To think countryside people are condescending and moany all the time?

[Keyansier]

Does anyone else think this too? Partly stemming from the story about the people who are trying to ban weddings from being held in their village and putting up signs like "Bride and Grooms not welcome here" in order to dampen their big day and ruin their wedding photos.

People who live in cities know how to share and live alongside people. Yes, tourists can be annoying but we don't scream at them (well I don't, anyway) or tell them they are not welcome and to go away. Yet people in the country think this is perfectly acceptable and not rude behaviour. And they constantly make awful comments about cities and city living and how they would rather die than live somewhere so busy but then when there is a lot of rainfall and their places are flooded they shriek and moan that people aren't helping them fast enough for their liking.

They literally think just because they live in the countryside that they own the countryside and get to say who can go there and what can happen there. And if you're "unfamiliar" they were literally stare at you. AIBU to think this is entitled behaviour and very annoying?

Exactly!

I think wedding behaviour in general is quite shocking. My daughter works at a rural wedding venue, a beautiful country house in the middle of nowhere, and what she tells me about the behaviour of guests toward the mainly young and female staff is shocking. Never mind the groping, the sexual comments and the foul mouthed abuse they get, spitting in the faces of these girls also seems to be acceptable if they are not getting served a drink fast enough at the bar or refused one after last orders. People just get so drunk and high it seems anything goes!

OP did you actually read the full article about the wedding venue you mention?
The venue has permission to hold unlimited weddings and the road runs through the farmyard of the local farmer.
I don’t know where you live but can you imagine trying to live a normal life with that sort of traffic running through your front garden? Or maybe you can because you obviously know how to share being from a city…
I live in a rural area, I welcome visitors, they are good for the local economy but it has to be said that it isn’t the locals who rush out to leave take away cartons and used nappies in the lay-bys, it’s a funny way of sharing!

Do you know everyone who live in the countryside!?

Hmm I dont really recognise this from where we live. what I do recognise are townys who come here once a week to ride their noisy scramble bikes down green lanes, churning them up so that they cant be walked and frightening the livestock. or the person who buys a cottage because they just love all the greenery and then proceed to chop down ALL the trees including some old heritage fruit trees so they get a view. good job we dont all do it or there wouldnt be any green to see. or people who get onto parish councils to stop any sort of development ever whilst locals are quite happy to see villages grow and change organically as they always have done. I lived in London for 20 years. I never knew my neighbours despite my best efforts yet here I know everyone and we help and support each other when in need. the people who shout at tourists are generally second home owners or those who retire to their second home and want to see their village frozen in time.

Okay OP, in many rural areas who do you think goes round cleaning up all the rubbish, fixing fences, repairing dry stone walls, laying more walk ways, planting and managing the landscape, dealing with moorland and grass land fires, working for mountain rescue.

Let me tell you its mainly local volunteers and land owners. Who respect where they live and have to put up with people visiting who don't give a shit most of the time. Unlike cities and towns we have vast areas that the local councils done have the time or resources to do these things so its locals that spend their own time doing these roles, so you can have a jolly day out dropping litter, damaging fences and setting fire with portable BBQ`s, trampling moorland and fields and leaving gates open. 🙄

The ones who make me wince are the tourists/city incomers who think it’s a quaint idea to go on pootling family bike rides down A roads and fast B roads - obviously expecting some kind of 1960’s bucolic quaint experience but in fact all locals who know the roads and are commuting are driving at 60 with juggernauts & it’s terrifying seeing farm machinery whizzing past them etc.

A friend of mine saw a guy on a bike towing a baby on a very fast winding A road the other day during peak commute with everyone travelling at national speed limit - just an awful idea.

There’s not the capacity for fun family expeditions down fast winding commuter lanes; it’s so dangerous and traffic is much faster than in a city which seems to surprise some people - and you’re in the countryside so just go on a track, bridleway or woods for a family amble. There’s not exactly a shortage of options. It’s ridiculous.

I think a lot of people that visit the countryside think it’s just fields for people to roam. Unless it’s like a National park it’s usually private land. I’m sure even in towns and cities people wouldn’t like to share their garden.

Well if city people didn’t act like complete bellends, then we wouldn’t moan.

The latest was when my friend had her border collies out in the usual field of her farm which does have a public footpath running through it. Some city person probably staying in a one of those fucking AirBnBs and thinks he knows country life actually went up to her and had a go saying “you need to get your dogs under control, they’re spooking the sheep”

My friend laughed “they’re quite under control, these are trained sheep dogs. It’s you who are spooking my sheep, please stay on the footpath”

He sheepishly retreated but didn’t apologise….

How funny. A hamlet on the edge of a city? Like Hampstead or Dulwich you mean?
Front gardens with signs are a tad suburban rather than rural. People hereabouts don't really have 'front gardens'. Do you mean a field or their drive?

Er... front gardens do exist in the countryside

I suppose there is countryside and there is countryside.

Kind of a condescending and moany post, OP 😛

Kind of yes and no. I grew up in the countryside and I found that country people aren't the problem. Increasingly people move out to the countryside with a suburban petty mindset and start moaning and bitching about every little thing, not realising that country people just get on with it and don't care about the petty stuff suburbanites care about. I've enjoyed city life and country life, it's that pretentious group of wannabes in the middle that are the problem.

you’re looking for a fight are you, OP?

I'm with you OP! I remember how totally insane some people turned during the covid lockdown when it was on the news that residents in Derbyshire where laying branches across roads as traps to deter cyclists from coming into "their" area.

I always wonder what these people's views on immigration are. Is it "they can come here as long as they fully adapt to MY way of life?"

Even National Parks are mostly privately owned. Land is only fully open for people to roam on (i.e. not having to stick to the footpaths and other rights of way) if it's designated access land under the CROW Act.

The 25k OS maps show the CROW access land clearly, if anyone wants to check the status of land they're planning to walk on. If it's not access land, you stick to the ROW, even in a national park.

Most upland areas/moorland tend to be access land, and the walled in field lower down tends not to be. The difference is often visible on the ground too, based on the vegetation - this is a photo I took near where I live.

• Blue arrow - This is a farmers field used for grazing, there is a footpath going through it, but walkers must stick to the path.
• Red arrow - CROW access land, walk where you like (although usual rules about littering and respect for the countryside apply, and on this particular bit of moorland, dogs are not allowed except on ROW. Because the CROW Act only gives rights to humans, not dogs.)

I've seen front gardens in remote areas of the Highlands! Plenty of rural folk like to grow flowers, and if the patch of land at the front of the house is best placed for that, they'll plant a garden there.

My faves are the people who live in the posh villages round my not-posh town, who complain there are no affordable housing options for their kids but oppose anything new being built between them and us.

They literally think just because they live in the countryside that they own the countryside
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People who live in the countryside often do literally own the countryside, though.

This hits the nail on the head. I live in "the countryside" but my neighbours own pretty much everything I can see. They aren't just fields they are someone's land. They aren't cute sheep to make the area look nice, they are someone's livelihood.

The majority of the countryside is privately owned so yes many people who live there do indeed own parts of it. Some people think that just because there is a public right of way across some bits that this turns it into public land. It doesn't it just means you have the right to walk on that bit. Strange how generalising about certain groups can be seen as being racist or ageist etc. Is countrysideist a word I wonder?

Just to clarify because I've seen dogs and livestock mentioned a few times here:
I live in the country and stick to the footpaths but encounter a fair few signs with demands to "keep your dog on the lead." This isn't legally enforceable, is it? Am I right in thinking there's no legal requirement to do this so long as your dog is under control and not attacking the other animals?

People coming to the countryside and staying in air bnbs increasingly don't offer anything to the local economy, and actively push people who have grown up in these communities out.

So what does being polite and welcoming get us?

It's different to when people would come to stay in hotels or caravan parks and eat out regularly, and they weren't staying in space that could instead be someone's home. Many people who stay in air bnbs spend a lot less in the local community, park in spaces that then can't be used by residents, and are occupying a flat or house that could otherwise be used to house a local worker or family.

And then you get visitors moaning about poor service etc when they do go out- not understanding that businesses struggle to recruit staff due to high local housing costs.

So what benefit is there in being nice to visitors at this stage?

And yes, as PP said to trespassing etc, and treating livestock as a tourist attraction, not as a living animal which a) you can hurt and b) can hurt you.

If you're in a field with livestock, e.g. sheep, why would you risk having your dog off lead?

You know the farmer can shoot it if it chases the sheep, right? If you care about your dog, why would you risk that.

Also, yes - it is legally enforceable. Things like the CROW Act give rights to humans, not dogs. The landowner can place any conditions they want on your dog, and being on a lead seems a fairly reasonable one.

Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, on 'access land', dogs must be kept on a lead that's no more than two metres long at all times around livestock. Between March and July, dogs should also be on leads to protect nesting birds.

So, depending on the type of land and animals present, it can be legally enforceable.