Retirees bombarding our beautiful rural seaside area

Totally agree with you Cosmos. Those retiring to an area are looking to make it their forever home. They are looking to integrate and make friends, join clubs and societies, spend their hard saved pensions. The blight on the landscape are those that buy holiday homes for exorbitant prices which prevent locals from buying them as the prices are well out of their range - push local people to move to other areas. Some areas are denuded of people during the winter season as the majority are holiday homes not hoes for young families who would cherish them and be part of a local community. Your barbs should be aimed at the holiday home owners, Specs.

Ditto Terribull. Our "One of the 48 Best Places to Live" village used to have banks, bakers, butchers, ironmongers, a chippy etc too. Now we have "artisan coffee shops" selling 25 different types of coffee; "interior designers" crap ornaments and bistros. Bus service long gone. Old fashioned pubs closed because the cocktail bars are more popular with the young people.

People and places change as needs change with time. If you don't like it.... move out. I am.

I am both dismayed at some of the dreadful comments on here, and thoroughly heartened by some of the others.

paddyann you say it's the English who put up no trespassing signs etc. Do I take it the whenever you encounter such a sign you obtain a full national history of those responsible? After all you wouldn't want to miss that maybe one of their parents or grandparents was anything other than English. My neighbours are from all parts of the world, London tends to be very cosmopolitan. Should I make something of the fact the drug dealer 3 doors up is Scottish, and had no problem dealing his "funny fags" to children as young as 12?

Nonnie Your young man who had lived all his life in London and never met his neighbours, All I can say is what an insular unfriendly person! When we moved to our house as a newly married couple we made a point of introducing ourselves to our neighbours. As people have moved away and new people move in we make a point of greeting them. If he and his family couldn't be bothered to make that effort why expect it of others?

Chewbacca The reason small butchers, bakers, iron mongers etc have deserted small towns and villages is nothing to do with the presence or otherwise of incomers.
It’s because most people who live in the small towns and villages prefer to go to Tesco or Lidl or Waitrose fog their food, and B&Q or Homebase for their hardware.

I’ve just looked at the ST best places article for the Northeast. You have to bear in mind the mindset of the person writing the article.
It suggests the Ouseburn in Newcastle,
The Ouseburn until quite recently has been a run-down, semi derelict industrial area.
Now, there are bars, a few hipster type restaurants, a gallery or two and a few music venues. There’s an urban farm too, and a children’s centre called Seven Stories.
It does have a certain charm.

But no schools, GP surgeries or really anywhere to live.
I doubt if the person writing the article even came to Newcastle. Or perhaps they were just taking the p*ss.

The Ouseburn

Another view of the Ouseburn showing some of the inhabitants of the farm.

I don't live near any of those, am glad they mentioned schools. Someone who thinks Stamford is in the Midlands and Bedford in the East needs a geography lesson!

Well we have worse,use to be a real family area but lots of houses bought up and turned into student homes.Sadly the ones who move in are rude and think its ok to play loud music alot and the shouting and screaming is terrible .None of them ever what to be part of the community they just want to take over as they tell as and we they say have to put up with it .

Its all gone downhill since those pesky Romans came here with their ?
and started building aquaducts, roads and providing sanitation and education.
not mentioning the wall!

And the Vikings were no better Cherrytree!

Don’t you ,when living in such a desirable area sort of create your own problems, that you seem endlessly to complain about. Just who do you think it is who are selling their houses to these ‘incomers’.Why its you of course, it’s the oh so innocent locals , who see the idiots from the city, desperate for a little rural idyll, and hoyk up the price of their homes so their young , just trying to get on the ladder youngsters ,can’t afford to buy them. Of course it is....you see the idiot coming all the way from the city and think to yourselves...stuff the next generation of our villagers...let’s make a humongous profit! I think you should suck it up...cos your own greed has created the problem. Why don’t you sell your house to a up and coming local youngster for well below what you could get from an idiot from the city. Put you profit where your mouth is.

You can’t tell people where they should live, I’m sure if you wanted to move to another area you wouldn’t expect anybody to stop you. I know younger people would like to see euthanasia at 70 as older people are such a drain on resources ! But haye we worked hard for this country and should be allowed to live the way we want to in retirement and believe it or not older age is creeping up on all of you ??

Me too Callistemon and I'm happy to say that my local council has, for the last few years, been building homes for families, with an emphasis on housing for special needs/disabilities.
At the western edge of the town a new ( affordable and more expensive ) estate will start soon - along with new infrastructure to include a campus for nursery/ primary/ secondary schools.
Private investment plus input from the 3 neighbouring council areas will not only provide for new incoming families but will address issues concerning existing local schools and communities.
If you'd like to move to one of the best places to live in Scotland you may have to get a move on!

Janipar you couldn't be more wrong about my young friend. Saying "All I can say is what an insular unfriendly person!" is really nasty, especially as you know nothing about him. Is it typical of Londoners to judge people they know nothing about? So glad I am not one of your neighbours, mine don't judge people that they know let alone ones they don't. He is 37, very cosmopolitan and very friendly. He teaches in London and also travels the world. He doesn't have children or 'family' which are both ways of meeting people. Not his fault if his neighbours are not friendly. You live in a house, so clearly would not understand how it is to live in a flat with neighbours constantly changing but then you obviously don't understand other people.

Interesting that there have been some, not entirely welcoming, comments about the English living in Scotland. Seems to me there are a lot of Scots living in England, especially in places like Leicester where, I think, there used to be steel works. How is that different?

Birmingham as 187 languages spoken! It also as the world's biggest Primary as of last week. We also used to be known as the city of a thousand trades but alas times change and Primark as put us back on the map along with Peaky Blinders(thugs) I will just leave this here.

I actually find something quite distasteful about any sort of exclusivity

And this is the issue. Previously mixed/accesible communities becoming exclusive ex-londoner hubs!

Its not a trickle or some vibrant bohemian mix..

And no locals arent "happy to sell". Where I live it is the private rental stock which is being snapped up. They were LIVED IN but not necessarily owned by locals. So there is a sort of double displacement. Rental stock gone AND unable to buy. The people buying the rentals do not want the tennants to remain any more. A lot of the rental stock that is sold was never marketed, people are approaching letting agents asking them to pass their offers to landlords. And when landlords do try to sell "tennant insitu" people ignore that. I actually know of one fighting this and refusing to sell it without tennants insitu and people are trying all kinds of tricks and even just resorting to bullying and knocking on the property door and telling the tennants to leave so they can buy.

I was told by one of these london buyers that it "just makes sense" to brouse the lettings pages rather than the sales page when you look to buy because you get "better projects". "Better projects" = deliberately wanting to buy somewhere where PEOPLE will be evicted from??

IT IS NOT A CHARACTER FLAW to be sad when this happens to your neighbours in droves

Nonnie, I think you mean Corby. No steel works in Leicester

That's just what I was thinking Buffybee lol

You are probably right J52. I just know a Scottish ex-steelworker who lives near Leicester. I think we both accept my point.

Or Stoke - when we moved there in early 70s, it was like a Lowrie painting, but without the art ;) From Harthill where the hospital was, looking down on Shelton Steel Bar- on a rainy, cold February day- I thought I would die.

None when we moved to Leicester- although the textile industry was still booming then, mid 70s.

The steel works were in Corby, Northants Nonnie. I live in Northants and years ago Corby was well known for Scots to be working and living there. I don't know what it's like there nowadays. Nonnie

I agree with Janeainsworth. Tell me where you live so I will avoid going there.
I envy you your close community...I have never known that. But would I want to be part of it..no thanks.

Paddyann. I am ashamed to be associated with Scotland having read your post. I am Scottish by birth my 3 children were born in England. Moved to Scotland when they were young and consider themselfs as Scottish but are still English. You are basically saying my children should not live in Scotland even though they contribute to the economy paying taxes. Hopefully you or your family never need neurological, Oncology or general surgical needs as you may well have to encounter on of those English immigrants. There is another world outside Scotland!

I agree too, Maccyt1955. I'm with you Jane.