Have grown to dislike the Lake District..

[ConfusedParticle]

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.

@Tealightsandd

It's interesting really. In London the tourists aren't the problem. They are welcome. They enjoy the city and respect locals. The problem for London is everyone else. All the people from all over the UK who treat London differently from anywhere else. It's not allowed to have locals or a community. They get priced out and or feel forced out because of too much traffic, crowds, pollution, destruction of local communities and shops etc, no-one cares. No media handwringing unlike the reports on 'beauty spots'. London is seen by everywhere and everyone else as a place to use and then to fuck off from (and fuck the locals). London is overpriced and overcrowded - with infrastructure not coping (the recent floods are due to overcrowding and overbuilding), but more than anywhere else in the UK, there's also the lack of one of life's basic essentials - housing. London is the capital of homelessness. Perhaps tourists (so apparently unwelcome elsewhere) could all come to London....but in return, all the 'plunderers' could move to places like the Lakes, Cornwall, etc.

I can relate to this, although I have only lived there for 6 years and worked there for 3 before that. It is very, very, very beautiful, but the wainwright/wordsworth/potter franchises and cloned corporate gift shops in each town do really depress me. It's the wilderness, but heavily dumbed down. The mountains don't care, so yeh they'll be fine!

It does remind me of a sort of nature themed Disney land. I do love it very much but I suppose I need a rest from it for w while.

Whenever we go to the Lake District, we always go in the "off" season, & never on bank holidays. It's heaving & unbearable in high season. We get enough of that at home, thanks! It's only a couple of hours by train for us though, so when there's a good forecast on a Saturday any time between October to April, we can just decide to go for the day out.

I think the problem for both London and beauty spots like the Lakes is that the balance has been lost. There needs to be a balance between maintaining the place as an everyday home to locals and their communities versus a welcoming space for visitors - tourists and temporary residents both.

I can imagine. My sister lived in Grasmere. She hated having to fight through the hordes in the tiny coop just to get some milk. She's just moved to Penrith and it's gorgeous.

@Toddlerteaplease

I can imagine. My sister lived in Grasmere. She hated having to fight through the hordes in the tiny coop just to get some milk. She's just moved to Penrith and it's gorgeous.

I'd love to see some of these people 'fighting through the hordes' in London. There could be a documentary on it, like a wildlife film. Introducing them to the true concept of hordes for the very first time. It could be a fascinating watch. Would they die of shock? Particularly when the 'hordes' remain off season. Tune in to find out.

for certain people London is the aim, anyone in politics, fashion, fast paced life career/international people London is essential

Where do people get their ideas?
I'm in London and am not in those industries and certainly didn't have a 'fast paced life' or career even before the pandemic.

We live in a tourist area. I think this year is much worse due to covid and also people seem more stressed and desperate for a break .? My brother ,who lives in london , visited us recently.. he said it was uncomfortably busy in our village.. and worse than london due to narrow steets etc with all the crowds.
We cant really go into village or get in our local . To get on beach we have to adjust the day and get up v v early and stay home rest of dayas its so crowded..
As for the lakes , which we used to live near.. i dislike parts of the commercilises lakes so much and wd not go there.
Re milnthorpe .. know it well.. id rather go to silverdale, arnside, wray, etc for days out.
Kl is beautiful by the river .. although id avoid sundays !! Early am.in arnside from milnrhorpe is a beautiful drive. Also cartmel fells n woods .. all much nicer than lakes but easy to get to from milnthorpe...

Just returned from a week in the lakes. We stayed south lakes but traveled about. We passed through Windermere a couple of times and it didn’t looked rammed. Also no traffic queues either. We did Cornwall a couple of years ago in august and again didn’t find it over run.
The only reason I wouldn’t live in the lakes is there seems to be no leisurely pace, if you are not being rammed up the backside by the locals on the winding roads you are being rammed up the backside by the locals trying to get in front of you as you try to stroll along a country lane.

I do agree with the sentiment. We moved to Bath for a year and then ran away after 2 hellish spring/summers of hen/stag noise, traffic, long queues in the one central supermarket and mould inside the (listed building) wooden windows. People say they'd love to live there and I'm like well, if you have £600k for a 3-bed terrace with no parking, have at it!

My brother ,who lives in london , visited us recently.. he said it was uncomfortably busy in our village.. and worse than london due to narrow steets etc with all the crowds.

Cor! I assume your brother either lives in the outermost parts of the most outer London suburbs and/or never normally steps foot outside his front door when in London.

I spent 20 years - aged 10 to 30 - in a cathedral city, which i loved for the most part but the tourists (and the coaches/traffic/noise) did drive me nuts sometimes. It was hard getting around the narrow streets peak holiday/festival times.
I now live in the cheaper/hippy end of the cotswolds - we rarely get tourists here so it's never that busy or frantic, and i do prefer it.
So, yanbu. Horses for courses innit

I feel that way about Pembrokeshire.

I grew up there and moved away due to work. DH and I had always planned to go back, but having just spent 2 weeks there we think not. It gets busier and more full of tourist-y businesses every year.

I do think the lakes get more visitors per year than many other areas. Perhaps the most? Not surprising, and who can blame anyone for wanting to see it?
Perhaps, as we are a small country, our areas of beauty and wilderness are always going to be popular and crowded to some extent.

I think the sweet spot for me would still be quite rural but not without any decent infrastructure. Perhaps semi-rural. And not a very popular beauty spot!

I can relate as before we moved to Denmark we lived in Bath for 5 years. 4 months of the year plus Xmas market periods were hell, rest of year was great. Impossible to get in places for even a coffee at times and constantly being jabbed by umbrellas and Chinese tourists. The upside is tourism often means places have really good facilities and punch above their weight, as was the case with Bath— to be honest it’s very difficult in UK to find somewhere beautiful but convenient (I don’t drive so want decent transport) and with good facilities and that isn’t full of daytrippers or holidaymakers at certain times of year. It’s one thing I really like here in Copenhagen— we have great white beaches (virtually empty a lot of the year) , lovely blue sea, lovely parks, 2 superb theme parks, one set in woods, immense public transport and it’s big enough to absorb plenty of tourists — what we don’t have though is hills and valleys!!’

@Tealightsandd she always said that when she went into a city, she needed blinkers! She's currently in holiday in London. So no doubt I'll be all peopled out by now.

Totally agree OP. The towns and villages do get rammed because the pavements are so narrow. I have been going to the Lakes all my life and the past few times I have not enjoyed it at all. This most recent time, last month was especially busy. Lots of visitors I who would usually be in Tuscany or the Bahamas were there. We couldn’t dine in the nearest pub because a large party from London had paid for exclusive use of the dining room. That screwed us. I find some of the walkers a bit wearisomely worthy too.

We went in July and neither of us enjoyed it. Most of the food was pretty bad and very overpriced when we ate out. Far, far too many people everywhere. Haven’t been for years in peak season and hated it. Really won’t ever go back in the Summer.

@Peakypolly

Ha- I feel just like this about my home city of Bath. When people rave about it, I just think how different it is now and how much less pleasant in every way. And guess where I'm pining for? The Lakes. I love the great dining scene in Cumbria and can still seem to find peace although, in prime holiday season, that can be difficult. I think maybe it is familiarity breeding contempt and also remembering past times with a rosy glow. Sounds like you don't have to be in The Lakes so choose somewhere quieter.

I think it applies to all popular tourist places, the reality of living there is totally different from visiting, we always said, BC, that late July and all the August are no-go times for North Norfolk. (BC = Before COvid)

@ConfusedParticle

I do think the lakes get more visitors per year than many other areas. Perhaps the most? Not surprising, and who can blame anyone for wanting to see it? Perhaps, as we are a small country, our areas of beauty and wilderness are always going to be popular and crowded to some extent.

I think the sweet spot for me would still be quite rural but not without any decent infrastructure. Perhaps semi-rural. And not a very popular beauty spot!

Most traffic turns off the M6 at the Windemere exit, going further North it's not as bad.

@SwimmingUnderwater

We went in July and neither of us enjoyed it. Most of the food was pretty bad and very overpriced when we ate out. Far, far too many people everywhere. Haven’t been for years in peak season and hated it. Really won’t ever go back in the Summer.

Total opposite of our experience. We had incredible food for a fraction of London prices. We climbed ScaFell Pike and a few other Wainwrights. It was so beautiful and when you get into the hills away from the crowds, it's great.

@ConfusedParticle the irony is the mountains won’t be fine. The fells are being eroded by all the increased foot fall. Walkers are causing huge environmental damage sadly, often going ‘off piste’ and not sticking to the paths.

I was in Penrith earlier. Penrith pong is not gorgeous.

We're going to the Lakes, staying in Ambleside in October half term (24th - 31st). Kind of wishing I hadn't read all this!
Will it be as busy then as it is during the summer?

@PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears

We're going to the Lakes, staying in Ambleside in October half term (24th - 31st). Kind of wishing I hadn't read all this! Will it be as busy then as it is during the summer?

We had an amazing holiday in Ambleside in peak season. It was busy but not heaving. We loved every minute. It's such a lovely town. Great bookshops, cafes and cinemas if the weather turns bad. Gorgeous hikes up fells and around waterfalls and lakes if it's fine.

😅 Phew! Thank you!