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Are you local? Do you still live where you grew up?

(157 Posts)
Indigo8 Thu 10-Oct-24 10:09:09

I have just counted up and I have lived in eight different areas since I was born. All, except one, in the south of England.

I recently chatted to a woman in her 70s who has always lived within a mile or so from where she was born and was very proud of the fact.

I know some of you may have grown up in a different country from where you are now.

absent Fri 11-Oct-24 04:00:50

I was born and grew up London. I am now 74 and have lived in New Zealand since 2013. Before emigrating, my husband and I moved briefly to Darlington, where many of his family members lived and still live.

sharon103 Fri 11-Oct-24 02:46:26

Born and grew up in a village in Northamptonshire.
I have lived in the house we're in now for 47 years.
My family home is just around the corner from where I live now.
When I look across out of our upstairs back bedroom window I can see the side of the house and the bedroom where I was born.

Redhead56 Fri 11-Oct-24 01:18:38

I was born not far from the two famous football grounds in Liverpool. At the age of five moved to the outskirts to a then rural area. I moved five miles away but after the birth of my first child and I was unhappy and really homesick.

I moved back to where I grew up by then a much built up area and have been here ever since. With two house moves but a ten minute walk from where I grew up it’s familiar and what I call home.

CanadianGran Fri 11-Oct-24 00:57:20

No, not really a local, even though I've been here 42 years. My DH is local, born here and we are living in the house his parents built in 1963.

NotSpaghetti Fri 11-Oct-24 00:28:35

Mollygo I think moving away to a university is what generally made us make that first move - if we weren't a "forces" family.
My father's first move was to an apprenticeship in London though - so maybe that happened too in earlier times.

henetha Thu 10-Oct-24 23:25:09

Oh! That's great Allina. I hope you liked it in spite of some daft people.
wink

CocoPops Thu 10-Oct-24 23:00:29

Born in Cheltenham where I went to school. Then Yorkshire. followed by Essex, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Cheshire. Now West Canada.

Cabbie21 Thu 10-Oct-24 22:53:30

I was born in Surrey, but moved before I was two and have only one relative there now. My school years were in Leicestershire, but most of my adult life was in Yorkshire. Now I have returned to about 15 miles from where I grew up, though in the next county, but it feels like I have come back to my roots. When I did my family history, I found that my Mum’s family ( though not my mum ) originate from Nottingham and Grantham areas. I will probably finish my days here, I guess.

Babs03 Thu 10-Oct-24 22:07:47

Have moved around a bit but the place that truly feels like home is a small rather scruffy and rundown little mill town in Lancashire where I lived for 30 years, from the age of 5.
The people there were some of the kindest and friendliest but also the poorest I have ever known. I have still got some dear friends who live there, two on the same street we lived on. They visit us and we visit them. Never made friends like that when we moved South.
I do miss it, especially the hills, which is why I am excited about a move to the South Downs.

Ashcombe Thu 10-Oct-24 21:07:08

I have lived in 16 different places:

one in Wiltshire, two in Surrey, three in Birmingham (college days) two in Michigan, US, four in Luton, one in Dunstable, (ex-husband worked for GM) two in Staffordshire and finally, two in Devon!

petra Thu 10-Oct-24 20:58:14

Only those who know Maldon in Essex. My dear friend was a barge skipper and kept the barges going.
He considered anyone who lived up the town a furriner.

Allira Thu 10-Oct-24 20:44:21

henetha

Well, to some old fashioned people anyone born outside of Devon is considered to be a 'furriner'. We're a bit more broad minded these days.
Perhaps try a west country holiday sometime, Allira.. 😊

It's ok, henetha, I lived there for years and married a Devon boy!
But I was a furriner (apparently).

Cossy Thu 10-Oct-24 20:40:43

*year, not tear!

Cossy Thu 10-Oct-24 20:40:28

Sort of! My parents were in the army, then my mum had to leave when pregnant, so I was born in Singapore
then lived in Malaysia then Germany, where my biological Dad died, then around 3.5 years old moved back with my mum to live with her parents in Essex, then Mum remarried and we moved around a bit within Essex three times, with a year living in California, then I moved to Ascot for a tear, then back to Essex, where I still reside.

henetha Thu 10-Oct-24 20:30:44

Well, to some old fashioned people anyone born outside of Devon is considered to be a 'furriner'. We're a bit more broad minded these days.
Perhaps try a west country holiday sometime, Allira.. 😊

Allira Thu 10-Oct-24 20:20:59

henetha

I've always lived in south Devon. Born in Plymouth, raised in Torquay from age 4, left Torquay after 50 years to live in the countryside. Now live on the edge of Dartmoor . I love Devon.

You're definitely not a furriner then, like me. 🙂

Where I live I know very few people who were born and brought up locally. We all seem to be furriners.

henetha Thu 10-Oct-24 20:17:14

I've always lived in south Devon. Born in Plymouth, raised in Torquay from age 4, left Torquay after 50 years to live in the countryside. Now live on the edge of Dartmoor . I love Devon.

JamesandJon33 Thu 10-Oct-24 19:52:50

I have returned to whereI started …Wales

petra Thu 10-Oct-24 19:44:20

Born in Bath, grew up in Woolwich.
Then:
Greenwich
New cross
Southend
Leigh on Sea
Tollesbury
Maylandsea
France for one year
Canvey island ( short stint)
Maylandsea ( again)
Southend ( again)
Bulgaria ( 5 years)
Southend ( again) 😂

dragonfly46 Thu 10-Oct-24 19:28:45

Born in Yorkshire, moved around the county, moved to London as a young child, then back to several places in Yorkshire.
Married and moved to Scotland, then back to London. Spent 18 years in the Netherlands then moba k to the Midlands in 96 and lived here ever since!

Witzend Thu 10-Oct-24 19:12:31

6 different U.K. locations, 3 different foreign countries.

I don’t see what there is to be proud of in having stayed put all your life - I do see certain advantages, though. My parents moved area 3 times when I was a child/late teen. Before there were cheap/easy phone calls, let alone email/FB etc., it was all too easy to lose touch with friends you’d made.

The summer after my first year at uni, when my parents had moved 100 miles away from our former home, was the most miserable of my entire life. I knew not a single soul.

MiniMoon Thu 10-Oct-24 19:01:16

I live 11 miles from where I was born and grew up. I am in a different county though. I love my surroundings and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 10-Oct-24 18:54:14

MaizieD

Born in NE Essex, moved to Yorkshire in early 20s, then to Durham nearly 40 years ago.

I love Durham but still have a soft spot for the area in Essex where I spent my formative years 😆

You know the saying MaizieD

you can take the girl out of Essex, but you can’t take Essex out of the girl

🤣🤣🤣

Ladyleftfieldlover Thu 10-Oct-24 18:43:56

I was born in Reading and grew up in a small village near Henley. I met OH and we lived in Goring by the river before living in Seychelles for two years. Back to UK and spent a year in Newcastle where OH did a Masters. We finally moved to our West Oxfordshire village where we have lived in three different houses. We sometimes wonder whether we should buy a bungalow. Our daughter thinks we should! Thing is, our house is too big for us, really, but perfect when we have family to stay which happens a lot.

grandMattie Thu 10-Oct-24 16:33:25

I have lived in three continents- Africa, Australia and Europe.
Since coming to the UK, I have lived in Dorset, Hampshire, Kent and now Bristol…