Noise and the UK

[Strugglewithnoise]

Hello,

I want to move back to the UK for family and because i feel like it has a lot to offer.

I remember how irritating I found neighbour noise in the UK, talking, music, shouting etc. I felt like I could never really get respite from people and relax. I suspect that I may have misophonia.

Is it safe to assume that I can never really move back home?

A regular detached wouldn't really suffice, i'd need a house with enough land to be unaffected but really the prices for those in the UK are very high.

Any suggestions or should I just accept that the UK fundamentally won't suit me?

Plenty of remote properties in Northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Where are you thinking of returning to and why. And what sort of place do you live in now?

Have you thought about treatment for your misophonia? You wouldn’t be restricted then.

I'm very sensitive to noise and live a victorian terrace. It's manageable I have loop ear plugs which help. I think you need to choose your area carefully. If also ask what your mental health is like. As I have mental health issues and stay well with meds. However when I'm not doing well I'm way more irritable and sensitive to noise.

I suffer from misophonia, gets worse over the years. Earplugs are your friend.

Mind you, I have a detached house in suburbia. The most noise I have to put up with is next door filling a large plastic watering can at 8am in the summer.

With age I have also developed tinnitus. You'd think it would be a curse, but I can deliberately focus on that "noise", and hear little else.

If you want to move you'll find a way. Doesn't sound like you really want to.

Midlands area mainly.

I live with land where I currently am but it's not isolated. People here are just generally less noisy too.

Surely it just depends on the property available in the area you want to live. It seems a bit still to write off the whole of the UK.
There's plenty of property in the countryside.

I have misophonia but it’s also the case that many Brits no longer understand the distinction between private and public space. We don’t want to listen to your phone call or music on the train.

Where I live in south/central England is still quiet, though.

That's what i'm worried about, i've lived similarly to you before and it affected me mentally. Couldn't do it again. ☹️

Yes i've heard from friends and family that the UK is becoming more antisocial.

Would be open to the south too.

I've lived in Australia, its bloody noisy too.

I don't recognise this "noisiness" from the UK as a whole. Obviously if you have an apartment in a city centre it's going to be noisy with traffic and people. Whether that city is London or New York or Beijing or Rome. Obviously if you live in a small village or leafy suburb, there is less noise

I've lived in busy cities in numerous flats yet I've never heard neighbours shout in my life!

Have you only lived in very rough areas?

Old houses have thick walls and I've not noticed neighbours at all in Victorian terraces.

But there are plenty of lonely farmhouses in the countryside if that's what you're after.

Or top floor flats?

I've lived in detached houses where the neighbours make so much noise that I can hear them in my home.

Maybe I was unlucky, I suspect that I was.

I moved to France from the UK (SE) just over a year ago. I was living in a detatched house in UK and am now in a terrace. I can't get over how much quieter everyone is in France (and how much politer!).

I have lived in detached houses for years and have never heard my neighbours making noise. Obviously hear children playing in gardens when we are in the garden, but definitely nothing in the house.

I think you have been very unlucky OP - where have you been living in UK to have so much disturbance in a detached house?

I know! Not in France but your post rings true for me too. I wonder why though.

I suspect the difference isn't down to luck or different levels of neighbour noise but rather in how we all notice and perceive it. I am very sensitive to my neighbours loud motorbike but my other neighbour didn't even know what I was talking about when I was moaning about it, it just washed over her I guess.

Funnily I don't mind the noise of children playing.

In the midlands and yorkshire. I have thought that I had the worst neighbour on the street both times! Other neighbours were lovely.

It’s interesting you say that. I’m always amazed, driving through French small towns and villages (or Belgian actually) in the middle of the day and there is literally nobody about. Deserted. Shutters all down. Not a soul to be seen! I expect if you want quiet, that’s lovely. Though I’d hate it - I like a bit of bustle.

I live in a well built flat in a city centre. It’s completely silent.

I think you have been unlucky.

If you have the budget to live more isolated and do not require ready access to transport links or facilities of course it is possible,

It's down to luck, because a quiet area cannot guarantee peace.

My last house waa detatched. Lovely and peaceful. It was in an urban area, but the house was so quiet.

We moved to a semi. I did my research into a quiet, suburban area and decided it ticked all boxes.

Our neighbours then sold to somebody who turned the property into a rental 2 years ago, which is unusual as there is only ond other rental in the whole area, and the last two tenants have been so noisy, to the extent we soundptoofed the adjoining wall (doesn't work!). Current family, the levels of screaming and kids crying is unlike anything I've experienced before. It's worse for my kids in their rooms, which sit against the adjoining walls. We will be moving

Luck of the draw.

That's because from 12.00 - 14.00 it's lunchtime & (nearly) everyone is at home eating! Most small shops (and some larger ones) close then as well. 16.00 - 18.00 is much busier.

You could look at getting triple glazed windows which are very good at blocking out noise. We have standard double glazing and get a lot of noise coming in, seagulls shrieking in the summer, engines revving, the fog horn on the port (3 miles away!), kids in gardens shouting really loudly can be heard through our whole house even with doors and windows shut. It doesn't bother me unduly but I got to know a neighbour who lives two doors down and noticed that in her house you couldn't hear a single sound from outside, it was lovely! She said she had triple glazing which I guess is what makes the difference.

Which is why I can’t understand why people are not out and about going to lunch, rushing home, our shopping for the aforementioned lunch in the morning. It puzzles me. Even in summer, nobody is outside eating (even in the north where it’s not scorching). I’m perplexed 😬