Hello, and greetings from Manchester. It's hell here and I want to leave. :)

Maybe 'hell' is a slight exaggeration - it depends which part you live in. My neighbourhood is supposed to be OK, but sometimes is far from OK, in terms of anti-social behaviour. I lived in London prior to 1998, and life was much saner. But then I think most cities are degenerating, behaviour-wise.

I was born in Shrewsbury, and return visits throughout my life have been brief. I never actually thought I would be visiting Shropshire fairly regularly and finding myself wanting to live there. It can't be 'roots' - I didn't think I had any.

I've been exploring Shropshire, and bits of Powys, and Herefordshire. There is SO much to like about the countryside and some of the towns. I can feel the pace is markedly different from what I am used to. It would do me a lot of good to have some PEACE.

When I first thought I might need to escape city life, I had no idea where to go. I only really headed for Shropshire because of my connection with it.

I've read some of this forum, and it's sad that yob culture is apparently everywhere. Is there no place to get away from it? I talked to locals in some Shropshire villages. Some people seemed to think that old villages and new estates sometimes don't work very well. If that's the case, since building isn't going to stop, are there more social problems coming?

Who is the yobbery aimed at? In some villages, I notice that quite a bit of the crime was aimed at incomers - car damage - that sort of thing. This happened in London as areas became more expensive and the wealthier people moved in. There was a lot of resentment.

But it's so good to drive through towns and villages at night and see all the shops without shutters. Most place in cities and their suburbs look like a warzone at night - just street after street of metal shutters... and round here, the shutters are grafitti'd too.

If I do move, and it looks as though I will in the next year, I don't want to get it wrong. I don't care about proximity to any work. I have quite a few working years left, but work has become secondary to finding somewhere new to live.

I'd really like to hear from anyone with any advice about moving from urban to rural. I expect there are people in Shropshire who want to do the opposite?

Can anyone give me some pointers where my Promised Land might be? Is anywhere safe from large amounts of new estates being built? I'd hate to move to somewhere quiet and then wake up and find 30 new houses around me. :blink:

By the way - this forum is great and I'm really pleased to join it. It's great to read such enthusiasm for an area. It also uses my favourite board software (I moderate two boards that use Invision Power Board, so I feel at home).

hello Cloudbase

welcome to the boards.

If it is real peace and quiet that you are looking for then head for south-west Shropshire especially the Clun Valley and Bishop's Castle areas

keep posting

s.g.d.

Thanks very much for the prompt reply.

Sorry my first post is such a long rant (also sorry I seem to have lost the art of paragraphs) ;)

I've had a bad day. :lol:

I'd say a lot of Shrewsbury isn't far off from being the 'Promised Land' which you mention. Having lived in Birmingham and London in the past (as well as Newtown in mid Wales for a short while), I'm always a bit bewildered by some of the posters on here, and the letter writers to the Shropshire Star, who seem to be under the impression that Shrewsbury is a sort of crime-infested Gotham City run by a power-crazed mafia based at Frankwell.

Yes there are grotty estates, yes the town is lacking in productive industries and middle-ranking graduate employment, yes chavs do sometimes rip up flowerbeds and daub graffiti all over the Dana, yes the roads are congested, yes the Castle Foregate approach to the town is blighted, yes the paving in Pride Hill is in a bit of a state, but all in all it's not a bad place to live at all. Compared to the rest of Britain (sadly) shopkeepers and pub staff are in the main polite and helpful, the bus station and railway station are much more civilised than average, traffic jams really aren't ever that long, and the Quarry is one of the most stunning (and well tended) public parks that I know of outside of London (even if some people think that it lets down the town).

"Shrewsbury is a sort of crime-infested Gotham City run by a power-crazed mafia based at Frankwell"

lol! :lol:

Interestingly, I'm from Shrewsbury and now am a student in Manchester (though I'm living here in Shrewsbury again during the summer). Manchester is one of the better cities in England, better (in my opinion) than Liverpool or Birmingham.

You can't compare Shrewsbury with Manchester. When I come back to Shrewsbury after being in Manchester for a couple of weeks it feels really strange (in a good way, of course). Shrewsbury is a great place to live if you have a good job, presumably outside of Shropshrie - as we don't have many well paid jobs in the county, and live therefore in one of the better parts. But there are some grim parts of Shrewsbury (and the same goes for Oswestry and Telford).

If you want real peace and quiet in Shropshire may I suggest Clun, Bishop's Castle, Ludlow, Craven Arms, Church Stretton, Much Wenlock and Cleobury Mortimer?

Btw - where abouts in Manchester do you currently live, Cloudscape? :)

Which part of Manchester? I'm in Hades... it's just south of Purgatory. :)

Actually, I live in Levenshulme. The part I live in is mainly large Victorian houses that were drifting from student lets into private hands and getting done up a bit. It's gone off on a detour somewhat. There are days (and nights) when it's actually quiet. :)

Bishop's Castle... the town where the houses are many different colours. Am I right? I was taken aback by the colours, but then decided they added a kind of Bohemian touch (which I quite like).

Thanks for helping me pinpoint my Promised Land. I have looked all over Shropshire, but the SW corner has been intriguing me. These are all place names I remember as a child. My parents regularly visited friends in Shropshire and we used to get driven all over the place. I've been to all the places listed and can see the appeal.

The places being suggested are all south Shropshire, and the places mentioned in the Shropshire Chat section (re: yobbery) are all north Shropshire. What's up with north Shropshire?

I haven't gained the impression that Shrewsbury is crime-riddled metropolis. I think the only thing I've read here that sounded a bit iffy was groups of youths congregating in the centre and disrupting Christmas shopping. I don't know the areas of Shrewsbury that get mentioned as being 'good' and 'bad'. But I think, after the time I've had in Manchester, I would be daft to set myself down anywhere where there are too many people in one small area.

Part of me would love to be in a larger town and enjoy the amenities on the doorstep, but my faith in 'neighbours' is a bit shaken.

At this rate, I am going to end up in a field, with just sheep for neighbours and I'll probably complain that they make too much noise. ;)

Levenshulme - not a bad part of Manchester. I've been living in Fallowfield (where everyone lives in their first year at Manc Uni) for the past year and next year I will be in Rusholme (which will be a bit closer to my lectures and the City Centre).

North Shropshire is not so much "out in the sticks" as South Shropshire and so is more in line with the rest of England. It's also easy commuting territory to Cheshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands counties, while South Shropshire is a bit more "out of the way".

Of course if you live in a place like Clun or Bishop's Castle there are larger towns around you, such as Knighton, Newtown and Ludlow - so you're not that far from shops, etc. And there's always the county town to visit once a month or so, for the shops we have here.

Much Wenlock and other parts of the Bridgnorth district may suit a person who wants more peace and quiet and yet also proximity to larger places and employment. Nearby is Telford and the West Midlands connurbation. And Bridgnorth itself is reasonably a nice place to live - the Severn Valley Railway and Cliff Railway are added bonuses if you like trains!

Choices choices!! :D

Bishop's Castle is the place with the coloured houses,3 museums,2 family butchers,4cafes,3 garages,a cattle market,6 pubs and 2 breweries to serve a population of 1630.

Clun is so idylic that the main news in the Clun Chronicle is normally the latest "duck watch"

Ludlow is ideal for a day trip but at night the "boys" come out to play so best avoid it,all the Michelin chefs have had enough and are selling up.

Craven Arms has a few idiots but the lower house prices make up for it.

Much Wenlock is grand if you can afford it.

If you do want somewher in the North of the county try Whittington.

s.g.d.

Thanks for that, Proud Salopian. It's helped me get some perspective.

I quite like the buzz of Fallowfield centre, although in term time it is a bit like a giant student common room. When you get to Rushholme you can treat yourself to great curries. :)

Thanks too, s.g.d.

I had already wandered around Ludlow on a Saturday evening and really liked the place. Driving round it, I did notice all the housing that had been added to it. Then people started coming into town for a night out, and... I got the idea.

I thought Craven Arms looked a bit scruffy in parts - but then I don't think I have seen all of it yet.

I must have missed Whittington's centre. It looked nice, but I only really saw a junction, a pond and (I think) a castle?

This is really helpful info. Thanks.

I really need an insider's view.

I like the sound of 'duck watch'. That might be my level of excitement. ;)

I,m rapidly coming to the conclusion that if you want to escape yobs,chavs,and vandalism etc you would be better off moving to somewhere like rural France or Italy.

they have "jeunes de la cite" in France and "chavios" in Italy.There is no escape!

s.g.d.

I've investigated moving to rural France. I feel very much at home in some parts of central France, but there are downsides that make it difficult to move there in some cases - mainly succession laws and inheritance tax, but anyway...

I've been having another wander round Shropshire. Yesterday in Clun, I was chatting to a woman (I'm always chatty with people who are in charge of chocolate cake). After I'd asked a few questions about the area, she asked me if I was thinking of living in Clun. I said, 'Maybe'.

She paused for a second and then said, 'You'd be from off,' like whatever that was... was a bad thing.

So... people who move to the area, from outside, are referred to as "from off". Is this common to the whole of Shropshire, or is this a Clunshire thing?

I thought it was funny, but she seemed quite serious. She is also "from off", and told me, 'It's fine. there are quite a few of us "from off", so we stick together.'

:blink:

Then I told her I was born in Shrewsbury, and she looked relieved, and said 'Oh, you'll be alright then.'

I made a mental note to get some t-shirts printed with 'I'm not from off. I was born in Shrewsbury'. ;)

I had a great time wandering around Bishop's Castle (more eating and chatting). Everyone probably knows this house, but I thought it was worth a photo. It's so daft, I really like it. It's like an idea that two people had while drunk, and then they actually went ahead and did it. I have to say, it's a perfect paint job too. Those circles are flawless.

"Arrrrrr!!!!! Yeeeee!!!! Yar is one o em from oarff! Be gone!"

Clunshire folk with Clunshire ways. :D

It does make you wonder if they realise that they are in Shropshire. They do treat the area like it were a county of its own - hence why I call it Clunshire.

Bishop's Castle is outside Clunshire and is really a sort of Liberal-Socialist-Utopian outpost. :blink: They call it "an alternative community"!

Anyway, some official websites:

http://www.bishops-castle.co.uk/

http://www.clun.org.uk/