To think a place can cause depression?

[Kittycattenklump]

I am wondering whether I might need a change of scene.

Appreciate that I am ‘lucky’ to live in a lovely place, I live and work in Windermere, Lake District, and have done for the past 6 years. I am 2 yrs single and happy with that, have some nice friends and am happily self employed, but recently I am coming to feel that the place itself makes me feel this weird depression, like a hopelessness, that I don’t feel when I visit other places or stay with my longer distance friends.

I left for a year during the pandemic, and it doesn’t feel the same since coming back. Even the people coming here seem different somehow. But I can’t explain. There was previously a kind of nature lover/alternative vibe which is now missing.
I rent and the prices seem to have flown up in the past year -although that’s an issue everywhere, there’s a sadness to it here as what’s left of the market is dated or drab for a very high price. Local friends are depressed with the housing situation as many are sold off to airB&B.

I am comfortable financially but the manic switch of quiet grey gloom then heavy tourism has begun to put me on edge, something hard to explain.
Perhaps the balance has shifted and it’s no longer the right place for me, no matter the grandeur of the landscape. It feels like a giant commodity, bland and soulless recently.

other areas of my life are great, so i do suspect I might be up for a move. Would you consider it? Would you live here? Would love some thoughts on this as I haven’t discussed it with anyone yet.

Maybe you do need a change. Is it also a hard place to be single?

I think you need to try and pinpoint the things about it that bring you joy and what doesn't.

I love a sense of space (and I do love the lake District) but how busy the centres are is too much for me. However most visitors don't get beyond that.

I live in a place that I have always described as rural but not remote. It's much further north and not for everyone but I don't have to worry about traffic, parking etc.

I suspect that the low lying constant stress of an uncertain housing situation is contributing. Is there a reason you wouldn't buy ? Expense where you are or that you don't want to commit?

OP I know what you mean about the change in tone since covid and you're not the only one to mention it. We were recently in a pretty little village in Pembrokeshire and chatting to a woman in a shop about how busy it gets in summer, and she said since covid it's been a real change in the type of people coming and she's never met such rude people in her life.

I definitely picked up on a not-so-nice vibe in Bowness on Windermere the last time I was there. The Lakes are weird - the kind of picturesque place you'd go for a peaceful rural holiday away from it all yet the tourist levels in busy periods make it anywhere but.

That's exactly it, and those of us who lived here before it changed dramatically are pleading with the council, the police and other agencies to please step in. Yet they don't.

The parks which we were chuffed to move near to, are just no go zones now. I felt for a poor lad at Christmas, primary age but old enough to go home on his bike and he went through the park. He got set on by a group of older boys, had his bike and phone nicked and his shoes and coat too. Even though he sensibly handed them over they still smacked him one. Bloody thugs.

Our school has been good and stations staff outside the doors each evening, to ensure each kid leaves safely. We had an issue with gangs on scooters for a bit but the staff seem to have scared them off

Yes! Anywhere that's too hilly, barren, dark, remote etc freaks me out.

But I also hate cities like manchester and leeds. Too grey with too many giant buildings.

I have felt like that in the Lake District sometimes, but it's not consistent. There have been times when I've felt the peaks looming over me to be really oppressive, but other times, I've loved it.

I put it down to the way the weather affects the light. When it's overcast and gloomy, it makes me feel really low and sort of irritable, when it's bright, it's fine.

I have a similar reaction to the Peak District, but I love the Yorkshire Dales in all weathers.

Glencoe is said to be a very depressing place both geographically and historically but it has never had that effect on me. Have driven through it in all weathers except snow and I still love it.

I think it absolutely can OP.

I have lived in the same town for over 20 years (since I was late teens), DH and I chose to stay here and have our family here but now I hate it and it really gets me down. People would consider it a very desirable but there’s a huge amount of knife crime, car thefts are rife and late night vandalism is frequent. We’re lucky in so many ways but the area really gets me down. I feel my spirits lift when I go somewhere else.

We have family locally who really depend on us so I feel completely trapped.

if you can, you should definitely move. Life is too short.

Yep, I think queuing to walk down the street in summer in Bowness just takes all the joy out of it.

I can see how it would be depressing, where do you think you would like to live? What about next to the sea?

Yes, I’m sure it can lead to full-blown depression. I live in an Essex town, which is one of the fastest growing in the U.K. Developers have thrown up ghastly new build estates on every piece of scrap land they can find, some of them so vast they are like new cities. I live on the edge of the town, and hate the place so much I will drive miles out of my way to avoid going through it. When I do, I can literally feel my mood dropping. It’s a physical sensation. And it’s much worse if there’s bad traffic (which there usually is - the town is virtually gridlocked) and rain. I also found the town hellish during the heatwave.

I’m hyper-sensitive to my surroundings. I suspect people prone to depression often are. I had a friend who rented a grotty house in a horrible part of the town. It always seemed dark in there. God, in the end I avoided seeing her because I couldn’t bear the low mood it triggered. It would take me all day to recover. If I had to go and live on a big estate, with noisy neighbours and awful traffic all around me, it would be a death sentence. I’d need Prozac to endure it.

I felt like this in Liverpool and I really can't explain it - just a sense of heaviness and gloom the whole time I was there. You've got nothing to lose by moving OP, I would do it.

I live in Sussex, approx 5 miles from the south coast, as the crow flies. I moved here 31 years ago and I still really like it.

I'm in a small town, and I think the smaller towns are possibly friendlier than the big coastal towns. And there's lovely countryside, you're never far from the Downs, the Ashdown Forest, the huge expanse of Romney Marsh and of course, the sea.

Sadly, most of the bigger coastal towns are getting very run down and shabby, and have significant drug/alcohol problems and homelessness.

I once read somewhere- on here probably- that there was some evidence to suggest that the geology can affect mood.

I feel the same about the Lake District. Whilst objectively beautiful, it seems to trigger a feeling of doom and foreboding. Parts of Wales have the same effect. Whereas the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines and Northumberland make my heart sing.

I feel this way about Edinburgh. A shadow of gloom and hopelessness falls over me as soon as I step off the train.

Yes probably as beautiful as open spaces are I need the energy and feel of a big city more. London fits what I need

Yes. Places in Cornwall make me feel sick / nauseous with depression. Its quite common especially with those who lived here in the 80s and 90s.

The deprivation is horrendous, hopeless grey skies, poor quality housing and many many families who are so poor that they've never been to the beach 2.5 miles away.

Where are you? I’m in Sussex but hate the town I’m in 😩 want to live elsewhere.

There was a local group discussing the links between low mood and high radon in Cornwall.

Is there high radon in the Lakes too?

When I read it I dismissed it as nonsense but maybe they have a point.

Stayed in the Lakes earlier this month for a long weekend. Stayed in New Dungeon Ghyll which despite its gloomy name was not too crowded. The tall rocky pikes were dramatic but I could imagine being oppressive in poor weather. Drove through Ambleside and Windermere which were absolutely heaving with tourists. Spent a night in Morecombe bay which had great views but the town itself was very shabby. Then spent a day and a night in Lancaster which was more upbeat and energetic. Visited the castle and Prison (location of Pendle witch trials which had a heavy atmosphere). Stayed overnight just outside the city at a canal side mill off the River Lune with wide open spaces lots of birdlife and this seemed the lightest aspect of our stay.

I moved to Nottingham 20 years ago and love it. Whereas my friend moved here from Belfast and hates it (just here for work). They leave at any opportunity to go to Wales, Ireland or Scotland to experience wildness, big skies, mountains and the sea and probably for a top up of the Gaelic/ Celtic craic!

I’m really affected by my physical environment - certain urban environments* in particular really do provoke a deep feeling of unease - and I’m sure Windermere was mentioned on the Glastonbury threads.

*I really dislike both the railway stations in Catford, for instance.

I wasn’t very keen on Tintagel when I went there. Found it depressing for some reason I can’t explain.

I think a lot of posters on here are sensitive to the horrible, horrible mess the British have made of their towns. Ugly new build housing, combined with a lack of aesthetic sense in the people who buy them. Neglected town centres, clogged with traffic and boarded up shops etc. I put this down to a lack of civic pride, driven by individualism. "I'm OK, with my shiny car and my expensive interior decor, who cares about the world outside my home/car?" You see an awful lot of that kind of thinking on here.

Contrast with France, where even the smallest, most insignificant town seems like a gem. Historical architecture cherished, and new builds sensitive and aesthetically pleasing. Town centres looked after, with evidence of a lot of local council input. It stems from more of an emphasis on the collective and communal I think.

I live in Cornwall, but I'm lucky in that it isn't a tourist village. Many of the incomers here work at the nearby University, which makes our little community really vibrant and active.

In the absence of any care or funding from above, it really is down to the community.

Definitely agree @crackofdoom

Even some of the "grand designs" here are so so ugly. I saw one yesterday near Truro and it was so out of place.

Towering above neighbouring properties (I'm surprised they even got planning!) - huge windows. Windows everywhere. Far more than required. No driveway as they built on it. And no garden as they built on it. Odd blue coloured cladding. The "landscaping" is just bog standard concrete. A huge family home with no room for the children to play!

In 10 years time it'll have faded cladding, rusty window frames, seagull shit layering the velux windows. Next door is a Georgian townhouse that still looks beautiful in 2023.

I love some of our more neutral grand designs. - like the passivhaus in Falmouth. It's beautiful and suits the area. It'll age well too.

It's interesting that a couple of people have mentioned the Yorkshire Dales as being a positive or happy feeling, I get the same, they can feel like a bit of fresh air after the Lakes.

Oh it absolutely can. I got unbelievably depressed when I lived in Plymouth - I was fine almost as soon as I left.

Where's a happy place to live?