Why? Why oh why are people still coming here on holiday?

[Jux]

Devon. We have seen caravans and motorhomes and people obviously on holiday (canoe and suitcases etc on car roof, all that stuff; it's bloody obvious), bikes loaded with camping stuff....

We live 20 miles from the beach and none of us have seen a wave for weeks. DH spends half the day complaining because he can't go to the beach in this lovely weather as he normally does.

Thank goodness the market is not on, or we'd be over-run. Really worried as both dd and I are vulnerable (not extremely vulnerable) and dh freaks out every time he has to go out as our Designated Shopper that he'll bring it home to us.

Why are people such arseholes?

We're going to need road blocks!

Frangipani - I'm so sorry about your dad. You must be worried sick.

just be grateful that you were protected, unlike the cities, which is why extra hospitals haven't been built where you are. You don't need them.

I won't dignify this remark with a response.

And no-one is saying that everyone in London is a second-home owner. We are all aware that there are badly--paid, under-appreciated Londeners who are left with all of the sh*t jobs while the bankers etc swan about spending money as though they fart £50 notes, but don't share the love by paying their staff a decent living wage.

However, the ordinary Londoner isn't the one with a second home in the Cotswolds, or the Lake District, or Scotland, or Wales. Second-home owners - whichever part of the country they come from - have money; they have first homes which are considerably more spacious and comfortable than that of your average shop assistant or bin man. They probably don't need to move out in order to isolate comfortable - but they want to because - well, why shouldn't they?

My heart aches for anyone who is trapped in a tower block, especially if they are vulnerable, or alone, or have young children. Ans especially as their confinement is likely to be extended but these selfish buggers who think they don't need to stick to the rules.

Give it a rest @plantlife this is not a 'London bashing' thread.

In London you generally live in very mixed areas. Extremely poor and very rich very close together. Even in the most expensive parts like Chelsea and Hampstead there are social housing estates and HMOs. From what I understand it's more separated in some parts of the UK?

And yes, many traditionally working class parts of London, including my old area, have "gentrified". Social housing estates have flats that were lost under right to buy now selling for prices far out of reach for most Londoners. Because of course lots of them are also on minimum wage. In the countryside you can generally afford to at least rent on minimum wage. Partly because they're on competition for housing with people who've moved to cities from rural areas, pushing up rents and increasing demand. In London they struggle to even do that. Plenty of second home bolt holes or empty all year round investment homes in all parts of London. It's not a problem unique to rural areas. Out of London the wait for social housing is als much shorter. So the double standards shown here by some (thankfully not all) is annoying. Either no-one is allowed to move around or everyone is. It had to be two way traffic.

(BTW - the above remark, which I didn't dignity etc, wasn't Frangipani's. When I looked there I saw it could be mistaken as hers. It was from another poster, who also posted the bit I replied to below that, but didn't repeat.

Sorry)

This thread isn't about London though, even though some Londoners can't cope with not being the centre of attention.

I'm responding to the posters who want to believe they have it worse than most city people. I was clear that wasn't everybody on here. I was simply pointing out that the problems of pressure on housing and other resources are not unique to rural areas. The double standards from some here complaining about people from cities coming to their area and adding to housing pressure. It works both ways.

cities shave always attracted workers that’s why city population numbers grow because of the wealth generated in a city and the money invested in cities to attract more people

No one needs to be grateful as no one is meant to be travelling unless for work or shopping for food or medication (or to support someone who is vulnerable) of course the cities are being hardest hit with the virus because of the population density

Should people travel to their second homes or camping sites absolutely no

Tonyaster. What have you got against Londoners? I'm genuinely curious, as it's one of the most diverse cities in the world. We're not all the same. I live here and it's my home, but I grew up in an area not dissimilar to Cornwall.

People talk about what they know. The thread is called ‘Why oh why are people still coming here on holiday?’

I’m in London and have idiots renting out the flats right next to me as air b&bs - a bit more risky than someone in their holiday home on the other side of the village. That plus we are near the large airports that people are still flying into.

If it's not about London, stop mentioning it and dont claim to be worse off. I love living in a diverse city with people from all over. It genuinely is enriching. I blame governments for not dealing with the resources and housing issues, not individual people trying to improve their life circumstances. I'm at a stage of live where I want to move somewhere less crowded with a slower pace of life, but if I leave I hope it's somewhere with more open-minded people than some on this thread. I hope they're a minority.

Cities are being hardest hit because travel wasn't stopped until it was too late for them. We have police turning people away and roadblocks in rural areas. Cities had direct flights continuing daily from Wuhan, and people from across the UK (including Cornwall, Norfolk, etc) returning from half term holidays to worse hit countries and then commuting to cities for work or pleasure.

I live in Devon, where I live the bogey man isn't a Londoner, he, or she, is from Liverpool or Birmingham. It is particularly apparent if there is a planning application when the first thing you will hear is, "they will be giving all those new houses to Liverpudlians or Brummies." Originally from Liverpool I've never managed to find out how you get given one of the new houses which generally seem to be 4 bedroomed detached houses. I wish someone would just give me one of them.

Either no-one is allowed to move around or everyone is. It had to be two way traffic.

This. Catching flights is fine according to some posters on other threads, but sitting in your local park or driving a caravan to the Lake District is not.

But please just be grateful that you were protected, unlike the cities, which is why extra hospitals haven't been built where you are. You don't need them. In the highly unlikely event you did, you'd get some

This shows a really quite astounding lack of awareness of what rural life is like, how lacking facilities are, and how little concern successive governments have shown to populations outside London and perhaps a few other large cities.

I'm at a stage of live where I want to move somewhere less crowded with a slower pace of life, but if I leave I hope it's somewhere with more open-minded people than some on this thread. I hope they're a minority

Think carefully, I lived here for 10 years before neighbours would even speak to me, another 10 years on and they are still lukewarm. I long to move back to a city but my husband is disabled and he just won't he can't face the disruption. We always go to big cities for holidays and if I end up as a widow I will move very quickly.

@cologne4711 Whilst I appreciate what you’re saying but those reporting the higher than non holiday season amount of unfamiliar faces are people who work in one of the 2 supermarkets in the town and regularly works the main checkout. They might not know everyone in the town it’s true but they will recognise a large proportion of people going through their check out

@1forsorrow I think the real problem is a minority of rich house building company executives and multiple property owning MPs. We're all turning on each other when the real issue is across different parts of the UK there isn't enough genuinely affordable housing. It's the same in London. Long long waiting lists for social housing, families crammed into tiny flats, but the only housing being built is expensive developments that no-one needs. Here they market it at rich overseas investors who often leave them empty year round. The problem affects all of us, in cities, towns and rural. Wealth coming into a city rarely filters down to the masses living there.

plantlife I understand but I was talking about the reality of someone moving to an area and finding it not very pleasant, lots of racism, lots of prejudice about any outsider (which can be someone from 10 miles away where I live) plus missing lots of things you take for granted in a city.

They might not know everyone in the town it’s true but they will recognise a large proportion of people going through their check out I use two local supermarkets regularly, I don't think the people on checkouts would recognise me as I always use the self checkout. They would also identify my accent as not local. Mind you I've only lived here for 21 years so not properly accepted yet.

@1forsorrow

Sorry to hear you havent been welcomed. I dont know if this will help but I doubt its personal - I've lived in the SW all my life, people here are just generally quite aloof and untrusting of new people. My fiance is from SW as well but lived up country in the Midlands for 15 years and said everyone up there is way friendlier. I doubt it is anything you said/did.

@GCAcademic For vulnerable people facilities are lacking in cities too. They can't afford to take advantage of all the cited benefits of a city. The "concern" governments have given to London generally makes life harder for the very many poorer inhabitants. As I said, the wealth doesn't filter down. Most of us would prefer a more even spread of the economy across the UK. Why invest in yet more (badly paid) jobs in the place with the least affordable housing. Where people are already overcrowded. Why not move jobs to areas with more housing but less work. Why not invest in infrastructure outside the cities, improve the public transport. Some posters on here probably don't want any of that as their priority seems to be keeping out outsiders (whilst reserving the right to move to cities because of double standards). I'm aware they're a minority. I hope.

Thanks @1forsorrow This thread and others has certainly made me think again about where to go. I'd been told my concerns over unwelcoming locals wasn't justified but it seems like I was right to worry. I'm sorry you had a hard time. Your neighbours sound rude and unpleasant.

I guess if you have the energy you could report it to the police? I think there’s a special number to call for this type of situation. We live in Devon and are about 20 minutes from a few beaches and we haven’t set foot out of our house or park behind our house - I feel so cross that people are purely thinking of themselves.

@plantlife

You dont need local's 'permission' to move to their town! If you want to move somewhere, move. You could always start a kind of 'expat' social club, I'm sure there will be other outsiders looking to make friends and have a good time! Honestly a lot of it is just ignorance. My family goes back 400 years in somerset (yep! ) yet I would rather have a friendly neighbour from any other part of the world than a moody local one

@plantlife I think the reason people are getting irritated on here is it is bringing out years of frustration at second home owners, corona has made it reach a head. I cant see a single post objecting to people moving to the SW full time.

cologne I can promise you that the 10 occupied houses on my street are not a figment of my imagination.

@GCAcademic For vulnerable people facilities are lacking in cities too. They can't afford to take advantage of all the cited benefits of a city.

You were talking specifically about hospitals. Saying that they would be built if we needed them. That is likely to raise a bitter laugh amongst those of us who have had our district hospitals shut down and now have to travel two hours plus to a hospital. They didn't close down because we didn't need them (in fact around here the population is rising rapidly) but because the priority was spending money on the large city hospitals.