The Cotswolds is one of England's most beautiful, and desirable, areas to live. People often compare its architecture to that of Périgord, in France.
The area has recently been made even more popular by droves of 'Celebs' quitting Sadiq Khan's Socialist, Hamas-loving, London, for a safer, less crime-ridden, and friendlier, place to live.
However, as nice a place as it is, with its beautiful old stone-built homes, it does come with ONE HUGE disadvantage;.... droves of bloody, camera-toting tourists. It's become a 'theme park'.
Many decades ago, when my people had a cottage on the North Welsh border, we would always stop en route to buy Pork Pies, etc, at a particularly good butcher's shop in the village of Broadway.
Broadway was, and probably still is, the most iconic Cotswold village. Yes, I suppose we were also 'tourists' of a sort, but we didn't go around peering into people's windows, or eating sandwiches whilst sitting on the pavement. We stopped, did our shopping, and continued on our way. They would hardly have noticed us come and go, other than a small amount of money we contributed to their economy.
These days, coachloads of foreign tourists are ushered around in large groups, treating the area as if it is some sort of huge plastic Disneyland theme park.
If I owned, and lived in, one of the cottages above, I would be absolutely bloody furious.
18 comments:
Your photo shows Arlington Row in Bibury which does get extremely busy especially in summer. Some years ago visitors complained about a resident's yellow van parked outside his own house which spoiled their photos. Cue a procession of yellow vans which paraded along the Row in his support!
I seem to remember that Yellow van incident. I do feel very sorry for the householders, it must be infuriating to have all those people going past all the time. I don't know what they can do about it; other than to move!
My parents lived in a village in Norfolk which was very popular.... and my Dad got furious with tourists looking in the windows....
so he installed one-way mirror film on the downstairs windows that faced the street [or rather Mum did - Dad wasn't a handyman!!]
He called these tourist pests and carboard cutouts.... and found they interfered terribly with daily life.... I made him a t-shirt that said....
"I'm not a cardboard cutout... I bloody live here!"
Which he used to wear on Saturdays and Sundays if he went outside. It was a 3XL, so he could just slip it on over his shirt.
On one occasion Mum went downstairs to find a couple of people eating their picnic lunch on the bench in the back garden.... the wee garden was nine foot deep across the back of their small house... it was behind a high fence, and gated and you had to go into the garage area by a tunnel to access the back gate.... Mum said she offered them coffee.... then in no uncertain terms.... told them to go forth and multiply!!
We had friends who lived in Bourton on the Water and it used to be so lovely when we visited them years ago, with some tourism but not too invasive. I expect it is another story now. Instagram and social media spreads the word. Here in East Sussex lots of places get really busy at weekends and the South Downs coastal path is like the M1 if the weather is nice. Regards Sue H
"Sadiq Khan's Socialist, Hamas-loving, London". What the hell do you mean by "Hamas-loving"? That is utterly ridiculous and wrong. Sadiq Khan is a good man working hard daily for the city he loves, the city where he was born and where he and his family live. If Londoners are escaping to The Cotswolds how come the population was 8.75 million when Sadiq Khan was first elected to office in 2016 and yet today it is 9.2 million?
Aren't 'visitors" a darn inconvenience. But we need them here.
These ones sound down right intrusive. They should be at least made to pay a visitor's tax
The cheek of some people is amazing. I like the idea of mirrored downstairs windows; they'd get quite a shock.
We certainly get very busy here in Brighton. Occasionally the road direct from station to beach is solid with tourists. We dread sunny weekends, although where we live (very central) it's always quiet.
You may not have noticed but he allows pro-Hamas marches almost every weekend. Of course he's PRO Hamas. As for the population increasing.... who do you think are arriving en masse?
It's an area where people go for the peace and quiet of the countryside..... then they get all that!
When I lived in my narrowboat I frequently had people peering in the windows and some who climbed aboard asking for a tour round or a trip on the canal.
Bloody cheek!!!
Looks absolutely horrendous doesn't it, I wouldn't go there nowadays. I also live in a popular Norfolk village but so far people seem to be behaving themselves, we don't get coachloads like that though, they're more interested in the beach I think. Hopefully all the celebs in the Cotswolds will see sense and move on!
Well that's the first time I've ever heard of anyone online singing the praises of Sadiq Khan, London's worst ever Mayor who has done nothing to reduce the soaring levels of crime in our capital and can't even admit that the London rape and abuse gangs actually exist. And he seems to be invisible for comments after every major crime incident.
It also needs to be investigated why he was rewarded with all his failings and given a knighthood.
"I love to go to the zoo. But not on Sunday. I don't like to see the people making fun of the animals, when it should be the other way around." Ernest Hemingway
I did wonder (and I still do) if YP was pulling my leg. Khan has changed London out of all proportions. It's like a totally different city to when I lived there. He's changed many areas into Middle Eastern Ghettos.
But now that property prices have risen so much in the Cotswolds, who would buy all those lovely homes if the celebs moved away?
I imagine that all the 'gawpers' also leave plenty of litter behind too!
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