A better life in Norfolk... really?

[LittleRobin112]

We have so many family members who have moved to Norfolk in the last 10 years and a few friends too. They have mostly gone there for a better way of life. Away from the hustle and bustle of the south east where we are.

We're constantly being told how amazing Norfolk is - the countryside, the villages, the coast, Norwich, etc. And some family members are very keen to tell us how crap it is where we live in comparison, knowing that we are settled where we are and wouldn't want to move. Nowhere is perfect (about from Norfolk apparently) but we like where we are. These family members have moved from where we live which although busy and a London commuter area, it's also fairly affluent in parts, a coastal place and with countryside/woodland still accessible nearby.

What is the attraction to Norfolk? Is it the most ideal place to live? Are people happier there? Are there no down sides to it at all?

I don't doubt some aspects of life quality could be better in Norfolk but I've been on holidays there and many family visits over the years and I can't see how it's as incredible as some family members are making out. Maybe they're just showing off or justifying their reasons for moving there? But to be really negative about where we live is just becoming annoying. It's almost like they're now better than us for living in Norfolk, it's so odd.

Any thoughts?

Also, as a white male I experienced racism when I visited London and was walking though the east end near White chapel. It's the way people are and it's unlikely to be down to demographics.

The themes and language of your posts are very similar to @Pappleapple - maybe you two should meet for coffee (at home, away from the ‘gentry in Eaton Park’ or the horrible people on every corner) and share your experiences together rather than accosting strangers in public to talk about how awful it is. This kind of hatred and vitriol for an entire county has to come from a deep seated place, and I hope you can both eventually find some peace from this obsessive hatred you seem to hold.

Oh dear it sounds terrible, you grew up there and don’t have a good opinion at all about Norfolk. I don’t get how opinions, if this is a valid statement, can be so opposite 🤷‍♀️

''rather than accosting strangers in public to talk about how awful it is.''

The thread is asking about what Norfolk is like. I am going to warn people that it is full of racists. That isn't accosting someone, it is giving them a warning before them move to this **hole.

Racism is everywhere, it is shocking. I remember 4 or 5 years ago I was working with a woman who seemed otherwise fine. She just casually comes out with ''My daughter said ''can my friend come over?'' I said ''Where is your friend from?'' she said India, I replied ''Then no way is she **ing coming over. I told her we're not having a fucking paki in our house''

Things like this are everywhere in Norfolk all the time.

I am absoultely at peace with Norfolk, I don't have any ''deep seated issues'' like you are suggesting, the place is simply full of racists and homophobes and am I warning people and pointing it out.

I went through Dereham on the bus the other and someone has torn the Ukraining flag up in the market place in half.

It is like this everywhere. 80% of this thread is people saying how racists and homophobic Norfolk is because it is, if you are in the 20% who says it isn't you either a)don't know the place properly b)are in denial

One post in a huge long post about Norfolk isn't an ''obsessive hated''', I am merely pointing out what a **ing horrible awful place it is.

Sorry im new to this site no idea why its all gone ittalics.

There literally are horrible people on every corner in Norfolk. It is full of racists and homophobes. If you disagree you do not know the place properly. Or are stuck in a posh part of it.

As someone who has lived in Norfolk nearly 40 years it is bizarre to me seeing people rounding upon @Pappleapple. He is 100% correct and doesn't deserve how you are rounding upon him. Awful, awful place full of horrible nasty people.

I pray to God any of you thinking of moving here, take into consideration all of us in this thread warning you.

Unless you are rich and can go live in a rich part of it, your experience will be just like everyone else in the thread who hates the place.

'Oh dear it sounds terrible, you grew up there and don’t have a good opinion at all about Norfolk. I don’t get how opinions, if this is a valid statement, can be so opposite 🤷‍♀️''

Because some of these people moved there ten years ago and have probably been in a bubble since then where they only really talk to other rich people there. They don't know the place properly.

Or they are not from a minority themselves (I am gay personally) so the racism and homophobia doesn't bother them as much so they turn a blind eye to it.

''This kind of hatred and vitriol for an entire county has to come from a deep seated place''

Actually I think you might be right. Growing up gay in Norfolk with it's evil, nasty hateful homophobia probably has left me with issues for life and is probably why i am warning people so much on this thread to stay away.

Off-thread I know, but why on earth would anyone move to a place in the middle of nowhere unless both of you can drive (or are willing/able to learn)? If there's only one of you who is a driver, then surely you considered what might happen if that person couldn't drive, for whatever reason?

Only place in the UK I’ve seen a golliwog for sale in a shop, I kid you not. I challenged the shop owner and he said “they’re not illegal”

There was a black kid in my school, the only one, and people used to stand around him in a circle at lunchtime and chant ''Dance! Dance! Dance!'' at him and make him dance. This was in the early 2000's. There was also a Portugese girl who was bullied so badly she tried to set the school on fire and got expelled. Horrible place.

Redface & IhateNorfolk, what you say does not surprise me one bit.

It is a lovely place to visit, but not to live permanently.

Let's face it they vote for Liz Truss in one part of it in droves

There is racism everywhere in Norfolk even from people you wouldn't expect it from. I was talking to a gay guy at work who you would expect to be tolerant considering he has experienced discrimination himself, and he suddenly started coming out with all this stuff about his ''coloured neighbour''. Obviously that is quite mild compared to say full on KKK membership but it is still always there.

I think the people saying Norfolk isn't racist and homophobic are just living in posh rich little bubbles of it. Been here on and off nearly 40 years and know it like the back of my hand and it is the most backward, insular, bigoted, hateful place I have ever been to in the UK and I've been all over it. ''Normal for norfolk'' and the country bumpkin steroetype exists for a reason. Also as I said it feels like it has gotten a little bit better in recent years but that's probably because of large amounts of people moving here from London ect.

I am ethnically Indian and I live in rural Norfolk. I have been here for 13 years. Prior to this I came from London. I was born in Birmingham. I love Norfolk. The people are friendly in my experience and are also tolerant as they have been of my wider family. Settling into village life has been good and I have enjoyed leading curry nights in my village hall. Racism is a fact of life in the UK. In my experience it was far worse in the West Midlands when I lived there. OK in London, but still there but much less prominent in Norfolk than in London and Birmingham. On occasion I have found myself undertaking some [very basic] geography lessons to explain my origins (Geography is not a strong point in the UK from my experience), but I fund this quite quaint rather than anything else.

I think we get your point. I'm not sure why you have to write the same thing over and over multiple times on the same thread.
I've lived in Norfolk my whole life and don't recognise anything from your posts at all about Norfolk. Obviously not everyone has the same feeling or view of Norfolk as you so not sure why you're scaring people off.

Sock puppetry

Please don’t brand a whole county as racist because of the actions of certain idiots. Have I heard racist language used in Norfolk? Yes. However, I’ve also heard it in many other parts of the country. I wouldn’t brand the whole of their counties racist.

''Sock puppetry''

If you are implying I am an alt of the other guy - no, but I was inspired to create a mumsnet account for the first time ever after seeing everyone ganging up on the guy who was criticising Norfolk. That guy is 100% correct, the place is bigoted as hell.

If this isn't someone's experience then I can only assume as I said that they are in some of the more affluent parts of it or are only mixing in certain circles. Obviously not everyone is bigoted in Norfolk, most people aren't infact, but there is a large proportion of the population that is in comparison to other places.

Also as I have said multiple times it has gotten better in recent years and isn't as bad as it was 20 years ago.

To give an idea, when I walk down the street in Norfolk I feel anxious and on edge and like I have to watch my back. I don't get this in other counties. I grew up in a village with 2 gay guys who were both mercilessly and horrifically bullied and then turned out gay myself so it is probably related to that trauma.

Actually I take that back. I just said ''Most people aren't bigoted''. On reflection it's probably more like 50/50. Whatever Norfolk you people are living in it's completely different to the one I have lived in on and off 40 years. I predict most of you who are denying reality live on nice middle class estates populated by people who have moved there from London ect, in nice jobs where you mix only with other middle class people and therefore don't know Norfolk properly.

The only reason Norfolk gets any love is because it’s a rural place that’s relatively cheap for how close it is to London. You could just as easily go to Wiltshire or Oxfordshire for a rural lifestyle but they are extortionate. Norfolk is cheap but you can get to the big smoke in a reasonable time unlike other cheap rural areas like Lincolnshire or Northumberland. Shropshire is even better if you don’t mind the big smoke being Birmingham.

DH got a job in Norwich. I had an excellent job in our hometown, so we bought a house in the old part of Norwich which he lived in during the week, though, because of the nature of my job I could also spend long weekends there.
I love the house and I love Norwich. When he retired we considered relocating there permanently.
But beautiful architecture, a really nice house and decent shops and pretty countryside didn’t compete with our home town with its diversity, convenience for family visiting, and a wide group of long-standing friends. So we kept the house and let it out.
I miss not having the option to visit and stay at the house and city, but not enough to make me want to live there.

Quietly rolling my eyes at your insistence that you
don’t have an obsessive hatred of the county - just look at these posts! You don’t need to keep repeating yourself. We get it, your experience has been/is negative. What I don’t understand is why you and the other (not you, apparently) poster are so fixated on ‘posh people’ and women in Norfolk. Racism and homophobia exist everywhere in the UK sadly - the other poster is keen on data and when I had a brief search there is nothing to suggest that Norfolk has higher than average reported rates of either. In fact, I found an article talking about how Norwich is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly cities in the UK and over 50% of the population there identify as something other than heterosexual. I wonder which part of Norfolk you are in to be being targeted in the street? Presumably you are reporting all these hate crimes you have witnessed/are victim of?

I'm rolling my eyes at the people saying ''Norfolk isn't bigoted''. It's almost comical to me in fact. If they think that they don't know the place properly and are sticking to their quiet affluent bubbles.