The countryside and its problems

[THR]

How do you see the future of the English countryside? Are you optimists or pessimists? Will there be less space for rural-lifestyle because cities are expanding beyond their borders?

In the old days people who lived in the countryside had their lives revolving around the countryside. Nowadays people who live in the country mostly work in the nearby cities and towns, therefore they are really misplaced urban-dwellers.

Then there are interest groups which do the countryside more harm than good. Well, that is my opinion and I'm entitled to it. I'm referring to the Countryside-alliance which is mainly associated with its opposition to the fox-hunting ban. I mean, there are real difficult problems facing the countryside like long distances, fewer job opportunities, fewer services to name but a few.

However, the countryside alliance seems to think than banning fox-hunting is the biggest catastrophe which has happened to the countryside, which makes them appear unbelievably pampered.

I wouldn't be gloomy about the future of the countryside, though. Apart from SE-England where it is truly impossible to get away from people there are still vast areas of unspoiled countryside left elsewhere in the country.

[Sweetpea]

I'm in SE England, in Fenland. In the 5 years I have lived here, it has grown exponentially, mostly with Londoners. Londoners are flocking out, because they no longer feel that they belong in London. Get on most East End buses and you will be the only white face. All have the same complaint.

Fenland, an important wildlife area, is shrinking noticeably, taken up with thousands of new homes. They are building on every available corner of land. Huge crops fields are also being given over to housing.

It's a very sad state of affairs.

[THR]

I know Fenland quite well. Wisbech, Chatteris, March etc. Perhaps it could be called SE-England but I wouldn't call it that. East-Anglia or East-Midlands rather. To me SE is London, Kent, Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire. But that is not important, just a matter of definition.

A lot of city-dwellers have their second homes, or weekend-homes, in the countryside. That has had some undesirable effects on the housing-markets as in some parts of the country the locals can't afford to buy a house in their home-region because the city-dwellers have pushed up the prices too high. That is especially the case in Cornwall.

[poppy]

Well THR you have never walked the south downs where you can walk all day and not meet a soul.
The countryside alliance are a lot of selfish blood lusting morons, who by the way are still in existence despite all their posturing about not existing if they weren't allowed to rip little furry animals to death
With cereal prices being the highest they have for decades farmers are making more money than they have for years. By planting set aside land (which they got paid to just do nothing with) and dong very nicely.
Up North and in the Pennines where I live in Yorkshire you can walk for days without seeing man beast or building.
The countryside is fine as long as farmers are prevented from selling great swaths to property developers.
I am optimistic as long as we never give in to the countryside alliance, who are all out for themselves not the land, we will be fine

[Night Terror]

Originally Posted by poppy

Well THR you have never walked the south downs where you can walk all day and not meet a soul.
The countryside alliance are a lot of selfish blood lusting morons, who by the way are still in existence despite all their posturing about not existing if they weren't allowed to rip little furry animals to death
With cereal prices being the highest they have for decades farmers are making more money than they have for years. By planting set aside land (which they got paid to just do nothing with) and dong very nicely.
Up North and in the Pennines where I live in Yorkshire you can walk for days without seeing man beast or building.
The countryside is fine as long as farmers are prevented from selling great swaths to property developers.
I am optimistic as long as we never give in to the countryside alliance, who are all out for themselves not the land, we will be fine

traditions, only from the onset of modern society can we fuss so much about the "cute fury animals", however most of these people would be the first to curl up and die if we were shot back to the stone age in my opinion with their weak stomachs.

[poppy]

No it's called civilisation NT we dont hang children for stealing sheep in he country, that was a tradition should we restore that one.
We used to have bear knuckle fighting in the country should we restore that one. Or dog fighting how abut that one.
I lived in the country we had a stock farm, I rode to hounds with Bolventor Harriers. The hunt still rides out still hunts, but follows scent trails not a living creature.
It was this "huntin shootin and fishin" (I walked with the guns on the boxing day shoot), life style that decided me on becoming vegetarian.
You no very little of English country tradition and have had no experience of it.
Britain is proud to be a civilised country that cares about it's wild life unlike some other countries with horrendous records of cruelty to animals.

[Sweetpea]

During the stone age, we only killed what we needed to feed and cloth ourselves. Animlas have as much right a you to a life.

[Hekna]

I have lived in London all my life and I love my city. There is so much going on, so many things to see and do. It has shaped me into the person I am today so I will always love it.
HOWEVER, I no longer enjoy living or working in it for various reasons. Commuting is beyond a joke - MPs and Olympic 'officials and VIPs' are getting chaufered around while I have to endure crowded, smelly, polluted and in the summer very hot conditions, yet I am paying for both through tickets and taxes. I don't enjoy being heavily taxed to support other areas of the country or an Olympics I think shouldn't be taking place. There isn't a chance in hell of anyone who isn't already on the property ladder or doesn't have a rich Mummy or Daddy to run back to for backing getting a property of thier own unless they want to move miles away and either face an even longer commute or move jobs and lose at least £10k pa in salary. However, I do plan on moving out of London in the next decade and further out into the countryside. Of my friends that have managed to purchase houses not one is in London. Most people I know are heading out and into the country. Two people left work recently as they had moved too far away from the city. Who wouldn't love to live away from city smog and city transport? My ideal is mid way between complete rural bliss and a reasonable distance from city life and facilities (and a supermarket that delivers without complaint!). I think more should be done to encourage city dwellers to appreciate the countryside and venture out into it once in a while. My niece didn't see a real life cow until she was 6! That's a disgrace!!
I see more rural areas being developed like Manae has been and more people flockign away from city centres.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Fenland, an important wildlife area, is shrinking noticeably, taken up with thousands of new homes.

The owners of which all complain like fuck when they are "Surprised" that they get flooded out once or twice per year.

Thick bastards.

[Sweetpea]

Fenland is so flat, it rarely gets flooded. The 100 drain is flooded every year for visiting wildlife the takes heat off the rivers. The whole thing is managed perfectly and is something to behold.

Malcolm Moss, Member of Parliament, Northeast Cambridgeshire

In the 17th century an ambitious drainage scheme was formulated by the Duke of Bedford who owned most of the land in the Thorney area which received the blessing of Charles I. The Duke and his fellow 'Adventurers' invested a fortune in the scheme in return for large parcels of reclaimed land and engaged Cornelius Vermuyden, an eminent Dutch engineer, to undertake the work starting with the 21 mile long Old Bedford River stretching from Earith to Denver Sluice in 1630. Work was delayed by technical problems and the Civil War, but in 1650 the

Sixteen Foot, Twenty Foot and Forty Foot drains were cut and the tidal One Hundred Foot drain known as the New Bedford River was begun. Vermuyden's drains still play an important part in the present drainage system. Most of Fenland is below sea level, the highest point 26 feet above sea level being at Chatteris. In fact, the lowest point in Britain is to be found at Holme Fen near Whittlesey at 9 feet below sea level.
The Fen landscape is unique - dramatic vistas of sky over a seemingly endless plain of rich dark fields, criss-crossed by drainage dykes. This landscape is very much man-made, the result of centuries of drainage and cultivation. As a result of drainage, Fenland is today blessed with some of the finest agricultural soil in Britain. The local economy is still dominated by farming, agricultural engineering, food processing and packaging and their associated haulage operators. But in the quiet spaces between villages the combination of empty roads, tranquil waterways, open fields and spectacular skyscapes provides Fenland's own wild beauty.
Fenland covers about 50,000 hectares of the most productive soil in the country, and almost 45,000 hectares are farmed intensively for agricultural or horticultural use. Cereals (wheat and barley) and root crops (potatoes, carrots and sugar beet) are the predominant crops grown widely across the district accounting for over half the land.