good long think.

However! Something has been niggling at me for the past year, for such a wild and lovely place, it feels so overly commercialised that I haven't missed the insanity one bit. At first I thought I needed to get my head checked, but recently whenever I consider going back I feel stressed and weary about it. It is very different to live there than to visit as a tourist. The roads, etc are fucking crazy!

But AIBU to not want to live there anymore? It seems so odd to have 'gone off' it like this, and I have really enjoyed the pace of life being less frantic and tourist thronged since ive been in another area, I have no idea how visitors can find it 'relaxing'.

Anyone else feel similarly? For all it's beauty, the hordes (which are increasing by a few million per year) and pollution are depressing. The central areas all contain the exact same shops and any authentic remnants have been gutted.

Can you not find a compromise? If you love the Lakes, but not the pitfalls (traffic, traffic, tourists, traffic!), what about looking for somewhere maybe 30 minutes or more drive away?

Am sure you’d get more house for your money. You’ve got the area “on your doorstep” when you want to visit, but can avoid the traffic if you want to. I’ve got family who moved up there a while ago. Half an hour drive there if they want - but equally gorgeous countryside and places to visit in other directions.

@Tealightsandd sorry I hadn't thought of London as a workplace. I hope you saw my point as London is central to these jobs and that lifestyle, but I hadn't wver considered they don't live there and affects locals. I couldn't even afford to visit so not sure how anyone could afford to live London area.

I used to go to Lake Windermere many years ago with my ex husband probably nearly 15 years ago and I have many happy memories.
We stayed at the hotel over looking the lake, they used to hold antique fairs there and had a outdoor pool but I can’t remember it’s name as it’s not the same name now .
There was little tea shops next to it and it had a car park that was always full and had long queues.lol

What was it called originally?

@avamiah

I used to go to Lake Windermere many years ago with my ex husband probably nearly 15 years ago and I have many happy memories. We stayed at the hotel over looking the lake, they used to hold antique fairs there and had a outdoor pool but I can’t remember it’s name as it’s not the same name now . There was little tea shops next to it and it had a car park that was always full and had long queues.lol

What was it called originally?

Could it have been low wood bay or the Belsfield hotel?

Would be my idea of hell and I love the countryside

What about Wales?

If you don’t want tourists avoid the Peak District as that is just as busy as the lakes.

Have you thought about Eden Valley? Not too far from the lakes but much quieter.

YANBU
I have friends who feel the same about certain parts of Cornwall and a few born and bred or long time residents have moved as things have changed. From st Ives, and padstow.

I’ve never been to the LDistrict but can imagine there are similarities in the pressures tourism and holiday lets etc bring.
I live in very central London - and have all of my life - and have always said I could never ever live anywhere else. Absolutely love it and always have. Recently however this has begun to change just slightly which is kind of astonishing to me.
I’m waiting out the changes Covid/lockdown etc have brought but many I fear are permanent - so many small indépendant shops and restaurants just gone (or gone online), so much empty. So many people affected and moved, so many European neighbours gone etc. Never in a million years did I think I’d have thoughts of living anywhere else.
Good luck op.

YANBU. I live a couple of miles from a very touristy area - think acres of holiday homes - but where I live is extremely quiet which is why I chose it. Are you sure you’re not tired of the Lake District and needing a change of scene, though?

I know what you mean op. My dsis lives in the west country. It's beautiful but for 6 months of the year she does her shopping at 7am and then retreats back to their village to avoid the crowds. If she wants to travel she does it at 7am on a Tuesday.

Where as I can run around the lanes of my unfashionable bit of Hampshire all year and maybe only meet the postman coming the other way.

mintjulia cue rightmove search surge for ‘unfashionable bit of Hampshire’ - careful !

I see where you're coming from however I don't think I would make a firm decision at the moment because things haven't returned to normal as we still have Covid to contend with. We don't yet know what things will be like post pandemic and don't have a true picture.

I was in central London at the weekend and I've been in Manchester every day this week. Both seemed busy with people in a way my Derbyshire home town isn't and this has been a shock to the system. Neither were anywhere near as busy as I remember from the past though. It's the peak month for UK holidaymakers holidaying here because travel abroad has reduced significantly. When we holiday here we tend to do so independently whereas huge numbers of foreign tourists are on guided tours and bussed into places and out again same day and it's probably just not as predictable at the moment as it would usually be in UK tourist hotspots.

We also don't know how many people who've been working from home will actually return to the office.

I wouldn’t live in Stratford upon Avon for the same reason

There’s a lot of the UK that isn’t the Lake District or London. It’s not a binary choice .

I feel like at about my home city Edinburgh OP. The city centre is overrun by tourists ( apart from Covid times) with the population more than doubling during the summer festival month.
Edinburgh attracts visitors all year round from all over the world. People don't come here for the weather and the winter months are also busy.
Edinburgh has stunning architecture, medieval and Georgian and set on the site of an extinct volcano. The city centre has grown into a disneyfied version of the elegance it once was. Most vistors to Edinburgh are well heeled and money to spend, so the tourist shops tend to be more malt whisky and hand woven wool than plastic snow globes. The city centre is stuffed with hotels, cafés, thousands of people swarm over the Royal Mile and Old town.
It got so bad in summer you can forget eating out as a local, everywhere is jam packed and no pleasure. In fact when I lived in the city I would plan my summer break abroad when the Festival started, just to avoid the mayhem.
I moved out of the city when the kids were born, I live is a quiet rural location, still only 20 minutes from Edinburgh centre, but the pace is slower and local restaurants quiet.
Tourists are killing the very thing they come to see.

Trough of Bowland might suit? Not quite as dramatic as the Lakes or the peaks, but still that gorgeous northern wildness about parts of it. And the lovely little villages with local stone etc. But very few tourists that aren't already locals. We thank the Lakes and the Peaks everyday for keeping them occupied!

I'd head to the North lakes if I was you. It's just as pretty but far less touristy. Eden Valley, or maybe east towards the Howgills.

I love near Stratford. It's normally a nightmare but tbh it's far less so this year without the coachloads of foreign tourists walking about with cameras not looking where they're going!

Totally ,I grew up in Cornwall ,I long to move back there …but only in the winter ,utterly hate the place when it’s heaving with tourists in the summer ..
It’s a real conundrum,as Cornwall is home to me …no easy answer

It sounds like your issue is with cars and traffic rather than visitors.

But that is the same all over the UK, cars are a blight on our community in every way. The pollution they pump out is killing the natural world, the space they take up parked is hugely contributing to the housing crisis, the laziness they encourage is destroying our health.
90% of car journeys are totally unnecessary.

End car culture!

I love the lakes and my parents live there so I go a few times a month. However it's very much "wilderness lite" - very accessible and commercialised. I am fine with this but I can see if you want more remote ruggedness etc you need to really go to the highlands or the mountains of Europe.

Yanbu

I don’t blame you. It’s lovely if you like green and trees and water. I find it very over rated and it rains a lot.

I think you could say the same about any tourist place though. To live there would be very different.

You need to avoid the areas around Windermere and Coniston. They’re the worst for tourists.

West Cumbria is much better OP. St. Bees, Ennerdale, Eskdale, Gosforth, Holmrook etc. You still get the beautiful scenery minus the tourists.

I live on the edge of the Trough of Bowland and I love it. I can walk for miles without seeing another person, but the wildlife is incredible. I’m close enough to Lancaster and Clitheroe to feel like I have great entertainment choices though.