Cloverclan
Newbie
This is all a brilliant help, thanks so much everyone. Eccleshall sounds lovely will definitely look into that
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I feel part of the community in Stafford, love my friends & neighbours. I think the town centre ( walking distance ) is quite good for getting to know folk, I think the suburbs are possibly less community focused. Friends, neighbours and being so close to town are the main things that hold us back from moving.
Its true that village life isnt for everyone...I love it but you cant blow your nose without everyone knowing about it.I'm no fan of tiny villages which can get a bit claustrophobic.
Its true that village life isnt for everyone...I love it but you cant blow your nose without everyone knowing about it.
Paying for a taxi for a special occasion such as a dinner dance is one thing but if you just want to go for a pizza and have a few glasses of wine then it does make for an expensive night out.
This in spades, having lived in most types of places from cities to middle of nowhere I've personally found village life the most isolating and what some (emphasis on some not all) people don't know they make up sometimes to litigeous proportions.Its true that village life isnt for everyone...I love it but you cant blow your nose witchout everyone knowing about it.
I live near Eccleshall too and it's great. Lovely place.
In my experience, the best answer to the question "Where to live in stafford?" would be "outside of it".
I've personally found village life the most isolating
I find it fascinating how we all view the world in a different way.
You @darben (and many others) find village life isolating and yet I love village life for the opposite reason.....I have always found it welcoming and the least isolating.
Like you, I have lived in small towns, big towns, even cities ...I lived in London for a year so I have experienced everything really but as soon as I had a child I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted him to have the freedom of country/village life.
To be able to have the childhood that I had where you can just go off down the fields and mess in the stream, or build a den somewhere.
(My son is 20 this year....I dont think kids are allowed to go off on their own anymore are they?)
I did originally think that you only got community spirit from living in a village (from my own experience) but this thread has made me re evaluate.
Its not where you live, its the people around you that make a community and anyone that has good neighbours and good friends, wherever they are, has found "home".
They are, don't believe the media! My own daughter spent hours and hours on our allotment with her friends building dens and there are loads of kids who go down on to the marshes to fish and run free (and do other less desirable things!). Where I live all the kids play out in the street like we used to from dawn til dusk. Pavements are regularly chalked for hopscotch and other games. Sometimes I do wonder though if this is because we live in a poorer area where the kids are just left to be kids rather than having their parents ferrying them from one expensive activity to another? These kids are probably chucked out of the house and out from under their parents feet when the weather is nice and are none the worse for it I can say!!
They are, don't believe the media! My own daughter spent hours and hours on our allotment with her friends building dens and there are loads of kids who go down on to the marshes to fish and run free (and do other less desirable things!). Where I live all the kids play out in the street like we used to from dawn til dusk. Pavements are regularly chalked for hopscotch and other games. Sometimes I do wonder though if this is because we live in a poorer area where the kids are just left to be kids rather than having their parents ferrying them from one expensive activity to another? These kids are probably chucked out of the house and out from under their parents feet when the weather is nice and are none the worse for it I can say!!
That's how it used to be kids were allowed to be kids it's a pity there isn't much more of it instead of expensive unnecessary activities like you say.
I think for poorer kids it's still very much the norm. Drive around any social housing area and you'll see kids playing out. The posher areas, not so much, but it still happens. The defining factor round my area is the speed of the cars, it's like some of these nutters who fly round residential streets don't give a jot about other people's kids..............oh wait
Another vote for Eccleshall. If we were looking now, I wouldn't consider anywhere else. It's got great facilities and a brilliant sense of community.
It's interesting reading other people's views on this thread. Before we moved, I would have said villages were the most fantastically friendly places in the world. I lived in a wonderful village where we had amazing friends. I thought all villages were like that.
They are not.
Check out Eccleshall. You'll love it.