AIBU to be tired of living next to other people?

[GrumpyNeighbourAgain]

Is anyone else tired of having neighbours? Has anyone else moved to somewhere more remote as a result?

My neighbours aren’t nearly as bad as some that I’ve had but they’re still grating on me. I don’t like kids and I’m tired of all the noise and accoutrements that come with them. Every week it feels like there’s another giant play item blocking my view and they also put it closest to my fence though there’s one side that has no one next to it.

I’m tired of screaming children. Why do children all seem to scream unnecessarily now and why does no one tell them to stop it?

Neighbour’s teenage kids shouting, laughing and talking at full volume coming home at 3am.

I’m tired of people’s motorbikes, garden parties and just noise in almost every form.

I wouldn’t mind having neighbours who are around, say 100 yards from me but not much closer.

Has anyone else moved more rurally/remote and was it worth it?

TIA

It sounds very stressful where you are, OP. I'd hate it too.
We don't live rurally but in a small town with good size gardens front and back, on a quiet road. It is peaceful. Semi detached but our neighbours (who have four kids) are pretty quiet and/or the insulation is OK. We hear them sometimes but it's not disturbing. We have a couple of rooms which don't attach to them and these are much quieter. In the summer there are things going on in nearby gardens but only for short periods.
I think that modern housing is often far too densely built and even houses which are detached are very close to other people, with poor insulation. Also the fashion for knocking down internal walls means fewer hallways and understairs cupboards absorbing the sound from next door, and sound echoes . Internal walls are there for a reason.

I live on the edge of a village.

Noises I don't mind:
occasional cars in the lane
farm machinery
birds twittering
odd bits of diy
the wind in the trees.

Noises that get on my nerves:
shrieking from children who've just left school.
shrieking from my neighbour's grandchildren in their garden
gulls sitting on the roof yarking.

I think wherever you live, there is going to be some unavoidable noise, but if children just had it explained to them that they should keep their voices down, it would help.

You’re not unreasonable to want to move somewhere isolated.

I was brought up in the country, and as a child hated hearing the cockerel every morning, so moved as an adult.

I work in a school and go for a walk during my lunch. I could hear the children screaming in the playground from quarter of a mile away. Why do they feel the need to scream at the top of their voice? My children grew up playing and laughing but only screamed if something unexpected happened.

This is me, I don’t mind normal neighbours. Ours. However think it is fully reasonable to endure their fights calling each other “a f@ c@“ over and over anytime of day, letting their now adult children still have their mates over every night until whenever smoking week or throwing the odd bong in our garden. This I find way too much. To be fair they have been a little better since one party got way too out of hand.

all my previous neighbours in any other home have been ok.

yes we will move as soon as we can.

I hate the screaming too. I really don't mind hearing children playing, but the screaming. It is definitely getting worse.

We have sold up and bought a country cottage with no immediate neighbours for this exact reason and I can't bloody wait! Most of our current neighbours are pleasant enough but I still can't tolerate the noise they make and the general self absorbed behaviour exhibited by most.
I've had enough of dealing with other peoples visitors, selfish parking, loud music, dogs barking, children screaming and running all over my flowers and plants, people dumping their overflowing dirty bins in front of my house instead of their own, loud fog horn conversations in the garden, groups of youths dossing about making noise late at night, constant home and garden renovations, irritating hot tub pump buzzing away...I could go on! I absolutely can not wait to get away from all of the above. I honestly don't care about animal noises and smells so that won't be an issue for me. I just know living remotely will do wonders for my mental health and I say if you can afford to do it then do it!

Maybe I'm just lucky but I live in a town and it's fairly quiet. Right now all I can hear is birdsong, I can even hear a woodpecker.
I equally quite like the sound of someone mowing their lawn or children. Those sounds don't bother me, they are the sounds of summer.

I hate the sound of lorries or tractors, cars revving. Where we used to live we also used to get foxes screaming at each other all bloody night which would keep me awake.

I don't think towns are that noisy tbh, I think you are just a bit unlucky where you live. Perhaps you need to move to an older estate?

I live in a new build 3 storey terrace (13 years old now) and it's the quietest house I've ever lived in. We often discuss how good the sound insulation is and how we never hear each other.

I like where I live, everyone is really friendly and we look out for each other, putting each other's bins out if we go on holiday, for example and taking in each other's deliveries. It's a really nice environment and we often chat to our various neighbours when we are outside.

I do think it depends on the neighbours though. I have lived elsewhere previously that I have found less friendly or with neighbours I was less happy living next door to.

We moved from a semi in Cambridgeshire to a place in mid Wales.
The nearest neighbour is 200 yards away.
It is utter bliss.
All I can hear this morning is the sound of birds going about their business.
If you get the chance, do it.

Fortunately it's fairly quiet where I live. All of the children and teenagers have grown up and most have left home. Occasionally grandchildren come to visit and they do scream a bit but it's not that often so it's not too bad.
I definitely think that children do scream a lot more than they used to and it isn't necessary. Children can play and have fun without the constant screaming.

We did it OP. Our neighbours weren't bad in the grand scheme of things but we were sick of being surrounded by other people, screeching children, lawnmowers, leafblowers etc.

We moved to a remote area overlooking the sea. Nearest neighbour about 150 yards away, single woman in her 60s, never hear a peep out of her. Beautiful day here today and the only thing I can hear apart from the birds is the faint sound of a boat.

If you can do it OP, go for it.

Yep and yep. We lived in a maisonette with two next door neighbours either side and one underneath on a newish housing estate in a very large, busy town. Sold up and moved to the countryside....... in another country. We are half way down a 10km track. We see the odd tractor and car go past, it's bliss.

So it’s ok for kids to scream and be noisy until 3am?

Methinks @Richiewoo has a gaggle of screeching children 😉

Totally sympathise and I get worse as I get older (I will be 60 in a couple of weeks). Our back garden in good weather is pretty much unusable due to all the factors you mention. The worst by a million miles though are these bloody modded-up car exhausts which explode, pop, bang, whistle etc. Every weekend as soon as the good weather starts, it's endless. They drive round and round and round on a loop without giving a damn about anyone else's quality of life. The police and council, of course, aren't interested. It's much easier to slap spy cameras up everywhere and rake in £££££s from someone going 5mph over the speed limit or parking somewhere for a few minutes more than they should. I was brought up in a village and we are in full agreement that we will be going rural as soon as DP retires and the finances are there. I would far rather listen to the sounds of my childhood, church bells, bird scarers, shooting parties, combines, tractors and get a lungful of pig pooh fumes than put up with all this suburban bollocks. I wish you well in your quest for peace.

My kids are grown up. This person sounds like people breathing annoys them!!

We also moved to a detached bungalow, we had a semi before where our neighbour smoked constantly outside her back door so all the way through April to October it came through our back door or open window. She was a total weirdo as well who used to angel her blinds downwards so she could watch us in the garden without being seen.

We’re now in a detached bungalow with elderly deaf neighbours who are loud, whistling, calling over the fence to chat type people. Lovely friendly people but they grate on me like mad.

I too dream of living somewhere far away from others; or just dream of having neighbours who are silent. Luckily I think our current neighbours will really quieten down within 5 years due to age but part of me then starts thinking about who will move in after them!! Thw thing is I know it is me, and my problem, I am intolerant, and sometimes when I tell myself it’s me, it does help a little bit!

I didn’t say that no. I’m assuming these are adult teenagers (18and19) so not children.

I was referring to the children’s activities OP is complaining about

you can’t expect no family noise at all if you live in a neighbourhood

(edited for typo)

Trouble is that neighbours move, so you may have elderly/quiet neighbours at first but then after a few years you could have big noisy families each side.

We're the opposite. When we moved in we had big noisy families on all three sides and it was a nightmare, with constant screeching throughout the day when the kids were playing out, kids hanging over the fence watching us, trampolene right next to our fence, footballs constantly kicked against one fence or another, etc. The families have grown up and the children moved away and now it's blissfully quiet - except when the kids come back for a weekend and bring their own children, who are likewise loud and annoying, but at least it's only occasional.

You really can't pick a home based on current neighbours! They change!

Completely with you! I couldn’t cope living very close to anyone, especially if they had kids. We are lucky enough to live in a small village. We have neighbours but they aren’t too close so are able to exist without seeing each other for days/ weeks. Bliss!

It's not even the spaces. It's the low quality build which is sadlyntoo common. I lived in numerous places, various houses and flats and it is ONLY in UK where I heard neighbours toilet noises and such. And no. Not just in one property

I like where I live but the totally unnecessary noise makes it really rage inducing at times. It's the motorbike idiot who accelerates really fast early in the morning, the inconsiderate twat up the road with his noisy exhaust on his car that ruins the peace at 2am and wakes me (and probably other residents too) as he accelerates past my house.

The small breed dog being walked that yaps non stop around 7.30am at goodness knows what, that's annoying if you are still asleep also.

The M27 is nearby and this week, the screaming of cars and motorbikes has been unreal. Even double glazing doesn't block it out enough.

Saying that, I can hear the late night train in the distance slowly passing through out of the town, I love hearing it, it sounds so soothing, we have a helicopter repair facility a mile or so away and I love seeing and hearing the Chinooks, I don't mind the small aircraft and helicopters that go over either.

I don't have immediate noisy neighbours, they're all nice, no kids or endlessly barking dogs so it's not all bad. 😃

We moved out of a semi on cul-de-sac full of kids. The noise started at 7am and there were still footballs bouncing of my windows at 11pm.

Now live in a detached house on a country lane. Saved my sanity and possibly my marriage.

I’ve put an offer in on a rural property for these reasons OP I am so fed up of the neighbours kids screaming. They are directly behind me. It’s not the joyous play noise that kids make, I love that, it’s actual screaming. I have leant out my window and bellowed at them on occasion. I’m on the move.