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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Have grown to dislike the Lake District..

202 replies

ConfusedParticle · 14/08/2021 00:36

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.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 14/08/2021 08:12

Try the Cotswolds

You’ve obviously never tried to get up the Fosse through morton or stow on wold 😂

Lunaduckdrop · 14/08/2021 08:15

I know what you mean, but Ambleside is probably the worst choice as regards the ability to get to other places easily and because of the sheer numbers of tourists. KL is great and Milnthorpe has the advantages of a town without being too touristy. Where it is practical to live will depend a lot on how much travelling you need to do. LD roads are windey, the place is very wet, and too many villages have gone to holiday cottages. I wouldn't want to live there. On the other hand it is beautiful !

missymousey · 14/08/2021 08:15

Come to Scotland. I've never liked the Lakes (sorry) I thought I would but it just feels like a crowded version of home. Perthshire is lovely.

Undersnatch · 14/08/2021 08:17

I have just been in the south lakes and had a lovely time, but it was exponentially busier than previous years. This covid effect will settle a bit won’t it?

icedcoffees · 14/08/2021 08:18

@CreepyPasta

West Cumbria is much better OP. St. Bees, Ennerdale, Eskdale, Gosforth, Holmrook etc. You still get the beautiful scenery minus the tourists.
Don't tell them that Grin

I also live on the west coast - it's stunning and much much quieter than the Ambleside area. I lived there for four years and wouldn't go back.

icedcoffees · 14/08/2021 08:20

How about you look at North Lakes, i.e. Grasmere, Keswick, etc, or even West Lakes, i.e. Ravenglass, Cockermouth. They're a lot quieter

Grasmere and Keswick certainly aren't what I'd describe as quiet! Grasmere is just as bad as Ambleside and parking in Keswick is hideous.

rottd · 14/08/2021 08:25

Never been to the Lakes, aim to visit in the next few yrs.

Is it just a part of getting older? I'm a Londoner but I moan as I remember the days of getting a tube seat or loved going out in town. Hate the congestion now but it's lovely at Christmas when so many leave.

Words · 14/08/2021 08:26

I lived in the Lakes many years ago, and get what you mean. I enjoy true wilderness and though it is easy to get away from the crowds (I read a study that said the average visitor moved less than 500 metres from their cars when in honey pot car parks) they are always there to be avoided, if you see what I mean.

There are other, wilder places to enjoy not that much further away from where I live, but I am not disclosing where, for very obvious reasons.

I like to see no one at all when I am hill walking.

TheWholeWorld · 14/08/2021 08:28

Had a week in the lakes in early August, it's the first time I've been in peak season. Usually go in Autumn & Winter. Resolved never too go back in the summer tbh. The only quiet places were the fells so we spent as much time walking as we possibly could.

Crockof · 14/08/2021 08:28

@Doublestar

I love visiting the lakes but I wouldn't want to live there.

Of course YANBU - people want to live in different places for different reasons. The thought of living in London for instance is my idea of hell but obviously a lot of people absolutely love it and wouldn't live anywhere else. There's no right and wrong.

Daft question IMO. Is this designed to be a Lakes-bashing thread?

Give over.

This is a discussion forum, OP wanted to discuss what she was thinking. What is this obsession with claiming things are 'bashing' plus why would the lakes care even if it was?

Duvetflower · 14/08/2021 08:29

I've been on holiday to the lake district and really didn't like it. It had the feel of centre parcs on arrival day. That manic business with everyone scrabbling to grab all the fun before anyone else gets it.

I've also lived in a touristy city and didn't mind at all. I think the difference was that there's more to so in the city, I wasn't driving anywhere and in a city you really aren't expecting to get peaceful wilderness.

Try somewhere different there are plenty of rural places which whilst they don't have as dramatic scenery are still pleasant and most importantly quiet.

TheWholeJingbang · 14/08/2021 08:32

Well since we’re all basically trapped on this country AND it’s the summer hols, of course the tourism is huge everywhere!

That said, we went to the lakes in April (as soon as it was legal) and I was shocked at how horrible the traffic was by the time we left..... Ambleside seems horrendous!

Hopeisallineed · 14/08/2021 08:32

I wish more people ‘didn’t like the lakes’😂

rottd · 14/08/2021 08:33

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.

I'm not sure how old you are but when I was a tween/teen (90s) many now fashionable parts were not very nice & lots of shops had shut & areas were quite run down. It wasn't so desirable to live in the centre & people moved further out, I wonder if it's a natural cycle. Plus the living costs are prohibitive for many people which somewhat kills creativity.

FreekStar2 · 14/08/2021 08:36

Milnthorpe isn't really in the Lake district, but it is near the seaside, you are bound to get a few tourists. Why do you keep choosing touristy places to live if you don't need to?

Just move to a town or village without any tourist attractions.

ThePlantsitter · 14/08/2021 08:37

There are just too many people for such a small country in the UK. We are all starting to hate and blame each other for everything, all the time (I'm not going to go on about what I think the root cause of this is).

You could reframe it and think about the infrastructure that tourists make necessary (good road network, sewage systems, national Grid etc) enables locals to live there comfortably year-round. I grew up in a rural tourist spot btw.

Peccary · 14/08/2021 08:38

I'm in a Peak District gateway town but on the less visited Dark Peak side. The White Peak has been crazy this year but I don't think 2021 is the year to judge anything by! We've been over to North Wales for a few weekends and regular haunts are much busier than usual.

StrangeToSee · 14/08/2021 08:39

Milnthorpe isn’t a place I’d ever go back to! Yes it looks like something out of a fairytale but I lived there for years and it’s a weird place. The coffin trail behind the fairy steps used to freak me out. There was a big population of wild rabbits in strange colours too (not escaped pets just wild rabbits). There’s one bus a week, or was.

Plus it’s not actually the lakes so you pay Lake District prices for a Cumbrian backwater. I found the locals didn’t like new people especially in the more rural hamlets around it. Milnthorpe itself had a problem with drink youths and vandalism. It’s ok if you don’t mind driving everywhere (or the blind bends, getting stuck behind vehicles taking people to pheasant shoots, coach loads of tourists in summer so getting to the actual lakes is tricky.) If you don’t drive or have a period of not being able to drive (eg post surgery) be aware taxis have to be booked a couple of days in advance!

CounsellorTroi · 14/08/2021 08:39

We stayed in Bassenthwaite, near Keswick, four years ago in early August and it wasn’t that crowded except in Ambleside which I didn’t like at all.

FreekStar2 · 14/08/2021 08:39

Living in any of the towns on Windermere would be a nightmare. We went earlier in the year and it was not a school holiday week and it was still rammed- couldn't get tables in restaurants, parking was expensive and the traffic between Bowness and Ambleside was very slow. Once you got further up into the North Lakes it was much better though.

Tara336 · 14/08/2021 08:40

I live on the South Coast and hate it. It wasn’t my choice to live here but DH is from the area and we are tied here for a few more years. Right now I am sick of caravans, campers and cars loaded with bikes roof boxes etc. We can’t go about our daily lives because of the traffic, we needed something from the supermarket the other day a short 10 minute drive away, there was a traffic jam (again) and we turned around and came home empty handed. My 15 minute drive to and from work in normal times is now anything between 35 and 45 minutes every day because of the holiday traffic. By the time the holidaymakers get to our small town after crawling through the New Forest in. a 14 mile long traffic jam, they are not interested in giving way to traffic trying to pull on to the duel carriageway and the result is our little town has become a huge car park.

It’s no ones fault and everyone is desperate for a holiday and who can blame them, but it’s a miserable experience for those of us living in the holiday destinations right now. I laugh whenever people ask where I live and they say how lovely it must be, to be so near the forest and the beach, I just want to leave and live in my home town again where I don’t feel trapped in my own home.

StrangeToSee · 14/08/2021 08:41

Grasmere and Keswick certainly aren't what I'd describe as quiet! Grasmere is just as bad as Ambleside and parking in Keswick is hideous

Agree!

I’d avoid Kendal too or anywhere near it.

Rubyupbeat · 14/08/2021 08:47

But you are choosing to live in wildly, touristy areas. Our family property and the area where our family has lived for generations, is in a breathtaking village, away from the hustle and bustle of the 'popular' areas.
I did watch a panorama programme recently and it showed how overly busy the lakes were due to people holidaying in Britain, bowness and windermere looked like benidorm..... a bloke from the national parks was trying to encourage people to visit the less touristy places. It also showed, sadly, the amount of litter this phenomenon has created, even up on the mountains.

StrangeToSee · 14/08/2021 08:47

I would say Grasmere is as mental as Ambleside. It’s got that gingerbread shop and people drive miles to get that…

Yes. You can get stuck in traffic on that road for hours. In the summer it’s tourists in the winter it’s snow or flooding. Even for areas near Milnthorpe you need winter tyres and ideally a 4 wheel drive because of the ice!

Didn’t the gingerbread shop close when the owner tragically took his own life?

Tumbleweed101 · 14/08/2021 08:48

I used to live in Devon and found much the same in the summer months. The trade off was we had all that gorgeous coastline in the quiet months. It does make everyday life hard work though when it is busy - ie commuting to work.

I'd imagine there are plenty of places off the beaten track though close to the lakes that are just as beautiful.

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