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Idyllic places

(65 Posts)
Caramme Wed 07-Jun-23 19:13:13

Biscuitmuncher’s post earlier today got me thinking about where I could happily spend a couple of hours on a very warm day and where I most definitely wouldn’t want to be. I would really hate to be on a crowded, sandy beach. A nightmare scenario for me even on normal days but in heat? No! Conversely, years ago I recall being somewhere in Scotland, near the Small Glen I think. We stopped by a little stone bridge and had a picnic by the side of a picture perfect stream. We sat, shaded by trees and relaxed listening to the sounds of the water over the rocks. The beauty of that place has stayed with me for fifty years. That would be my ideal place, with no one else, apart from family, anywhere near.
Where would your nightmare and dream places be?

Skydancer Thu 08-Jun-23 10:09:36

My nightmare place would be somewhere like the Glastonbury Festival. I doubt if I'd have enjoyed it even when I was young. Your dream place, Caramme, sounds perfect for me too. I also love small rocky coves where I can paddle in warm water listening to the sound of the gentle waves. Ideally I'd like a little rowing boat where I could potter around until the sun went down in midsummer. Bliss.

hollysteers Thu 08-Jun-23 11:21:34

Nightmare place, stuck in a cinema with excited women watching Mamma Mia, the film…
Dream place, taking the steam train across the Isle of Man on a summer’s day.

Greenfinch Thu 08-Jun-23 11:25:49

I would hate to be at a football game with over-exuberant fans.
I would love to be in the OuterHebrides with sea,sand and magnificent unspoilt views.

Blondiescot Thu 08-Jun-23 11:34:09

Idyllic - a deserted beach either right here in Scotland or in Turkey, just sitting by the waves and relaxing.
Nightmare - either a cruise or somewhere like Las Vegas.

maddyone Thu 08-Jun-23 11:39:17

So many places. Milford Sound, yes we were on a cruise, but it was gorgeous beyond words. The Norwegian fiords are beautiful. Looking across the fiord In Montenegro, from Kotor, it’s like a picture of heaven. So many beautiful places.

Nightmare places would be a football match, or somewhere like Glastonbury festival.

Bella23 Thu 08-Jun-23 11:53:15

Sitting on the shingle beach of the town where I was born looking across the sea to the Scottish mountain at sunset.Perfect.
The worst would be to wake up and find we had not moved on DH's retirement, big city crowds nowhere to escape.

AGAA4 Thu 08-Jun-23 12:14:54

Walking in the Alps in Switzerland on a sunny warm day is my ideal.
Being anywhere very crowded is a nightmare for me.

NotSpaghetti Thu 08-Jun-23 12:24:47

It could be the same place - the perfect place in winter, or in the middle of the night (alone or with family/dear friends) can be a nightmare on a summer day when full of tourists.

Calendargirl Thu 08-Jun-23 13:15:42

My own back garden on a pleasant summer’s day, the birds singing, me sitting reading a good book.

A noisy crowded pub on a Saturday night would be my idea of hell.

SueDonim Thu 08-Jun-23 13:21:02

Caramme your idyll is my nightmare! grin. We once spent a very hot Sunday in the area you describe and got bitten to pieces by midgies. I stopped counting when I got to thirty three bites and started swallowing antihistamines instead.

nanna8 Thu 08-Jun-23 13:49:47

On a canoe in Raratonga drifting along. Warm, turquoise water, lots of fish. That’s where we were just as the nightmare of Covid was unfolding everywhere else. I will never forget it. What a contrast with the long, miserable faces when we got back.
Nightmare place is Manchester airport baggage check in.

TerriBull Thu 08-Jun-23 14:08:16

My nightmare is anywhere with a load of flashing lights and fruit machines, like descending into Hades as far as I'm concerned. I remember picking my kids up from parties when they were youngsters at such ghastly places full of devil machines. I think if I had to spend any longer than the 5 minutes it took to grab them and offer swift thanks to whoever was hosting, I'd go stark raving mad! Not too keen on shopping malls these days either, which I would have loved back in my youth, I'd throw all day at such at sustained retail therapy, Now, not therapy at all, in and out grin

An idyll can be anywhere tranquil, I feel fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful places where I live now countryside is glorious, we went down to the coast a mere 15 miles or so away on Monday driving through chocolate box fields and villages. We found a nice beach, grassy area for picnics, even better lovely beach side cafe doing scrumptious food, we only had a coffee but sat on their outside terrace practically on the beach, where we sat for quite a while appreciating the turquoise sea shimmering in the sun. Yesterday we had to go up to where we used to live and again had a lovely walk, something we did a lot during lockdown, wandering through parts of Bushy Park, every where looking so green and verdant, trees, with shafts of light shining through and such beautiful flowers. I think with age possibly one gets a heightened sense of the natural world.

Severnsider Thu 08-Jun-23 14:18:31

idyllic, a beach on a remote Greek island (like Fourni), hot sun, calm sea and a glass of ouzo.

Hell on earth, Las Vegas, we didn't even stop the car, just drove through it.

Caramme Thu 08-Jun-23 14:37:43

SueDonim

Caramme your idyll is my nightmare! grin. We once spent a very hot Sunday in the area you describe and got bitten to pieces by midgies. I stopped counting when I got to thirty three bites and started swallowing antihistamines instead.

Gosh, yes, I had forgotten about the midges though they’ve definitely had their share of my blood. I don’t think they can have been an issue on that day. Perhaps it was late summer,. So long ago I can’t recall.

pascal30 Thu 08-Jun-23 14:47:49

The south of France in the mountains just above Lodeve..

crowded trains from London to Brighton on a hot day

Sago Thu 08-Jun-23 15:17:01

Anywhere crowded I dislike.
I love the Yorkshire Dales, we can hike for miles and not meet a soul, bliss.

Juliet27 Thu 08-Jun-23 15:28:29

Oh you’ve reminded me Maddyone of a small flight I once took over Milford Sound on not the best of days. The woman in front of me was so sick and I ended up wishing I hadn’t handed over my sick bag. That was a nightmare.

Juliet27 Thu 08-Jun-23 15:30:42

Calendargirl

My own back garden on a pleasant summer’s day, the birds singing, me sitting reading a good book.

A noisy crowded pub on a Saturday night would be my idea of hell.

Same for me!

Norah Thu 08-Jun-23 15:36:04

The Dolomites.

Casdon Thu 08-Jun-23 16:23:30

I’ve been thinking about this whilst I’ve been planting my dahlias. My dream would be to be lying on my back on a very slowly moving self propelled daybed looking at the ceilings in the Uffizi Gallery. There would be nobody else there, and it would be in the early evening. Heaven.
Hell is the underground on a Friday afternoon when you have a suitcase.

biglouis Thu 08-Jun-23 16:30:35

When I first became an academic my boss asked me to present a paper in Las Vegas and I thought I would hate the place. As it happened I quite enjoyed the week I was there. Later I jumped at the opportunity to work for a year at uni of Nevada which is just outside the city.

My nightmare would indeed be somewhere like Glastonbury with the mud and the crowds. The loud music would drive me mental.

However I have always enjoyed the bustle of antique markets and auctions. Now I just like to lock my doors and keep the rest of the world out.

Witzend Thu 08-Jun-23 16:34:36

Anywhere very crowded is my personal hell, especially at the sort of event where there aren’t enough smelly Portaloos.

Heaven for me on a hot day, would be a reasonably uncrowded sandy beach, edged with nice shady trees, and a lovely calm, warm sea to cool off in.
So not in the U.K., sadly, and not anywhere I’d be remotely worried about hungry sharks.

FannyCornforth Thu 08-Jun-23 16:51:13

Alnmouth, Northumberland ♥️

AGAA4 Thu 08-Jun-23 17:08:33

FannyCornforth

Alnmouth, Northumberland ♥️

I love Northumberland. I would live there if it wasn't so far from my family.