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.

Haven't read all the comments but the hunt is only allowed on your land if you let them. They have been told in no uncertain terms they aren't welcome at ours!
Edit: for the person who has the hunt trash their land *

These local FB groups are mind-boggling. I grew up in a valley surrounded by sheep farms, there have always been sheep and the occasional cow milling about since my grandparents' days and probably long before. But still every couple of days there's someone apparently shocked and baffled to see a sheep in a garden or in a road that backs onto grazing land. Even better are the comments about how the farmers should take better care of them/how cold and wet the sheep must be 🤣

It would be understandable from the new residents who moved up during Covid, but a lot of these are repeated posts by people I went to school with. Our school field always had sheep wandering onto it! Arghhhh

I live near a long standing working quarry, our Facebook page has periodic posts from newcomers complaining about the noise of blasting and the rumble. They all think their newly bought houses will fall down, houses that have withstood hundreds of years of blasting, also that we have no mains gas (again because of the quarries). You have to drive by these busy quarries to get to the village, did they think that they all use a pickaxe?

There was a post this weekend on a local town's page complaining that there are no food delivery services "its the dark ages" etc.

People also complain that there are no large supermarkets in the town and that the bus doesn't run on a Sunday.

Don't people research this stuff before they move somewhere? If you want everything that a large town or city offers, why move to a small town/village?

In our village we have had complaints about the church bells. Then when there is a wedding and they can't get bell ringers they wonder why?....

People complaining about tractors is the worst. We had so much rain this year, that the farmers had a very small window to do hay etc, and were working until the early hours to get the job done.

If you don't want farming noise, don't live in a rural area!

Actually, one of the worst things, is people assuming that they can walk their dogs wherever they want and let them shit wherever they want. They complain if the farmer asks them to stop/pick up the dog mess. Farmers have had field gates left open with animals escaping onto the road (which somebody else then complains about obviously..)

please enlighten me, I’m genuinely baffled

This almost sounds like bait from a Daily Mail journalist looking for townie shaming stories.

As someone who grew up in a village, and who now still lives in one in a very agricultural area, I disagree that people shouldn't complain about WI-fi. Just because you live rurally, doesn't mean the connection will be, or should be crap. An important part of stimulating local economic activity, and something that is often on local politicians' agendas, is making sure that rural areas are not left behind in this way. They need to ensure this so that more people will stay and live in those areas, be it young people working remotely, or older people who need to stay connected digitally to ease their isolation.

As @Clemally would attest to, it's not always possible to predict how good or bad the wi-fi will be based on how rural it is. Some places will surprise you.

@DustyLee123 That's funny but not at all surprising.

quaint traditional cottage with large windows, lots of light

Yes that definitely wouldn't be traditional one then! @FKATondelayo

@Brokendaughter I was brought up in the Welsh countryside but have lived in a city or urban areas for a long time. One of the things that used to annoy me was when people from Manchester and surrounding areas would speak to me as if they were so cultured, so experienced, so open minded compared to my obviously Welsh, countryside thicko ways. This grated me because they were the same type of people who clearly liked sticking to and socialising with other people from their exact area, treating anyone else (including other English people just from outside their area) like they were an outsider. And I mean, God forbid if you were from the south of England!!😱 I found the arrogance, the lack of awareness both frustrating and amusing at the same time.

@DustyLee123
I've called the police for a man with a gun in a field before BUT I have always lived rurally and therefore knew that this wasn't the norm for that location. It turned out to be a group of hare coursers so both police & landowner were grateful I did call! Police round here actively encourage you to call in anything that could be suspicious so I can see why a newcomer might end up calling in the farmer as a concern 🤣

@brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Any newcomers with children need to be warned about how useless the school is!

I don't know - a heads up on fb for when the fields are about to be sprayed, would be nice. Would save people from hanging their washing out on those days.

No one should have poor internet speed in this day and age - it's an essential now and just because people live in a village, we shouldn't have to just accept poor provision from internet providers.

Obviously moaning about tractors and cows mooing is just batshit crazy behaviour

please enlighten me, I’m genuinely baffled

I am genuinely baffled by your post. I have always lived in rural villages with active 'notice boards' and people don't complain about these things at all. The three examples you chose in your opening post are quite generic, tbf. The kind of thing AI might come up with when thinking of examples of rural strife.

I’m sorry that hunts are getting such a bad rap on this thread. My experiences with the local hunts I’ve known have been very different. They usually have a public liaison person who you get to know.

We’ve had two local hunts on our land in the past and they have always repaired any damage to fences or hedges meticulously and left it better than when they started! They also picked up dead stock for us.

They have always apologised very profusely if hounds ended up where they shouldn’t, but most country people understand they are not robots and let’s face it, a lot of town folk struggle to control one dog on a leash, never mind 14 or so running free.

Nor will I ever understand this wierd hierarchy of animals that some people seem to hold in their heads. That foxhounds, lambs and poultry are somehow expendable, but badgers, foxes and grey squirrels are entitled to a protected natural life. Who gets to decide which animal’s life is “worth” more than another? And based on what criteria? Whether they are cute enough to appear in a John Lewis advert?

The point is that all of them should be able to enjoy as natural a life as possible within the current balance of nature.

we have neighbours who moved into a house next to a field of ponies, constantly moaning about the neighing and that they should be brought into a (non-existent) stable at night time).

Whaaat? Now that is completely batshit!

I know folk have complained about a neighbour’s donkey braying at 5 am, but never about ponies braying! I mean it simply doesn’t happen that often.

We constantly have posts about an ill neglected pony. Turns out, it’s lying down, having a sleep and not wearing a rug in 18 degree heat! (talking native type ponies here not) sane people try and feed the neglected ponies sandwiches and crisps.

Yep. It’s hardly a constant noise is it? - probably been woken a couple of times which has shattered their countryside dream.

I was woken this morning by the loud tuneless clanging of the church bells calling the usual 3 attenders to the service. You'd think they'd know the time and place now without the loud summons.

I wouldn't dream of complaining about it though. It's part of village life.

Don’t get me started on people feeding horses and ponies over fences. Or lifting their toddler on to the back of a retired thoroughbred “for fun”.

<Thunderous looks>

I just checked- my village does not have a Facebook group! To me it sounds like a modern and convenient way to piss each other off. We are still in the dark ages.

Farmer here with a hamlet in the middle of our fields. Very rarely does someone move in without asking to buy a field because that's what they suggest on Escape to the Country, we've had 2 become very aggressive when we say no.
Our current favourite neighbours ripped out the hedges between their garden and the fields to improve their view and now moan if a cow ends up in their garden, if only there was something that could prevent it from happening. We are now planning on replacing the missing hedge with rusting, redundant farm equipment and bedframes all tied together with baler twine. They moan about the tractors on the roads and now one of them has taken to screaming abuse at my teenage son as he drives pass. When working in the fields until 2am DS decided to leave the field next to theirs until last, something that I never thought my mild tempered child would do but everyone has a limit. I don't expect to be on their Christmas card list but couldn't they ignore us like we ignore them.
They started to post on the local Whatsapp/Facebook page but didn't get the support they expected, before this I was very guarded when discussing them with other neighbours but it turns out that not many in the area like them.
And don't get me started on people who move in and can't reverse along the lanes, I have massive respect for one lady who has put lots of effort into improving her reversing skills and she always looks so proud when she does. Also, if someone reverses for you always acknowledge the effort.

It sounds as if you have a very different kind of hunt to the ones around here.

For me, being anti-hunt is nothing to do with a hierarchy of animals, or animals at all. My opinion of the hunt is based solely on my encounters with them while I've been out and about. Their obnoxious behaviour is what has put me off them. That includes hunt staff, mounted followers and car followers.

Same here. There are a lot of incomers in our village (ourselves included), but we knew what we were signing up for.

Yes, we get the occasional smell when they are muck spreading, but we don't get traffic pollution and traffic smells.

In the late spring I can occasionally hear a lamb bleating or a cow mooing at night when the windows are open, but I don't get traffic noise.

Most posts are either lost and found property and pets, free to a good home stuff, stuff for sale or warnings about road closures. We are a couple of miles from the M1 and a lot of people use it for commuting so warnings of RTAs are very useful.

WiFi poor yep, no mains gas yep. No bus service yep . Slurry on the fields yep. No mains sewage yep. Power cuts whenever there's a storm yep

BUT we can hear birdsong, we have a huge chest freezer, we eat our own hens, ducks and geese eggs. We eat pheasant, partridge, rabbit in the winter. We can ride horses. We can chase sheep and herd them back into their own fields then call the farmer. Our dogs roaming free on our land ditto cats

This was our life until ill health curtailed it. It's a great life I miss it still

I live in a rural village and we never have these complaints. In fact people are really proud of bells however I take your point - what’s the point of moving there and then complaining what it’s like to live there 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh and we have great Wi-Fi in our rural village.

Ironically in suburbia as we are now our WiFi since they upgraded it is awful.

In Hayes Kent they complain about 'Eastern Europeans', helicopters, escaped horses, children, anyone who isn't in favour of destroying ULEZ cameras, but woe betide anyone who moves a royal post box topping, legally parked cars that haven't moved for a few days, Labour supporters etc etc