What sort of area did you grow up in?

Born in Belgium in a very small village just outside of a town called Malines which is halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. Came to UK aged 6. The thing that saddens me now when i go back is that the place used to have 9 pubs now it has just 1. My grandad used to take me as a small boy to his local,he would have a beer,i had a coke,and he would get his hair cut at the same time(in the pub). Its now a Pizza joint.

When first in the UK lived in a house about 50 yds from Queens Club(tennis). I still have a picture of the road,it was empty not a single car to be seen.That same road today you cannot park a m/cycle down it,let alone a car,parked solid.

Mista h

I grew up in the outer suburbs of south Birmingham where I lived until I got married in 1989. It was a very pleasant suburban road around two miles from Birmingham airport and I could see countryside in the distance from my bedroom window. We now live in a much more rural location - a village near Stratford-upon-Avon. Today we are going for a walk in the local countryside and taking a picnic!

I still feel a very strong attachment to where I grew up and we have been back to visit there a number of times. The area has declined somewhat but I would still happily live there as it retains the same character that I love. At heart I am a city person but I do greatly appreciate the lovely countryside that is now on our doorstep.

Not wanting to hijack what should be a fascinating thread but it would be interesting to hear from others who grew up in a city/town and now live in a rural area, or vice-versa.

Peter 

I was born in the front room of this white house in Kingston, Surrey - 

I lived in Kingston until I got married, in 1976, but never liked the place. My uncle was a farmer & I'd love to go and stay with their family out in the countryside. I subsequently lived near Maidstone in Kent & I've been living out in the wilds of Suffolk for eighteen years or so. Give me the country life anytime; my sister still lives in Kingston and on the rare occasions I go to visit (they usually come to me) I can't wait to get away! Nowhere to park, everyone seems so aggressive and impatient. 

How do you grab these Google pics? All I seem to be able to get is the html page.

Can't even get street view on iPad, so f*** it life's too short to piss about with this.

Yes, people should take their bloody cars with them, and not leave them laying all over the street. Makes an awful mess. I'm not joking.

I took a look on Google Streetview at where I lived from about 3-17 years old.



What a complete hole it looks now. I can't believe I enjoyed it so much. And instead of being on the edge of what seemed like never ending countryside, it's now in the middle of a faceless, hideous estate.

I really don't think I'll ever wander around there again. You know, the paths where you blatted at full speed on yer bike, had fights with other kids, chased the girls.....  Getting old....


Tony

Well Tony, that place looks like The Riviera compared to the rough side of the railway line through Copenhagen, where I was lucky to grow up ! ATB Peter

I grew up in Richmond, Surrey, not far from Kew Gardens. Which was nice.

Couldn't afford a house in my street these days though. No-one can, unless they have at least a million bloody quid to drop on a 3 bed terrace! Ridiculous.

I was born in West Middlesex Hospital, we were living in 244 Staines Road, Hounslow, a 3 bed detached house until I was 8 years old. Adjacent to us was a huge wall that was the edge of an industrial area (quiet industry if memory serves). This is now a housing estate,"our" house is still there but looks a lot smaller than I remember. Nothing else seems as was, looking on Google maps.

Those pics won't be added by me as any attempt by me simply fails to capture the pics.

We moved from the flight path of Heathrow to the then very quiet near by airport of Gatwick.

yes thank you Tony, I was going to say spooky but I had given you enough data.

A nice house, brighter now the wall is down but I guess more overlooked.

Just been touring the old place on Google maps jeez what a s***hole it's become. 

Hello Howard

 I met the late mrs h in Hounslow,at the tenpin bowling alley on the staines rd,opposite what used to be a building firm called J e Lesser. Just wonder if either are still their !!

She lived if my memory serves me in Albert rd which was just off the Staines rd. Also used to be 2 pubs within spitting distance of the Bowling alley.Probably now both long gone. She has now moved to some god forsaken hole in Norfolk called Heacham.

Mista h

Mista h I think the bowl building is now a Morrisons or such like, I vaguely remember it, but was too young (8) when I left to remember any pubs.

I was born in Lewisham but grew up near Tunbridge Wells.

I disliked it at the time but it had three really good record shops. As a teenager it was handy for getting up to London for gigs.

When I was 19 I moved to London and have been there ever since. If I had to leave the capital I guess I would go back to TW - it's a rather pleasant town.

Council house kid. Looking back, I think I had a great childhood. Our playgrounds were the fields, trees, building sites, old ruined houses, rivers and canals. Happy, carefree days. Back then, the houses and streets seemed so big. I revisited a couple of years ago with my sister and we couldn't get over how small and cramped the whole estate looked.

By the way, it's Hyde, Cheshire. Sadly notorious now for the Moors Murders, Dr Shipman and the killing of two policewoman last year.

In short I grew up in a street which is now a carpark for Liverpool University opposite The Metropolitan Cathedral Of Christ The King.

Lived in Henley On Thames for a while,then moved to N.Ireland 23 years ago.

The place where I lived with my parents most (from age 9 to 19 and summers also before that) is over the fields and through the woods in the picture and then some. The place is so isolated that even the Google spies did not bother to go that far. I left 1982 but my sister and I still have it and I visit there maybe once a month.  

and a map

The neighborhood where I live now can be seen on my profile. 

I was born in the borders but from the age of 2 lived in the very north of Scotland in the county of caithness. We lived in a new build estate 2 miles from the town of Thurso. When I was a kid I loved it, had lots of mates, there was no real fear of dodgy people so we could play till late without supervision. through my teens and into my early twenties I still enjoyed my life, getting drunk, meeting girls, racing cars but then by the age of 25 something changed, I won't go into the details cos it will bore you to tears but I knew I had to leave, it took me two years to make the break, travelling around Europe, then when the money started to dry up came back to Blighty, London to be specific, stayed with a sister ( to whom I am forever indebted ) met my girlfriend through her and am still with her in London and cannot get enough of the place. It's funny now that I look back, the only place I have ever felt was my home was and is London, obviously I never thought about it when living in rural surroundings as I knew nothing else. I could never go back to where I came from, It is a beautiful area but it's just not for me. I probably go back up once every 4 years to see friends and family, and even that gives me the screaming abdabs.