A couple have spoken of their tumultuous move and the hostility they say they were subjected to by locals.
This included "petty meanness" and "exclusive localism" which they say hampered their stay. Allegedly they were consistently reminded of their "outsider" status and made to feel like "aliens" in spite of hopes of a beautiful life in a lovely part of the world..
In addition, they have not held back in their criticism of young people and local parents. The duo do not wish to be named and have now left the area, with no regrets.
The anonymous couple wrote for DevonLive: "My husband and I moved to South Molton, on the edge of Exmoor in North Devon in November 2017. It was, to some extent, an artificial situation at the beginning because we were very tied up with work on the house we had bought for the first two years then, just as we started to have more time available, the world was gripped by the Covid pandemic.
Currie Chemist in South Molton, Devon (Heritage Images/Getty Images)"However, notwithstanding both of those circumstances, we were surprised and disappointed at just how insular life in North Devon generally and South Molton in particular would turn out to be.
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"We both worked in caring environments either in the NHS or social care and worked throughout the pandemic looking after vulnerable people. But despite this we realised very quickly that we were outsiders and that locals would take every opportunity to remind us of that, whether it was relevant or not.
"Standing back, we found we had a lovely home in a small, thriving market town surrounded by lovely countryside. Life should be idyllic. But we were aliens.
"Not only did people remind us of our “outsider” status all the time but they behaved differently towards outsiders. We soon discovered that some tradesmen even charged us more than they did locals for the same things.
A sign for South Molton in Devon (Jonathan Buckmaster)"It is quite unnerving to find that whilst colleagues would go so far as saying hello and explaining something you needed to know, they would completely exclude you from casual conversations and even turn their backs if you attempted to engage. It also became clear that everything undesirable was blamed on outsiders: 'There are too many people moving here from outside the area' – but you are happy for them to bring their money here and spend it here.
“Our children can’t afford to buy houses here because the incomers have forced up the prices” – but what did you say to the locals who sold them their houses in the first place and were happy to sell to outsiders for more money? And why can’t your children afford to pay the same prices? – because local employers pay so poorly. 'There are too many new houses being built' – who is selling the developers the land to build these houses? Local landowners who are making big money from doing so.
The 'petty' UK town were newcomers are treated like alien outsiders (Wikipedia)"The indigenous population have a culture of blaming outsiders for everything but the reality is that this is simply bigotry perpetuated within a mean-spirited culture. We came across significant racism, homophobia, exclusive localism and petty meanness which was once common in many remote, rural areas but others have grown and developed and become enriched by the diversity and broadmindedness of their peoples whereas many in North Devon hold on to their archaic culture but complain about how impoverished they are.
"The young people have nothing to occupy or interest them but are culturally prevented from experiencing a wider world view. Instead, the young male in South Molton will don his trainers and hoodie and either hang around smoking cannabis or deal it to others while young single females have babies and can be seen outside the school gates morning and afternoon with a roll-up in one hand and a toddler in the other.
"North Devon is beautiful but it can be very depressing because of the attitude of the local people. Early in 2024 we moved from North Devon. We did not look back."
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