Moving to the Shires...

[butterfly76]

I recently moved to Oxfordshire and beautiful as it is, I find the moajority of people really unfriendly and snotty. Don't be cross if you live their its probably not you! but my question is out of all the Shires in middle England which do you think is the most friendliest?

[Artemis]

By 'Middle England' do you mean geographically?

[butterfly76]

Yes

[spudqueen]

I'm from the North West originally and have moved back in the last couple of years after having lived in the both the South East and South West and I can honestly say that the North West in definately friendliest. In both SE and SW the friendliest people were the people like me who had moved from elsewhere, yet here in the NW the locals are just as (if not more) friendly. I think that some of the people in the south think they are better than anyone else just because they live in the south and think they live in a 'better' area. Yet most of the people in the south have never visited the north to find out whereas most northern people have visited the south.
My father-in-law lives in the Cotswolds and to hear him talk - such a good class of people here, we live in such a posh place etc- give me the north anytime!

[woofgang]

I have lived in London, Hampshire, Surrey, Somerset,New jersey USA, and visited Yorkshire many times, also Northunberland, Cumbria Norfolk, Kent Sussex. went to college in Northampton. I think people are just as friendly everywhere...or maybe i've just been lucky?

[Pies]

Hobbiton laugh a minute there !!!!

[jake-the-peg]

I've visited the north - In fact my family come from there.

Whenever I was there I always found people signed up members of the "curtain twitching brigade" with a more than healthy interest in everybody's buisiness.

Dangerous to generalise from your own experience but I think it's a matter of emphasis. Northerners seem to find Southerners stand-offish and Southerners find Northerners nosey

[ursula62]

There's an Amazonian story about a young man who leaves his village to marry his girl.

On the way to the new village an old man asks him how he found the people in his old village. The young man answered "They are all wonderful people and I will really miss them". The old man said " I'm sure you will find the people in the new village just the same."

A second young man from the same original village sets forth a few days later, to marry his girl. He meets the old man who asks him the same question. The second young man answers "They were all miserable and I was very unhappy there. I'm glad to see the back of them." The old man said " I'm sure you will find the people in the new village just the same."

Life is what our thoughts make it...

[funnywebsite]

I have lived in Nottinghamshire and found it friendly but maybe nosey. London is cold and cut throat. South West people seem to be friendly. I went to Oxford for a day trip once and was shocked to see needles everywhere in a public toilets grounds. This was in a tourist area close to the university so even Oxford has it's problems. The is the first time I had come across this and never saw such sights in London.

[VINNY100_2]

Devonshire is a very friendly place...but we..are...glad when you crockles go home....tic......!!( :~)...trouble is..once you lot come on holiday..you..like it so much...you end up moving here...( :)

[Hermia]

I think when you move somewhere new you have to be extra, extra, super friendly to everyone you meet. They have no obligation to like you so you have to try extra hard. I think different areas have different traits and you just have to work around them & overcome any prejudices. For example I'm a Londoner and everyone complains that Londoners are unfriendly. I think Londoners can be a bit cold, but I think most of them are friendly once you start talking to them. We have to look 'closed' and give off 'f*** vibes' because of all the muggers, junkies, buskers and other assorted nutters who harass us every day! The one thing I would say about London (& cities in general) is it is friendly to the unconventional types. I have friends who live in rural Ireland and Hertfordshire and say they are seen as being peculiar just because they are slightly unconventional.

I actually want to move to the South West next year and am concerned that I will be hounded out or burnt at the stake! ;o) I was born in a dreadful run-down area of London, surely you lucky people who live in beautiful areas will help me escape!

[einsteinsdog]

Taking a sideways look at this : Having lived in the north , south , and now midlands the rule I find true is that your quality of life increases with the distance from london you live . The reason is obvious London is more pressurised and people move more often . The roads are more jammed up etc

[VINNY100_2]

Hermia,We dont do burning at the stake any more,well not for the last couple of years anyhow.No its more painfull than that,you have to buy the locals a round of drinks...well for the first couple of months anyway..We are quite forward thinking,Well you have to be..when you got Damian hirst as your landlord!!..mind you his drinks cost a pretty penny...( :)Plus he's done some nice murals on the wall.Us locals are thinking about breaking in one night..and knocking one of his walls down...and flocking it on E.Bay..(:)

[butterfly76]

Well thanks for all your replies, I have tried my hardest with all the people I have met, but got nothing back.....still never mind the house is up for sale and I am off soon.