Things that make me feel like I'm living in a village

Sutent

I have never lived in a village in the UK so don't know Whst that entails. If you go to any shop enough times they will say hello to you no matter what zone you live in. Isnt community meant to be inclusive off all people. The people of the Andover estate definitely don't feel part of any community, especially the lovely one you talk about.

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miss annie

Yes, community should be inclusive. However, you do have to do your bit and join in, that is how communities works.

ChangN4N6

Excellent point. I assume the Andover ppl do have a community (I do a lot of their cats) just that we are not part of it. And they maybe don't want to go to Tufo, strange tho I find it. For all I know they may have a WI.. Chang

NorthNineteen

In my experience there is a much stronger sense of community on the Andover estate than anywhere else in the immediate SG area.

ChangN4N6

Is that where Ann Widdicombe and HRH The Duchess of York did TV shows about 'estates from hell ' (not Sandringham).? It could be Hackney but I remember reading about it in Metro. This was all pre Benefits Street and prob less balanced ... Chang

Toddlesocks

I think SG has a good balance in that if people like their privacy that is accepted, or if they want to be involved plenty to get involved in.<div><br></div><div>My in laws have lived on MV for over 45 yrs, Mr T all of his life ( except for a few yrs travelling where it was still his base), I know more about what  is happening in the SG community./ neighbours than the lot of them put together. Living in SG suites us all , that to me is the sign of a good community. </div><div><br></div><div>A diverse community with plenty of local opportunity but no pressure!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

Stella

I lived in Stokey and loved it for the feel of being a village and when I moved here, I was delighted to discover that it has a great community. I love the fact that you can post on the forum, asking for something to borrow and people will offer. Or people post about problems and get help/advice. It's nice and it's honest.<br>

minim

<div>Not quite making me feel like I live in a village, but it was both <span style="font-size: 10pt;">lovely and unexpected to find out weeks after moving in that a) we now live on a street that has a yearly neighbours' Christmas drinks party, b) to be invited to said party having never even met the hosts before. </span></div>

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Arkady

Some excellent point made here, on both sides of the ‘is it a village’ discussion. There’s the old cliché about London being a collection of villages, and to an extent I think it’s true – lots of local clusters with their own high streets and unique feel (many of which originally were rural villages, or course).  <div><br></div><div>Yet I much prefer our urban, cosmopolitan ‘villages’ to the genuine rural villages like the one I was brought up in. To the extent that it had a community it was a conformist and parochial one. And – as is increasingly common in the countryside – a lot of people there were big-city commuters who didn’t really involve themselves locally (just like in London, I guess).</div>

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Mirandola

St Mary Mead? Crime rate's a bit high though.

kreuzkav

But when I think of a village I think of an isolated one about ten miles to the nearest town and probably forty miles to the nearest big town and then 80 miles or more to a city.  I think people think of a village in London as a place where there's community spirit and Stroud Green has that.  But a real village is isolated and probably has the 'i'm the only...in the village' mentality. Certainly not true here in Stroud Green village.

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Papa

A village does not have to be isolated. I come from Hertfordshire originally, 25 minutes away from here on a train and there are plenty of villages and even some hamlets still there.<br><br>Whatever you want to call it, village, community, high street, good stuff, Stroud Green has a lot of good people running good businesses. I for one very much enjoy the walk down the road and the wave you get from people you know in shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs etc. That makes it a nice place to live.<br><br>