My village isn't as superior as many villagers thought.

When we lived in Brixton there were always burglaries, usually done by locals. I often wondered why they didn't go further afield, like Clapham, where there were posher houses, or even over the river to Chelsea.

The chap who writes our (rather entertaining) parish magazine regularly reminds us to weed our front gardens and not to park on the grass verges outside our houses as it cause a terrible mess. Unfortunately for him, the postman and all the delivery drivers don't read the parish magazine!

I must admit I get a bit fed up about litter. People just chuck it out their car windows onto my untidy and very messy 'grass' verge. I would rather they just put it in my bin if they can't be bothered to take it home

I am thankful that neither of the villages I have lived in has suffered from ^ 'what has happened to our lovely village', and blustering about 'new houses' and 'I don't recognise the village anymore'....^ itis.

One of them, however did have the pronunciation of its name changed because so many newcomers, in the village and surrounding area, mispronounced it, as did I when I moved there, but I became the leader of the local heritage group in the village and one day, one of the lifetime residents told me firmly that now I led the village history research group, I should use the correct pronunciation of the village name, which I duly did.

GillT57

Callistemon

I have heard about pampas grass on the front lawn
Our neighbours have some of that on the front lawn

Just be wary if they invite you in for drinks.......

Well, we were often in there for drinks pre-Covid and vice versa!

Funnily enough vampirequeen we have had an outbreak of 'what has happened to our lovely village', and blustering about 'new houses' and 'I don't recognise the village anymore'....bla, bla bla, this weekend on the local FB page, hilariously though, one of the main complainants was exposed as being resident in one of the houses built about 5 years ago when the flats for the elderly were demolished by the local authority! Hypocrisy is alive and well here

Well they're at it again. Now some rubbish (not a huge amount) has been left next to a litter bin on a country road. Who are they blaming? Not other villagers but townies who 'don't respect the countryside'. I've asked what makes them think it's townies. The litter bin isn't in an obvious spot. They don't seem to have an answer to that so are ignoring it.

The daft thing is these people are incomers just like I am. The 'real' villagers don't seem to blame the townies for all the village ills.

I know of 3 cannabis farms near where I live. One was in the semidetached house joined onto my elderly parents. This was on a quiet residential estate, mostly inhabited by older people who had been there many years. The house next door had been rented out and we never saw anyone actually living there. But we often wondered what the strange smell was coming through the walls. We reported it to the police who investigated, then broke the door down to find a cannabis farm. They removed 90 black bin liners full of large cannabis plants, watched by bemused neighbours! The same thing happened a few months later in what we used to think of as the 'posh area' where very large individually designed houses were. In that house it was a more professional set up, and low paid foreign workers were paid to live in and take care of the plants. Only last year my daughter, who lives in a quiet rural village, found out that a small rented cottage owned by the village pub landlord had also been used as a cannabis farm by the tenant who he thought was a 'nice quiet man'! The point is, these farms are springing up everywhere in the most unlikely places so don't be surprised if there's one near you soon!

M0nica

Krispii Oops, as most of the events I quoted happened over a long period of time, I just assumed the village would not be easy to identify.

I've been around long enough to remember some of those things!

Krispii Oops, as most of the events I quoted happened over a long period of time, I just assumed the village would not be easy to identify.

You get a much better class of criminal in a village. LOL

A large village near me is a rat run and villagers complained about speed so the police set up speed traps to catch the offenders. 80% of those caught actually lived in the village, their reaction predictable “ why can’t the police catch murderers and thieves, proper criminals”!.

Moved to a small community several years ago. After a couple of years I concluded the majority of households, mainly young, thought they were a cut above the ordinary. My DH worked with criminals all his working life and knew that our little community contained a few he had encountered. Two households also had young sons who were in "the system". When asked about where I live at times I describe it as like La La Land, with a lot of people thinking they are living the perfect life with perfect children and they themselves are perfect.

Our village drug dealer is occasionally the subject of a full-on police raid, helicopter circling overhead as well. Gets quite exciting but they never seem to get his stash.

Just such a crime (murder) happened yesterday to Sir Richard Sutton in Gillingham. Shocking indeed.

@m0nica - I recognise some of the events that you described.
I believe I don't live very far from you!

I find Midsommer Murders so totally unrealistic that I usually wonder whether they were written in the 1970s and have been updated for TV or whether they are supposed to be taking place then, and the costume dept. failed to realise it.

Not that that has anything to do with the main topic.

Lots of people want to believe that bad or illegal things don't happen where they live or in their family. Let them.

They may be right, or on the other hand, they may well know what is going on, but have chosen to ignore it.

I too doubt that people drive out into country villages to commit vandalism, or steal garden hoses and wheel-barrows.

But perhaps they do come out here to dump rubbish at the side of the road?

Ha ha ...love Lemongroves' answer ...I often wonder if there are ANY people left in Midsommer ......tell you what, I'm never moving there ! Sadly some people think where they live is superior to where anyone else lives, and that nothing illegal could possibly happen in their backyard ........proves anywhere is the same and possibly a rural calm village is just the place to go if you want to hide ! (unless the locals tell on you, that is !)

I think anyone who believes that their village is above crime is very naive and snobbish no matter how big the house or how rich the people. Crime happens everywhere and where better to have a cannabis farm than a nice quiet village. Also there are some rich people who have made their money by illegal means and many very honest and trustworthy people who live in poorer housing.

We were burgled, we lived in a desirable village on the edge of a large port city. Drugs were coming in all the time through the port and the police tried their best.
I came in to find all electricals gone some with the plug cut off. Jewellery mine and families cameras you name it. They even stole some bedding to take it away.
The police caught the culprit when he was attempting another break in a nearby village. The police told me it was a good thing I was not in the house at the time as he was violent and always high on drugs. I told neighbours thinking they would be interested some were others chose just to be glad it was not them.
Drugs are everywhere and used by a lot of people you would not expect. He was also involved in growing cannabis in a house he rented.
Now Suzie woosy what's your take on that? True or false ? helpful to others or not.

The safest place I ever lived was the roughest part of a city.

Nobody stepped over the line on that patch.

(We won’t mention what went on outside it)

Posh villages....white collar crime....tax evasion....dodgy deals....cronyism..... All as morally indefensible and damaging to society as burglary, theft, any crime more usually associated with urban areas.

That illusion is why I think records should be public. I know it would be very hard at first, but we would be living in the real world. I, and I'm sure many of my very respectable friends have 'skeletons'. Hacks me off to hear them demanding the youth vandals should be hung.

Nowhere is crime free, and criminals all live somewhere!

It's only the villains of society that can afford gated mansions !

My neighbour pulled onto the village school car park with her windows down and someone threw a bag of drugs onto her passenger seat and drove off. When she reported it to the police they said they would monitor the car park but it was rife in these little villages as we are off a main A road and it's easy to 'get away'

For folk that think cannabis skunk is no deal - the reality if you live next door to it (adjoining) it ruins your quality of life , sleep deprivation & own space is polluted with fumes . Certainly not a situation where you want small grandchildren to be. Fresh air in village enhances health & well being