Complaining about Village life?

[BumpkinChic]

I just don’t really get this.

I live in a rural village and almost every week we have someone complaining on the village online group about one thing or another… mostly over things that pretty much come along with rural village life. The top culprits are usually along the lines of:

”they haven’t told us they are going to spread manure and now I can’t open my windows because of the smell”

“church bells ringing at all hours”

“the internet speed is always so poor”

Why are you living rurally if you didn’t factor these things in? What is complaining on a Facebook groups supposed to do about manure? IMO a lot of these things are minor annoyances. I know not everyone has the choice of where to live but I know this is not the case for some of the regular moaners. And I know village life can sometimes be dreary but I love it and have always lived in small villages so I know I’m biased.

please enlighten me, I’m genuinely baffled.

This whole thread has made me laugh. I’ve been sat chuckling. In my village they don’t like newcomers, and are grumpy twits if I can call them that. The village elders as I call them like to meet in the pub once a month. (Mainly because we only have two pubs nearby.)

Baring in mind I’ve lived here my whole life, I’m in my 30’s they also dislike me, as if I’m a newcomer. How dare I have my own house, and my own new car, lots of gossiping about how I bought said house and said car also. It amuses me, village life is full of gossip and people moaning.

Everyone knows everyone’s business, however I can also say I always can say a friendly hello to a neighbour, or know if someone’s ill and when to be worried about them.

Typical townies, OOh lets move to the country it will be so wonderful especially after our picnic in that nice village last year and then reality hits, the tractors running the lanes with the harvests, Muck spreading to ready the fields for the next crops, The cockerels crowing at sunrise. The fact that there isn't a Waitrose LOL, The church bells that have chimed for centuries, The fact they can't get everything they need in the village shop, and yes the internet is slow bit hey life is lovely living in the country it's just all done at a wonderful pace instead of rushing around half demented,

Yup for real - if dog walkers have to clear poo up on the green, so should the farmer…

On the lane I live on, there are no street lights or pavements! You just have to be aware of traffic and take a torch.

I agree it’s lovely living in the country.

When we moved from London to a little village, we loved that our children could play in the woods, walk to the the village school without fear, no dirty needles in the local park, we had a garden of our own and people were friendly.

However, there are some villagers who were extremely unwelcoming of new comers or “foreigners” particularly the older residents.
They were bigoted, angrily resistant to any change, and treated anyone who hadn’t lived there all their lives with suspicion and contempt.

It was a culture shock to move out of town but we didn’t loudly complain- we weren’t spoilt “townies” demanding a Waitrose or moaning about noise.
We laughed about the sign saying “Warning Ducks Crossing “ at the top of the road and had to adjust to the quiet- no police sirens at night and the loud arguments and parties on our old housing estate in central London.

The stereotype promoted on here is humorous but definitely not the reality for most. I don’t like the prejudice- the eye rolling about “typical townies” when most are just trying to fit in and get on with their lives.

I LOVE these village life threads. I live in a small city and, as far as I know, no community Facebook thank heavens.

Ours is dog crap, fireworks and parking.
We’re in the countryside but not far from the flight path and people moan about the sound of an aeroplane like they didn’t buy near an airport

Best rural notice I've ever seen, nailed to a tree on the edge of a field bordering a narrow country lane. Handwritten in dribbly paint. DANGER!!! LAMBS!

Just to be clear, I have nothing against “townies” - in fact I’m married to one that I met at university and living in a city was a culture shock for me.

I just find it weird that ANYONE would choose to live in a small community and then aggressively complain about things that are a big part of that community?

I moved here from a different small village which had a shop but I don’t go round moaning that this one doesn’t?

We crossed 2 boundaries moving to our village, from city to the country, from south to the north. Our arrival generated much interest, I grew up in a village on a farm so have an idea of the dynamics.
We love, feel proud, of being central to farming life and watching the tasks through the different seasons. The farm machinery and the skill of the drivers as they fly down the lane outside our house narrowly missing all the parked cars. The harvest particularly.
The lanes are all covered in muck, air often smelly, so what.
I'm sure eyebrows are raised as we both drive old bangers but we don't care about them getting dirty and when it comes to a standoff with another vehicle in a narrow lane, usually because they can't reverse nor want to get their top of the range vehicle scratched on the hedgerow, we have the advantage because, hey, what's another dent or scratch?

I also live in a small village (after living in a large town and a larger city - we've been here for 13 years now) and our local FB group can be similarly hilarious! Most of it's well intentioned or just baffled though, rather than into CF territory. Someone who'd recently moved in once asked in worried tones what was WITH all the church bells ringing continually and was there something she had to be concerned about? It was the weekly bell ringing practice.

Conversely we do get the odd pearl-clutching post from people who either have lived here all their lives or moved here and want to pretend they never set foot in that there Lunnon - stuff about Nottingham Knockers ALL the bloody time (I'm not convinced all of these young men are Nottingham Knockers!), and during Covid there was so much wibbling about 'young people' coming in from outside the village and hanging out at the Rec and what if they bring IT in with them....

Best rural notice I've ever seen, nailed to a tree on the edge of a field bordering a narrow country lane. Handwritten in dribbly paint. DANGER!!! LAMBS!

Clearly not put up by anybody with the faintest idea of looking after the countryside, if they'd NAILED it to a tree.

OMG I think we live in the same town/village. Does your MP have the initials BJ?? And was the hedge along a Long Road??

Our village had a guy from London move in and start complaining about mud on the lane from tractor tyres and why is it fair that farmers don’t get prosecuted for this. He got obliterated on the local Facebook page. There seems to be a level of gentrification that is attempted from rich city types that relocate to the country

My understanding is it’s unfathomably boring living in the countryside, so you’ll have to create a large diversion, to spark village interest and really get that facebook page pumping. Posting manure through letterboxes after midnight, wearing a gimp mask always makes for marvellous ring door bell footage. Failing that - I note most Agatha Christie Murders take place near small village halls, so you could direct any fun-seekers that way? If all else fails, stage an equal rights fox hunt, you in fancy dress and other villagers pretending to be the hounds. The opportunities are, frankly, limitless.

When they cut the hedges in our village and before sweeping up, the blackthorn is a known puncture hazard to car tyres. That's an interesting lesson to learn .

When the grit bins for snow and ice are filled and you're expected to clear your own section of road to benefit the community that's another lesson.

When a tree comes down on power, telephone lines you're expected to turn up and help clear it.

Poor internet is a legitimate grumble, I think- low speeds for rural areas are a real problem and there’s a good argument that providers should have some sort of universal service obligation with a decent minimum standard. Obv people should be aware of the issue before they move though!

Fair enough op.

I was starting to get the vibe that every townie that relocated to a rural village was assumed to be an entitled idiot complaining about the countryside. I just wanted to say we’re not!

Maybe I’m a bit paranoid being a Londoner 😂
I found it hard being an outsider and even after 20 years here I’m still not regarded as a local.
One ridiculous shock for us was how blooming dark it gets here in the evening! That pitch black outside! It’s never completely dark in central London. Haha.

You’ll always get the professional moaners, and I agree that can be entertaining and baffling in equal measure.

It is fair enough but if you need fast or super fast broadband then it is on you to check that it is available before you exchange on the house. It’s ridiculous to go through the process of viewing, buying, moving in and then loudly complain that an essential service doesn’t operate in the area.

Around here, estate agents tend to make a feature of fast/sf broadband on rural properties. If it isn’t listed, assume it isn’t in the area! Oh and always double check that the listing is accurate.

Think I covered that in my last sentence.

My point is that there’s a difference between grumbling about things which are a normal part of village life (manure, church bells) and grumbling about things which are genuinely not ok, such as providers failing to roll out fast broadband and governments failing to make them. It’s a real problem and a factor in rural poverty. People should be angrier about it, not less angry.

We live in a rural village in the South East - population 1,800 - and we have FOUR Facebook groups 😂😂

The village is surrounded by farms and for the most part, they are left to get on with their farming.

We do have many, many posts about dog poo, overgrown shrubbery and an ongoing 'discussion' about our Christmas tree which gets rather heated.

@GlomOfNit

I am desperate to know what a Nottingham Knocker is!?

It lacked both literary and artistic merit too @FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper . In the unlikely event of my ever passing it again, I'll be sure to pass your opinion on to the farmer.

newnamethanks

It was a FARMER who warned people about 'dangerous' lambs?!?! Or were they thinking from the perspective of people potentially endangering their lambs?

Either way, I still hate how people will cheerfully bang nails into trees, apparently without the basic realisation that a tree is a living organism that will be harmed by it.

I am desperate to know what a Nottingham Knocker is!?

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/what-nottingham-knockers-scam-named-1574200

Yes, of course, it was a warning for drivers to be extra careful on the narrow country lane, and for dog walkers to stay out of the field, I guess. Not danger from lambs🐏