People living in the countryside moaning about rural life

[SuePreemly]

I live in a village. New housing estates have gone in recently. Since then we've had complaints on the local FB page about:

Horse poo on roads
Crow scarers in the field being loud
Slurry smells
Dust during combine season

What on earth do people who move into a rural village surrounded by fields expect?

They're always on about having "consideration for others" on their posts, whilst showing none to the place and people whose work involves it 🥴

I live in a fairly big village, surrounded by farms and fields. I live about 200 meters from a church. I love the church bells ringing. I find it so comforting. I don't mind the smells. I love that when we were taking my son to his rugby match, we had to stop as sheep's and lambs were being moved across the roads. They're just so cute, and it does feel idilic. The only thing that gets on my nerves is the bin lorry. The main road through the village is not very wide and everyone double parks outside the shop, so the school run can be a pain. But that's down to the inconsiderate people parking stupidly!

@PuttingDownRoots is right that although housing is needed, the related necessary services (new roads, public transport, schools, medical care etc) often aren't even thought about let alone put in place at the same time.

Being annoyed that some of those moving to the country are ignorant of certain ways is, although understandable, a bit unreasonable. I wasn't taught anything about farming at school, as I lived in a city. I have no idea what the rhythms of country life might be and I have never heard of crow scaring. If I wanted to move to the country, I would do research (and it sounds like some people haven't, if they're complaining about common things); but I imagine some moving to brand new housing estates are doing so because they've been priced out of the towns they are used to and it is a lack of options rather than a true choice to move.

@brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Nothing like that 😀

In ours, this month we've managed to find a new childcare provider to run a pre-school from the village hall, so we spent a weekend cleaning and weeding their outside space area. pressure washing the play surface, cutting back the trees, refilling the planters with lavender, so the little ones have a nice safe environment.

We're mid-development of the village web site and writing a sustainability survey to find out how many people intend to move to electric heating & cars in the next 5 years so we can push SSE on upgrading the substation.

All the normal repairs to stiles, footpaths and signs.

Family fun day planning for the summer holidays. Free bike maintenance session for all the local kids.

That’s part of it but far from all of it. People don’t want to look out over a load of new build houses. There is a load going up near us , it’s homes England and the infrastructure is being put in, but people just don’t want them.

i do understand it, there are some gorgeous old period properties on a road near us, all worth 2 million and up, beautiful views, looked out over fields. They now literally are across the road,literally , from a huge new build estate. I’m sure it’s devalued their houses, there is several hundred houses and flats in there. It’s massive.

I often find the ones most vocal though and doing all the campaigning, are the ones least impacted, it’s all about ruining the rural vibe for them.

someone has applied for planning for half a dozen houses in a field in the village, comments on face book are they are ruining the village, or at the opposite end, none of them are affordable, from people who already have houses here and more expensive ones. Often I see it as whinging for the sake of it. Or nimbyism.

i do get it, take a small rural village, and yes, an affluent one, where house prices are high, and start to throw in hundreds of new builds and yes it changes it, but they need to go somewhere, it’s commuter belt to London, and we do need to accept change. Work out how it can be done sympathetically instead of just fighting it for the sake of it.

There’s an ancient village church a 10 minute walk from DD’s house. They have bell-ringing practice every Wednesday evening, and if I’m there, I make a point of going into the garden to hear it. Lovely! 🙂

For the price, yes.
To be found at most ag shows...

You go to the pub. You patronise the local shop: okay, you won't do a full shop there because the range is small and it's ££, but you take your DC/DGC in for ice lollies, you walk down there to get a pint of milk rather than jumping in your car and driving 5 mins into the nearby small town. You chat to conversational people when you walk your dog rather than eyeing them suspiciously when they say, 'Morning! Just watch out by the pond, that puddle is much deeper than it looks...' You join local clubs (sports, church, knit'n'natter, toddler playgroup, whatever suits). When there is a request for volunteers to weed the carpark at the village hall, you help, and if you can't help you send cake. Ditto if any event is planned for the green, playing field or whatever the parish has. Most local committees are crying out for members (parish council, PCC, village hall, playing field: I HATE committees and I've wound up on two local ones, because someone's got to do it).

We are fortunate that a lot of our incomers have joined in with the weeding, event organising, running of clubs etc.

Slurry doesn't improve the soil as much as it should when the farmer just dumps it on the top instead of plowing it into the soil. Plowing it into the soil would also decrease the smell. Don't get me started on the farmers who just dump the slurry in a big pile. Extra points when they dump it close to a lake so it can kill all the fish.

In other countries they have solved the issue by making it mandatory for the farmers to either plow it down or keep the slurry in a big tank with a lid until they can plow it into the soil. This way you also get less ammonia released into the atmosphere. (yes, yes, I am going on about climate changes again..... blah blah disaster blah blah. But slurry does play a role in the negative climate changes and we do have to take it seriously)

Blimey. And does that leave any time at all for doing the stuff you actually care about or are genuinely interested in ?

I have horses practically shitting on my drive, I scoop it up with a shovel for my roses. Mind you it is a bit annoying when you don't spot one and reverse over a pile of dung that gets stuck in your tyre treads.

One of my family retired to a village 5 years ago. She helps out at a lunch group which meets at the church hall once a week, belongs to the WI, is part of a pub quiz team and belongs to village ramblers group. She also helps out at the annual village show

During lockdown she was able to help several of her elderly neighbours. They regularly help her out with parcel deliveries and dog sitting.

I think that is the type of thing that is included in 'supporting the community' . . . it's joining in and helping out where you can and where your interests lie

I have lived in the countryside for my entire life but I still absolutely bloody hate the crow scarers. 😂

I assumed everyone found them annoying. How wrong I was

I remember my Dad doing that in the '50s when the rag'n'bone man came round with his horse and cart, he was out there like a shot, it became very competitive among the neighbours.

I'm not sure you need to do all of it, but using the local shop, frequenting the pub and being friendly to people is part of it. Joining in the odd event or group isn't beyond the realms of most people.

I once rented a cottage in rural Wales. That sealed the deal for me - no way would I ever move to the countryside! A nice place to visit but...
Why these people don't try it out before committing themselves? One week was enough for me (not that I was ever considering it, but I came away wondering how any city dweller would)!

Fireworks being sent off is just cruelty - whether you're in a town or a village.

I would suggest if you are genuinely not interested in being part of rural life by contributing to it, rural life isn't for you

It's not a theme park it's a way of living and community involvement is a big part of it

My friends work in London and used to live there too. They decided to move to the countryside because they liked the idea of a pretty cottage. They moved as soon as their tenancy was up. They hated having to drive to places.

i should think when the seeds have sprouted, so around early spring into summer they will stop, remember they are needed so the crop seeds are not eaten so the livelihood of the farmer isn’t ruined and we can have food in the shops. Annoying noise but necessary.

There was someone from the small town I work in moaning about how the planes are so noisy suddenly... we are 3 miles from a mid sized airport, it's summer now (mostly holiday flights apart from domestic and the daily Amsterdam flight) guess what, she moved here during covid. The schedule this year is finally returned to 2019 levels.

Did she not notice the plane picture on the road sign???

Oh and where I live they moan about the seagulls (admittedly my car gets the brunt of them) the sound of the yacht masts when it's windy and the lack of pomegranate molasses in the supermarket... what is it???

I live near a rural airport and people complain about the noise and smells of that but it’s been here since the 1940’s.

Also even my own DC complain about spiders dust and pollen, there are acres and acres of farm field behind our house. I’m not sure what I can do about that..

The local small town are just as bad anyway, always complaining about the noise from pubs that have been there since 1700 or so - it’s ancient, wonky and is called a ‘tavern’ and people go there for entertainment, what did you expect when you moved next to it? Some of them had to close down the complaints were endless and even the police were fed up getting called for absolutely no crimes (no antisocial behaviour) and the local council didn’t find they broke any of the noise regulations but eventually the landlords just end up broken by it all.

I'm guessing it wasn't her hedge - in which case the farmer had a few words with her? 🌹

We have the opposite problem in our small city 20 minutes from London. 700 new homes have been approved to be built but everyone is moaning about increased traffic etc as if they live in a small rural village. They chose to move to a city and now moan about city issues like overcrowding and traffic.

Oh these are funny! In the countryside in Portugal, during August, they broadcast the local sermons and festive music over loudspeakers so the whole valley can enjoy. For hours. Every. day. (I grew up with this so it's a fond memory but I always found it funny when we had visitors and they had no idea)

@mitogoshi wtf is pomegranate molasses?!!