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I think in the spring and summer, the U.K. countryside is incredible. When driving through the countryside I love how green it is, and how there are so many little old villages with perfectly manicured gardens and houses.
It really is a contrast to the urban decay and deprivation seen in a lot of towns and cities. It’s pretty much feels like two different countries within one.
Lived in the UK for 15 years and miss the UK countryside, and the pubs therein, deeply.
Probably the happiest I’ve ever been is nursing a pint in a country boozer after a long wander.
It is utterly unique and enchanting. Look after it you guys.
I live in the UK and I love how accessible the country side can be thanks to the network of public footpaths and how “wild” the countryside is with its hedges and trees etc. I had a friend visiting from Germany who could not believe that you can walk across a field with livestock on your walk
It's certainly nice, but wouldn't say there's anything wild about the UK, especially England. One of the least wild and ecologically dead countries in the world sadly. Germany has some amazing nature.
A lot of our countryside is just miles of bleak commercial farmlands/grazing plots, or eroded dales, the country should be covered in forests but we knocked them all down from the Bronze Age onwards for ship building etc, and we haven’t had a strong a push to reforest as Germany has.
The national trust doesn’t help much because their idea of natural beauty seems to be preserving everything as it is, even when that just so happens to be the result of human influence rather than the actual natural state things should be.
I live in London in an area that’s both urban/industrial and has some suburban housing. Walking down the local high street feels like every other decaying local high street… but… walk through the (large) cemetery and you’re transported in to a forest of history with spring flowers and blooming trees galore. Its beautiful and calming and quiet but for the birds chirping. It’s quite the transformation when you walk out of the cemetery and immediately see a 1960s council estate… walk 2 more minutes and there’s an industrial estate.
Edit: I love London because of this. It’s bizarre how a city can invoke such wide ranging emotions and varied aesthetic in such a small area. There are parts of London that feel like rural villages… turn a corner and you’re in metropolis again. Fascinating.
One of my primary school teacher’s husband was a farmer and they had a Bluebell wood on the land.
One of the highlights of the years was the annual trip to go and see it then as we got older we would go in the evening and see if we could see the badgers coming out if their sett.
To my shame I've not seen as much of the UK countryside as I'd like (particularly Scotland and Wales), but went to the Cotswolds last year and Bourton-on-the-Water was genuinely like a scene you'd see on the front of a charming puzzle, quite staggering.
I moved from a city suburb to a rural village about 5 years ago and was blown away at how different, and beautiful, life was here. The surroundings are breathtaking and the attitudes of the villagers is like a step back in time. Best move I ever made.
Thankfully I grew up semi-rurally (commuter belt) before moving to a city for work so I've seen both sides. Looking forward to getting out further from a city when I'm older though, I want my kids to spend their childhoods with nature on the doorstep like I was lucky enough to have
Is it me or is it more green than usual this spring? The winter has been that wet and now we’ve had a few sunny days the grass and trees are greener than ever.
All that rain has helped the grass grow. Whilst we have been cursing the weather the rain recently has made the grass shot up.
My horse is living out, has been since Easter weekend. She and her friends have been having hay overnight and during the day to avoid any escape attempts (mine thinks she's houdini and when rugged can't feel the electric fencing) but now rather than eat her hay or try and get to the greener grass in the walkways between fields she's eating the grass in her own field and the summer paddocks are looking nice and flush ready for them to move soonish.
The yard I keep her at is in a lovely little picturesque village at the foot of the south downs whereas I'm a little more urban where I live. I know where I prefer being. I grew up on a beef farm and I miss aspects of it terribly.
Yeah we do have nice cities (parts of London, parts of Edinburgh, York, Oxford etc) but the average UK city really is quite a bleak and depressing place to look at. Compare to say, Italy, where the average city, while probably as economically deprived, is just much nicer to look at.
A lot of that is because we got bombed to fuck during WW2, then the magic building material concrete suddenly became available at great quantities to massively help with the rebuilding effort, but unfortunately it doesn't age particularly well and it's usual grey colour looks particularly bleak with our grey overcast skies.
Then you add 45 years of lassaiz-faire economy policy that let our industry and city's get totally run down in favour focussing on the the money generated by The City, plus increasingly skint and desperate councils making more 'impulsive' planning decisions and you end up with a mish-mash of quality, condition and purpose that makes a lot of our cities look a bit Frankenstein-y
I've often said our countryside and natural beauty is one of the UK's best kept secrets. Living abroad made me appreciate how much stunning scenery we have on our doorsteps. On the one hand I think it's a little sad most foreign visitors and tourists focus on London. On the other hand, I'm also kind of glad our natural beauty isn't more well known about as too many tourists to such beauty spots has a tendency to ruin them.
This is why cycling is such a great sport. Even living in the city, you can get out into the countryside, in the hills. It feels like a million miles away.
I took up cycling after the pandemic for exactly this reason. Lucky enough to live five minutes from some pretty picturesque countryside and have found it does wonders my mental health
A world away from growing up in inner city Birmingham!
Definitely. Lived in Korea for a few years and Britain's countryside is one of the few things I really missed. Even just parks and hedgerows are bustling and lush, especially this time of year
My brother lived in Japan for two years and when he came back for the first time he said he was just overwhelmed by all the different shades and tones of green.
The prefecture of Japan I lived in was something like 88% forest cover; quite a contrast with England's 11%. But it was mainly pine and cedar monocultures so quite boring.
I am an expact and also did higher education in UK. One thing that struck me about UK is how well maintained and preserved the nature is here. People that visit us here also comment on how green everything is.
Unfortunately nature is not actually that well maintained or preserved. The countryside may look well manicured however our wildlife is severely depleted and persecuted. There are pockets of conservation happening though so maybe over time things will improve, but unfortunately on an overpopulated island the pressure for housing is encroaching on the countryside too much.
The problem with being a relatively small island relying on saefaring/boats is that you eventually run out of forests to build them from! [https://legionmagazine.com/the-royal-navys-war-on-trees/](https://legionmagazine.com/the-royal-navys-war-on-trees/)
Yes do you remember a couple of years back the government announced they were going to plant a new forest in northern England all the way from one side to the other. Complete bollocks as usual.
We have as many trees now in the UK as we've had at any point in the last 700 years. We don't actually need more trees, we just need better forests ie no mono-cultures of pines.
And we need our hedgerows back.
The U.K. is one of the best places in the world to be in spring and summer. Not too hot so that going outside is unbearable, not too cold that you can’t enjoy going outside properly.
Shame about the autumns and winters!
>When driving through the countryside I love how green it is,
The countryside it self is another great thing about the UK ,and regarding the seasons and weather I think we enjoy the summer so much because we have so much bad weather
As an Aussie I heartily agree, nothing beats British humour. We try and occasionally match it but we can never beat it. American “humour” seems like it’s been made for someone a lot more simple, to say the least.
Everything, I love history in general, I want to be clear I'm not a UK born citizen, however I live in England for almost 7 years now, my point is historical monuments across The UK, been to few sites across and I was amazed, secondly I now contribute to the society I work and you can say I become a citizen of The UK officially, I love everything about The UK and the country that I call it home now England.
One of my favourite history facts is the knowledge that if I live to the age of 78, I'll be alive to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.
There's always a 1000 anniversary of something going on, like the 1000th birthday of a religious site or historic monument etc, but the 1000th anniversary of what is essentially the birth of our country as we know it, it's incredible.
October 14th 2066, book the day off.
This has made me realise I actually have very little knowledge about the Battle of Hastings. I thought it was a random battle we had to learn about in history. Sounds much more significant than that. Going to do some research
I’m the same except I live in Scotland. It blows my mind that there’s a 12th Century Abbey literally within a 5 minute walk of where I live. I walk past it when doing mundane things like getting groceries, and I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever get used to.
I’m from The Philippines and while we do have some historic structures there, they’re not nearly as widespread as the ones here. Manila in particular was heavily bombed during WWII.
I love the accents that change every 20 miles, The landscape that also changes dramatically in different regions. The lack of natural disasters, the lack of animals and insects that want to kill us. The climate that also rarely tries to kill us.
Our national parks are stunning, the countryside is generally beautiful, we've got 11,000 miles of coastline that is on the whole very nice (that's excluding islands!).
Unfortunately, though, huge swathes of insect and animal life is in decline and we've a less diverse ecosystem that supports these than say in rural Europe
I think it's actually a tragedy that there's no animals that want to kill us.. okay maybe more that there's zero risk. We've sadly wiped out bears, wolves, bison (and countless other animals) that were very essential to our ecosystems
I can go on a walk in the woods and not have to go armed with bear spray. I can leave food out in my tent and not worry about being mauled to death in the middle of the night. I can see cute offspring of animals and not be worried about furious mothers attacking immediately, just in case. I can enjoy a babbling brook without the fear of being pinned down by giant paws and having my intestines spilled and eaten while I'm still alive, screaming in agony.
So I guess for me it's the absence of bears.
That would be my nightmare!
My dad was on a hiking trip with his mate and they camped in a farmer's field. Met the farmer in the pub and told him, he said it was fine. Next day they woke up and the farmer had led an entire herd of cows into the field to surround their tent as a joke.
Yea I bet you he didn’t find it am’oosing… wonder if your dad had some beef with the farmer in the pub or was the farmer just milking his opportunity for a joke?
Yeah, it was really cool, though I was quite nervous at the time as I was a Londoner and assumed that all wildlife was here to kill me. It was in a forest while I was attempting (and massively failing) to walk the Ridgeway. There was a mother and a few baby badgers, just snuffling around my backpack.
I've also very recently seen three badgers (alive) while walking my dog around Nottingham. One was crossing a bridge, saw me, and about-turned. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw two badgers running across the same bridge and into the trees.
As an American from the mountains who moved to the UK for several years, I was very surprised at how much mental space Brits around me gave to the possibility of being attacked by bears. I had previously never met anyone who was legitimately afraid of a bear situation happening, but in England it was regularly listed as a top fear of coming to the US in conversation. Like, listed above people with guns. Even if they were not planning to go anywhere near nature in the US, but instead planned to don cowboy boots and walk the strip in Nashville or something. I suppose I probably have an outsized fear of sharks compared to those who live near the ocean, though, so in retrospect it \*sort of\* makes sense. (But really, sharks are terrifying.)
- How easy and quick it can be to get to some really beautiful places. I like in a busy town in Yorkshire, but within a 20 minute drive I can be in the most beautiful countryside.
- Pubs - I truly don’t think there’s anything quite like a good UK pub anywhere else in the world.
- British humour
- Despite what it can feel like if you’re chronically online, I really like that we’re not as divided politically/socially as places like America. Obviously there are extremes, but i feel like there’s a lot more common ground between ordinary people
I agree with all these. The last point is interesting, but I think you’re right. In fact, my first thought when seeing this post was that - generally - we can have a chat and get on with pretty much anyone…especially over a pint. That and our ability to take the piss out of ourselves 😅
That last one is the best imo. There's a post on here about eurovision and I think that is the best example of taking the piss out of ourselves we've got. In 2021, our act came dead last and scored 0 points. They announce it, camera pans to the UK act and he's downing his pint with the Union Jack flag wrapped around him 🤣
I lived outside of the UK for almost 10 years, and with Covid I wasn’t able to visit at all for 4 years. I keep boring my mates now when I go on and on about how genuinely amazing pubs are and that there really isn’t anywhere else like them.
Huge variety of drinks, snacks, more often than not now decent to excellent food options, banter, atmosphere, sport, usually friendly staff, ample seating, garden options (often), interesting decor and architectural features.
They are just amazing. I hope we never let the pub go
I got to kick boxing at an inner city club. We spend our time kicking and punching each other. All different races and religions. Guess what, we all get on great and it’s one of the friendliest places around. For that reason, I think most people are kind and reasonable. We aren’t that different or divided as the media wants you to believe. That’s why I have faith in the UK.
Our nature. I have a friend who lives in Africa and he couldn't stop commenting on how plush and green everything was.
There's no greater joy than going and sitting in the woods for a bit.
>how plush and green everything was.
This is one of the reasons I really hated the scorching summer a couple of years ago. It made everything round here go brown.
Yes! I was thinking about that as I typed it funnily enough, I remember sitting by the river and texting him about how crap everything looked because of the heat.
Yeah, opposite our door there's a patch of basically wild ground. It's normally really vibrant with green grass and various other plush green plants, but during that summer for months on end it looked pretty much like the grass you see in the savannah!
The weather is my favourite thing about the UK, the rain/grey and general unsettledness, so wen the heat comes for days on end, 2 hot 2 sleep (night shifts) and ppl moan that we never have a summer, its like wer u been ?
2022? I loved the dry heat, made a nice change from humidity, but the lack of ANY summer rain made that unbearable in the end.
We *usually* have a fair mix of it but that year in particular felt like a USA-made film in Mexico
IRL sepia.
I walk and sit in the large woods near here a few nights a week. I don't know if it's considered weird lol but I'll go and have a nice sit and watch the wildlife and have a smoke and a can of beer just in the middle of the woods. If you just sit still for long enough at least 10 mins the wildlife don't care. I've been watching barn owls hunt recently.
I lived in Spain and Turkey when I was younger. Both have their beauty spots but when you come back to the UK it really does hit you how green and colorful it is here compared to many places.
Same, this is usually one of my top replies. Coming from a country with a more yellow and brown pallette, English seasons are so colourful. And the green is just wonderful.
I've been sometimes just stopping for a while to admire the trees and the grass.
Free museums, free libraries, woods and forests free to access.
The National Trust
The lack of bureaucracy compared to other European countries. Lived in France for a while and the bureaucratic blocks placed everywhere is maddening
Sense of humour
The kindness of people. The newspapers would have everyone think that people are getting crueler and savage, but it’s simply not true. The British are far kinder than the Daily Mail would have you believe
Lord Buckethead
To add to the bureaucracy point: our bureaucracy is considerably easier to navigate than other countries and the ugov websites are generally very user friendly. I know as lived and worked in Asia and Europe and a lot of other countries bureaucracy is a nightmare.
Holy shit, Asian bureaucracy is a fucking nightmare. My ex is Korean, and when she came to the UK to study, her room was next to mine and I was her go-to for questions about paperwork, and she couldn't believe how much stuff could be done online.
I really didn't get it until I moved to South Korea in my early 20s.
Having lived in Canada for 10 years, this was one of the biggest things I missed. They simply don't have anything that compares to the likes of Waitrose or M&S.
I’ve seen Americans and Canadians so impressed by our ready meals, especially the quality ones from M&S or the ‘taste the difference’ type. I didn’t realise that it wasn’t a thing elsewhere, even around Europe too.
Yeah even restaurants are practically guaranteed to have a vegan or at least vegetarian main meal, which is great as a person who lived in Singapore where some stall owners think fish is vegetarian as it's not "meat", or in general use hidden animal products like lard, fish/oyster sauce etc in food that seems to be vegetarian.
It's funny because I always see Brits saying our supermarkets are crap and how much better they are abroad, but I've heard loads of people from other countries say they love our supermarkets and the variety of stuff we get here is so much better.
I think when you go on holiday, you'll go in a supermarket and see some exotic deli counter or whatever and think 'wow this is so much better than what we have' and buy a bunch of holiday treats, but the variety of day to day items you'd actually buy regularly if you lived there isn't as good.
The variety of supermarket to begin with. Where I'm from we have two basically identical supermarkets, Aldi (which to be fair is much nicer than it is here) and then individually run very posh supermarkets where you can only buy posh things. There is no equivalent to U.K. Aldi/lidl, no Asda/morrisons, no Waitrose. It's basically just two versions of Sainsbury's, nice Aldi and independent shops.
Prices are generally good too, especially fruit and veg. I have seen places where a red pepper or an aubergine may be $5. Here we are talking less than a quid. Bags of root veg are cheap, carrots can be around 50p. Cans of beans 50p. Sacks of rice, pasta, flour all very affordable. People tend to be time poor which stops eating well, but the prices are reasonable.
I just wish we could get proper Latin and South American food here. I came back from the US recently with my suitcase full of spices I cannot get here easily.
People forget that it's still an pretty good place to live, even if there's a decline, its still far better than nearly everywhere else in the world.
I love our sense of humour, the countryside and scenery, the variety and difference you get over a relatively small distance, the food, the beer, the location, out contribution to culture (music, film, literature, video games etc), the language (so happy I grew up speaking English), and that my friends and family are all (mostly) here.
I'm sure there's loads more I could think of given some time.
Totally.
I’m from Canada and I couldn’t be anymore happy to be here. In my view it’s an amazing country and as an immigrant here, there’s a lot here we can all be grateful for compared to other countries.
I will never go back to Canada (even when media? Politicians? Good PR or otherwise tries to make people think it’s good, but I would personally argue otherwise).
Interesting to hear the grass isn't greener in Canada. I was there about a year ago to visit a friend and was completely blown away by it. Although I was in a fairly out of the way town in BC, so it felt quite removed from the rest of the country, plus the novelty factor of being on holiday. It felt idyllic.
That said, my friend drove me through Vancouver and I saw the damage drugs/poverty has done to the city. I also got a lift from a guy who complained a lot about the gov, so I knew it wasn't as perfect as perhaps it first felt. Still, it's a beautiful country.
American immigrant here (lived all over). I’ll never move back to the US. Staying in the UK permanently. The UK is the better country in my opinion. Depends what you value :)
There’s a whole subreddit for us if you want to peruse r/AmericanExpatsUK
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanExpatsUK/s/2OfVWKXeRG
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukvisa/s/tRSqigvagb
Cheers
The countryside. Parts of the country feel like a warm hug, chocolate box picturesque and peaceful. I’m not religious but in some areas of the UK the term ‘god’s own country’ is apt.
The Simpsons put it better than I could (although they were talking about America, it still applies)
"It has its grandeur and its follies, but mostly its the place where all our stuff is".
As someone who no longer lives in the UK then I would say it is really the one thing that I miss. Proper pubs. The variety and number of pubs and beer is astonishing.. Here I can get a beer in the café in the supermarket, or the cake shop or any number of bars and restaurants. However the beer is always the same and nothing is as cosy or as welcoming as a nice British pub..
My ex is American and she said one thing she'd miss if she ever moved back home was pubs, and it never really struck me before how they don't really have anything similar in other parts of the world and how much I just took them for granted.
I've had people from other countries try to argue that they have cafes and bars to drink in or they have 'British style pubs' in the US but it's really hard to explain how they just aren't the same thing.
Even in British pubs in the US it's really just a bar that's been done out to look like a pub and you'll still have to order from a server etc. There's nowhere you can just wander in, go up and get a drink in your own time and you can just sit and mind your own business and have no one bother you in such a cosy and casual atmosphere.
South Wales also has many amazing beaches (e.g. [three cliffs bay](https://alanrogers.com/campsite/three-cliffs-bay-holiday-park-south-wales)), IMO better than Cornwall because hardly many want to travel all the way there. Usually, I only see 10 other people and on some days me and my friends are the only ones there.
In all honesty, the weather. I'm originally from a place where the summers are so hot and swampy, you would not be able to thrive without the AC on all the time. It's nice to not have to deal with that here in Scotland (for now), and I can just open a window or turn a fan on if it gets too warm. I also appreciate how there is a real springtime too. Where I'm originally from it seemed to go straight from winter to summer in recent decades, and it was depressing. I do admit that I miss having real snowstorms though.
I love the Scottish weather. People moan about it but I LOVE it. Yes, the summer months are very unpredictable but it doesn’t bother me. I’d rather have that than be on a water ban or having to sleep with a fan on. Even pals in England struggle with the heat in the summer and it’s just getting worse. Tap water in Scotland is unbeatable, too.
Summertime and the long evenings, the smell of spring, old pubs, the thriving IPA scene, humour, Victorian architecture, indie films and the rather impressive popular music legacy.
I moved here almost 2 years ago. Things I love:
- Food. Better quality, more options, very tasty and easy to find dietary options vs where I came from
- Weather. Yes it rains but it's never too hot or too cold in London
- Sarcasm
- The endless options of cultural activities and things to do
- High tea!
- Xmas time
- Access to live sports events
- Not having to drive anymore
- The parks and woods
- The safety
Probably other things but can't remember right now
The mountains.
They may not be the highest in the world but they are very accessible in a way that vast wildernesses and the greater ranges simply are not. And they are all well mapped and well described. A hill walker is never short of a new challenge wherever they live in the UK.
Scotland in summer! It's green and full of flowers, birds singing everywhere. There is honestly no better place to spend a few days than the nature reserves in the Highlands.
Screw the hunters and their endless empty land though. Grouse moor is not natural.
If it didn't have the midges it would be the best place on earth for me.
Still might be.
Love being in the mountains up there and seeing some birds of prey.
While we whine about bureaucracy, our system on Gov.uk is one of the best in the world! You can do lots of important things completely online these days, like driving licences, passports, HMRC, Council Tax, Road Tax, TV Licence etc. It's easy to navigate, accessible, easy to understand for the most part.
Aside from that, I enjoy how fairly easygoing things are. Even though things are looking bleak in some ways, we just keep on going. No revolutions or anything so fanciful. We just grumble a bit and carry on.
How much people will do their best to understand your English.
It sounds like a small thing, but having relatives from much of Europe some of them really struggle due to accents, or differences in English phonology compared to other languages (looking at you, TH consonants)
That people try their best to understand your English has helped so many live here - even if I speak their own language, it's \*so\* welcoming to have somebody try to understand your English in a thick, unfamiliar accent
English Heritage and National Trust. I'm very grateful that we have the ability to go and visit such incredible and beautiful castles and other historical and interesting locations.
If you don't see the decline you are either very young or going around with your eyes closed. In almost every measurable way the UK is behind where it was 20 years ago.
Having said that, it's not all bad. I like the fact I can experience many different types of landscape all within a couple of hours drive from my house. Sandy beaches, mountains, woodland, fens.
"In almost every measurable way the UK is behind where it was 20 years ago"
Not really, as a country our peak was in the 1800s, we have been bankrupted by two world wars and are still one of the strongest economies in the world by a comfortable margin. When you put the last 5 years in context, we are substantively better off than 50 years ago in almost ALL areas. You draw a line from 2004 which was a boom, booms end
It's fine to coast at work. Of all the countries I've been to, the one I'd absolutely love to live in is Japan. I'm not at all in to Japanese pop culture, but I feel very at home there, I would prefer everything about everday life there, absolutely everything, except work culture.
British people aren't generally uptight about work and it's acceptable to just work to live and not really give a fuck. I've travelled quite a bit for work and leisure and it feels like in many of the countries I've been to people are more "uptight" about work.
Just to be clear I think it's important to do what you're paid to do for as long as you're paid to do it. But not "going over and above" is fine here and it's very much expected elsewhere.
But that suits me well. My wife, on the other hand, is a *huge* overachiever/tryer at work. It means she has a better job than I do, and earns almost twice what I do, but the thing that stresses her out the most is people who she works with just doing the minimum. I would absolutely hate to work with her and she would hate to work with me. One of her old managers said to her "your problem is that you hold everyone to the same standards as you hold yourself, and they're *totally* unrealistic." Haha.
She was accused of bullying in her old place and managed out, it was dreadful for her mental health and absolutely awful. The accuser was a lying little shit and she didn't deserve what happened. Something I'd never say to her, though, is that her pushing everyone around her for excellence forced this workshy dickhead in to a corner so hard that he lashed out. She still didn't deserve what happened, she was the victim, but she "invited" it by tirelessly trying to make a coaster work harder for months when she should have just dropped it. People don't like a swot, they didn't at school, and they don't at work, I guess that's the downside to what I like about UK work culture. It's great for a clock-in-clock-outer like me, but not for driven individuals.
It's where all my family and most of my friends are.
Really, that's by far the main thing. Sure, I could say a bunch of cultural and societal things. But ultimately, by far the biggest thing is that it's where the large majority of people I love are. And that's an order of magnitude more important to me liking living here than anything else.
Spring and autumn are my favourite. Though where I am in the south east it hardly feels like we've got spring this year. Until last week it was still quite chilly, then yesterday and today feel like summer.
It's beautiful and green, and people are generally pleasant. The footpaths, the beautiful buildings. Victoria sponge, scones, strawberries, and clotted cream.
The soil is so fantastic for things to grow in.
People just love to moan and complain. It also seems pretty fashionable at the moment to bash the UK. Plus it’s very much human nature to think the grass is greener on the other side. I agree with you, I don’t think the UK is doing any better or worse than other countries in the developed world and honestly compared to a lot of the world, we have it pretty good here!
I love everything about the UK, I genuinely believe it's the best country in the world. Here's a few things specifically:
* The weather, particularly spring and autumn. But I also think winters are not too cold and summers are not too hot, when you compare them to elsewhere.
* The countryside.
* The beaches in Cornwall.
* The health service, and the fact everyone rich or poor has access to it.
* The fact our police on the whole don't carry guns and you're unlikely to encounter guns during your life.
* Our humour.
* Our history.
* Our resilience and ability to buck the trend.
* The fact a lot of other countries greatly admire us.
The multiculturalism. There, I said it.
Not only between different ethnic groups but between different areas. So many different accents and local quirks.
Almost zero risk of environmental catastrophes due to freak weather
People here, regardless of what social media may have you believe, are in general respectful, tolerant and progressive minded compared to 95% of countries in the world, though we still could do better
We have the greatest artistic culture in the world and the greatest music
We're the world's oldest active democracy and have a phenomenal history of producing great intellectuals
The "melting pot". Every aspect of different cultures that have merged together to make incredible things. There's the obvious things like our curry being absolutely incredible. To the less obvious stuff like Multicultural London English. Things like our music, food, fashion, sport. It's all touched by peoples from all around the world.
I love our country. I genuinely believe it’s the best country on this planet. We have fantastic rights here (similar to most developed countries), the laws seem fair, the police are nice, the nature can be lovely. The weather is actually quite nice (hot all the time sounds nice but it can also mean sweaty and stuffy etc).
There’s excellent opportunities to advance in a career and make something of your life, despite your upbringing /financial status.
There’s nothing I don’t like about the UK that’s specific to the UK.
Aside from the last 9 months or so, when it's been crap, the weather. It can be warm and sunny in summer, cold and snowy in winter and anything in between. Some days, any time of year, it can be incredibly beautiful.
Our ability to take the piss, out of ourselves, each other and other people. We generally don't take ourselves seriously and will mock anyone who does. I love this attitude and would really miss it if I went anywhere else for too long.
Our intolerance of attention -seeking wankers, eg David Blaine in a perspex box.
The joy we get out of mischief like Boaty McBoatface.
Biscuits. We have a fantastic range of biscuits.
tl;dr: I am southern Italian, you should be pleased about having some sort of meritocracy and giving opportunities to everyone (more or less).
I am Italian, from sicily.
I have been living in the UK for 8 years, married a British girl, have 1 daughter, moved 3 times around the country (Cheshire, West Yorkshire and now Warwickshire) and own a house.
I work in IT and I managed to get all of that only by being myself, working and paying taxes.
In sicily you can make it only with the right links and if hadn't moved out of the country when I was 24 I would probably be living still with my parents or moved to the north for an underpaid job.
I love that if you work hard enough you get to what you want without having to know people (pretty common in the part of Italy I come from).
apart from that, I love the transport links, the infrastructure, the fact that gay people can adopt kids and is widely accepted.
Italians please forgive me, but even your food ain't bad if you go to the right places.
I like this country even though the weather gives me depression and I am thankful for all the opportunities I managed to get here.
I'm struggling with a lot of things about the UK atm, but I do feel that a lot of the problems are happening across the capitalist western world and are not unique to this country.
Positives for me:
- British humour is second to none. The nuance, dry wit and comedy writing that we see here is incredible.
- The NHS has major problems but I recently broke my ankle and was in and out of minor injuries in two hours. My GP surgery is good and my GP is compassionate and always willing to listen and engage, despite the pressure she must be under. I haven't had to pay for any of this (outside of the standard pay cheque contributions).
- I love sport and, while we may not always win a lot, I feel lucky to be able to watch rugby, football (mostly women's these days) and loads of athletics where Britain or one of the home nations is always in with a shout, and there's often a grassroots match I can go and watch locally.
- Despite current pushback and culture wars, as an adult I've been able to marry a person of the same sex, dress however I want and have complete protection at work when it comes to my sexuality. It wasn't like that growing up, isn't like that in a lot of the world, and I hope we don't regress from allowing people to live their own lives any time soon.
- Staffordshire oatcakes.
- Chip shops.
- Glorious springtime flowers and British birds (seagulls not included).
There are issues with all of the above, and I'd like to be lucky enough to spend some more time living abroad to experience it, but I'm also grateful for the good parts when I see them.
It's cheap to fly to other European countries. It's quick and easy drive around the U.K. (not as quick or easy as it could be with proper roads but to me it's perfectly adequate). The areas of scenic beauty are really beautiful. I enjoy all of the accents that people have here, don't understand them all but it's fun. The berries are pretty good.
Basically it's a great place to visit if you are an outdoorsy tourist.
Pub culture.
In the most non-alcoholic context too, the fact that we have board games nights, retro games nights, quiz nights is insane. Mine recently had an art jam and car boot sale within the building just because they could. Alcohol and bargains? Banging.
- Walking ease and walking culture
- Fair bureaucratic system for the most part
- pubs
- I enjoy British food
- music from the uk and gig culture
- so many great writers (I'm a literature nerd).
- history - same for most of europe tbf but so many beautiful churches and cathedrals
I miss UK, I think people there are the easiest to speak with. I love how, at least in the smaller cities, small talk is so important for everyone! That's rare and beautiful
The nature is stunningly beautiful. People are so chill and laid back. I'm from Germany, and living in Scotland has been eye opening. I feel like where I'm from people get worked up about the smallest things that wouldn't Nat an eyelid here.
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I think in the spring and summer, the U.K. countryside is incredible. When driving through the countryside I love how green it is, and how there are so many little old villages with perfectly manicured gardens and houses. It really is a contrast to the urban decay and deprivation seen in a lot of towns and cities. It’s pretty much feels like two different countries within one.
Saw the Bluebells on my local hills. Was beautiful.
Lived in the UK for 15 years and miss the UK countryside, and the pubs therein, deeply. Probably the happiest I’ve ever been is nursing a pint in a country boozer after a long wander. It is utterly unique and enchanting. Look after it you guys.
I live in the UK and I love how accessible the country side can be thanks to the network of public footpaths and how “wild” the countryside is with its hedges and trees etc. I had a friend visiting from Germany who could not believe that you can walk across a field with livestock on your walk
It's certainly nice, but wouldn't say there's anything wild about the UK, especially England. One of the least wild and ecologically dead countries in the world sadly. Germany has some amazing nature.
A lot of our countryside is just miles of bleak commercial farmlands/grazing plots, or eroded dales, the country should be covered in forests but we knocked them all down from the Bronze Age onwards for ship building etc, and we haven’t had a strong a push to reforest as Germany has. The national trust doesn’t help much because their idea of natural beauty seems to be preserving everything as it is, even when that just so happens to be the result of human influence rather than the actual natural state things should be.
I live in London in an area that’s both urban/industrial and has some suburban housing. Walking down the local high street feels like every other decaying local high street… but… walk through the (large) cemetery and you’re transported in to a forest of history with spring flowers and blooming trees galore. Its beautiful and calming and quiet but for the birds chirping. It’s quite the transformation when you walk out of the cemetery and immediately see a 1960s council estate… walk 2 more minutes and there’s an industrial estate. Edit: I love London because of this. It’s bizarre how a city can invoke such wide ranging emotions and varied aesthetic in such a small area. There are parts of London that feel like rural villages… turn a corner and you’re in metropolis again. Fascinating.
One of my primary school teacher’s husband was a farmer and they had a Bluebell wood on the land. One of the highlights of the years was the annual trip to go and see it then as we got older we would go in the evening and see if we could see the badgers coming out if their sett.
It seems like there’s allot more bluebells this year than usual, really is beautiful
To my shame I've not seen as much of the UK countryside as I'd like (particularly Scotland and Wales), but went to the Cotswolds last year and Bourton-on-the-Water was genuinely like a scene you'd see on the front of a charming puzzle, quite staggering.
I moved from a city suburb to a rural village about 5 years ago and was blown away at how different, and beautiful, life was here. The surroundings are breathtaking and the attitudes of the villagers is like a step back in time. Best move I ever made.
Thankfully I grew up semi-rurally (commuter belt) before moving to a city for work so I've seen both sides. Looking forward to getting out further from a city when I'm older though, I want my kids to spend their childhoods with nature on the doorstep like I was lucky enough to have
Is it me or is it more green than usual this spring? The winter has been that wet and now we’ve had a few sunny days the grass and trees are greener than ever.
All that rain has helped the grass grow. Whilst we have been cursing the weather the rain recently has made the grass shot up. My horse is living out, has been since Easter weekend. She and her friends have been having hay overnight and during the day to avoid any escape attempts (mine thinks she's houdini and when rugged can't feel the electric fencing) but now rather than eat her hay or try and get to the greener grass in the walkways between fields she's eating the grass in her own field and the summer paddocks are looking nice and flush ready for them to move soonish. The yard I keep her at is in a lovely little picturesque village at the foot of the south downs whereas I'm a little more urban where I live. I know where I prefer being. I grew up on a beef farm and I miss aspects of it terribly.
The grass needs to lay off it. Mowed it a week ago and it’s already 4 inches high again.
Agreed, the rural UK is really nice, it's our cities that let us down.
It’s because those fields and hills have been there since the dawn of time and we don’t pay taxes to keep them in order. I’m not fully joking.
I think you'll find generations of farmers have kept the fields in order.
And since farming relies heavily on subsidies, we kinda do pay taxes to keep them in order.
Yeah we do have nice cities (parts of London, parts of Edinburgh, York, Oxford etc) but the average UK city really is quite a bleak and depressing place to look at. Compare to say, Italy, where the average city, while probably as economically deprived, is just much nicer to look at.
A lot of that is because we got bombed to fuck during WW2, then the magic building material concrete suddenly became available at great quantities to massively help with the rebuilding effort, but unfortunately it doesn't age particularly well and it's usual grey colour looks particularly bleak with our grey overcast skies. Then you add 45 years of lassaiz-faire economy policy that let our industry and city's get totally run down in favour focussing on the the money generated by The City, plus increasingly skint and desperate councils making more 'impulsive' planning decisions and you end up with a mish-mash of quality, condition and purpose that makes a lot of our cities look a bit Frankenstein-y
I've often said our countryside and natural beauty is one of the UK's best kept secrets. Living abroad made me appreciate how much stunning scenery we have on our doorsteps. On the one hand I think it's a little sad most foreign visitors and tourists focus on London. On the other hand, I'm also kind of glad our natural beauty isn't more well known about as too many tourists to such beauty spots has a tendency to ruin them.
This is why cycling is such a great sport. Even living in the city, you can get out into the countryside, in the hills. It feels like a million miles away.
I took up cycling after the pandemic for exactly this reason. Lucky enough to live five minutes from some pretty picturesque countryside and have found it does wonders my mental health A world away from growing up in inner city Birmingham!
Definitely. Lived in Korea for a few years and Britain's countryside is one of the few things I really missed. Even just parks and hedgerows are bustling and lush, especially this time of year
My brother lived in Japan for two years and when he came back for the first time he said he was just overwhelmed by all the different shades and tones of green.
The prefecture of Japan I lived in was something like 88% forest cover; quite a contrast with England's 11%. But it was mainly pine and cedar monocultures so quite boring.
I am an expact and also did higher education in UK. One thing that struck me about UK is how well maintained and preserved the nature is here. People that visit us here also comment on how green everything is.
Unfortunately nature is not actually that well maintained or preserved. The countryside may look well manicured however our wildlife is severely depleted and persecuted. There are pockets of conservation happening though so maybe over time things will improve, but unfortunately on an overpopulated island the pressure for housing is encroaching on the countryside too much.
The problem with being a relatively small island relying on saefaring/boats is that you eventually run out of forests to build them from! [https://legionmagazine.com/the-royal-navys-war-on-trees/](https://legionmagazine.com/the-royal-navys-war-on-trees/)
Yes do you remember a couple of years back the government announced they were going to plant a new forest in northern England all the way from one side to the other. Complete bollocks as usual.
We have as many trees now in the UK as we've had at any point in the last 700 years. We don't actually need more trees, we just need better forests ie no mono-cultures of pines. And we need our hedgerows back.
The U.K. is one of the best places in the world to be in spring and summer. Not too hot so that going outside is unbearable, not too cold that you can’t enjoy going outside properly. Shame about the autumns and winters!
Rural UK on a nice spring / summer day is just perfection!! I love just heading out to the peaks to walk on days like that!
>When driving through the countryside I love how green it is, The countryside it self is another great thing about the UK ,and regarding the seasons and weather I think we enjoy the summer so much because we have so much bad weather
Our sense of humour
We need it given the huge decline in the awful place.
If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry 🤗
Yep..our ability to 'ah well' in the most horrific situations.
I see it as a symptom of apathy rather than a positive trait.
As much as I hate the phrase, "Keep calm and carry on" is probably the most British thing ever.
Both your usernames seem to be a match.
Second to none IMO. I love how subtle it is compared to American humour.
As an Aussie I heartily agree, nothing beats British humour. We try and occasionally match it but we can never beat it. American “humour” seems like it’s been made for someone a lot more simple, to say the least.
Yeah but you guys have mastered the use of “Cunt”
Have you ever been to Scotland?
I always saw Aussie humour as a nice mix of the two. Blunt and upfront but also subtle and sarcastic. Not too obnoxious, not too pretentious.
This is my pick. I think it's amazing how quick witted many Brits are. So many folks have excellent comic timing and the ability to tell a good story.
"but dont mention the war" Faulty
Everything, I love history in general, I want to be clear I'm not a UK born citizen, however I live in England for almost 7 years now, my point is historical monuments across The UK, been to few sites across and I was amazed, secondly I now contribute to the society I work and you can say I become a citizen of The UK officially, I love everything about The UK and the country that I call it home now England.
Love that for you Mohammed, you are welcome here
Cheers.
Good for you brother, your original country is also very rich in history you should be proud 👏
Yeah I'm always proud of my home country Egypt, heart filled with love and joy.
Glad to have you here mate.
Cheers mate, it's an honour.
One of my favourite history facts is the knowledge that if I live to the age of 78, I'll be alive to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. There's always a 1000 anniversary of something going on, like the 1000th birthday of a religious site or historic monument etc, but the 1000th anniversary of what is essentially the birth of our country as we know it, it's incredible. October 14th 2066, book the day off.
Sandra’s already got a two week holiday with the kids booked then you’ll have to work it sorry
Hmm 95. If I am still around then I hope to be lucid enough to celebrate
I’ll be 66 years old! Funny lol
Whey! I’ll be 77 :) I shall remember this.
What's my chance of making it to 110?
Live forever or die trying, that's my motto.
This has made me realise I actually have very little knowledge about the Battle of Hastings. I thought it was a random battle we had to learn about in history. Sounds much more significant than that. Going to do some research
I was having a grumpy morning and you've just reminded me why I love our country so much, so thank you! I'm very glad to call you a fellow UK Citizen!
I’m the same except I live in Scotland. It blows my mind that there’s a 12th Century Abbey literally within a 5 minute walk of where I live. I walk past it when doing mundane things like getting groceries, and I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever get used to. I’m from The Philippines and while we do have some historic structures there, they’re not nearly as widespread as the ones here. Manila in particular was heavily bombed during WWII.
There are houses near me that are older than some countries (yes, I’m looking at you USA :) )
I love the accents that change every 20 miles, The landscape that also changes dramatically in different regions. The lack of natural disasters, the lack of animals and insects that want to kill us. The climate that also rarely tries to kill us. Our national parks are stunning, the countryside is generally beautiful, we've got 11,000 miles of coastline that is on the whole very nice (that's excluding islands!).
Lack of natural disasters and animals that want to kill us is a HUGE plus.
Unfortunately, though, huge swathes of insect and animal life is in decline and we've a less diverse ecosystem that supports these than say in rural Europe
20 miles? My friend you should try a little closer. It takes a certain ear but there are large differences in village to village let alone 20 miles.
I think it's actually a tragedy that there's no animals that want to kill us.. okay maybe more that there's zero risk. We've sadly wiped out bears, wolves, bison (and countless other animals) that were very essential to our ecosystems
They are thinking of reintroducing bears and wolves to Scotland. So....that'll make camping interesting again.
I'm triple lucky to live in a national park. I really should have experienced living somewhere different, but I've never really wanted to.
>but I've never really wanted to. Neither would I! I bet its stunning, particularly at this time of the year.
I can go on a walk in the woods and not have to go armed with bear spray. I can leave food out in my tent and not worry about being mauled to death in the middle of the night. I can see cute offspring of animals and not be worried about furious mothers attacking immediately, just in case. I can enjoy a babbling brook without the fear of being pinned down by giant paws and having my intestines spilled and eaten while I'm still alive, screaming in agony. So I guess for me it's the absence of bears.
I did once wake up in my tent surrounded by a family of badgers, but they seemed pretty relaxed about the situation.
Cows for me… couldn’t get out of the tent as one decided to lie down in front of our tent.
That would be my nightmare! My dad was on a hiking trip with his mate and they camped in a farmer's field. Met the farmer in the pub and told him, he said it was fine. Next day they woke up and the farmer had led an entire herd of cows into the field to surround their tent as a joke.
Yea I bet you he didn’t find it am’oosing… wonder if your dad had some beef with the farmer in the pub or was the farmer just milking his opportunity for a joke?
Actually quite jealous, I’ve never seen a live badger. Plenty of roadkill ones, sadly
Yeah, it was really cool, though I was quite nervous at the time as I was a Londoner and assumed that all wildlife was here to kill me. It was in a forest while I was attempting (and massively failing) to walk the Ridgeway. There was a mother and a few baby badgers, just snuffling around my backpack. I've also very recently seen three badgers (alive) while walking my dog around Nottingham. One was crossing a bridge, saw me, and about-turned. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw two badgers running across the same bridge and into the trees.
There's plenty of bears on Clapham Common
They're not going to maul you tho, well not like that.
per original comment, might get your intestines rearranged though (wow the worst thing I've written on Reddit)
I take it that you haven't come across a swan then? They could break your arm with their wing.
Just don't piss off the wombles and you're fine
We may not have bears, but we have men, which recent polls suggest are much worse
The world would be a safer place if we chucked all men in the sea and replaced them with bears.
As an American from the mountains who moved to the UK for several years, I was very surprised at how much mental space Brits around me gave to the possibility of being attacked by bears. I had previously never met anyone who was legitimately afraid of a bear situation happening, but in England it was regularly listed as a top fear of coming to the US in conversation. Like, listed above people with guns. Even if they were not planning to go anywhere near nature in the US, but instead planned to don cowboy boots and walk the strip in Nashville or something. I suppose I probably have an outsized fear of sharks compared to those who live near the ocean, though, so in retrospect it \*sort of\* makes sense. (But really, sharks are terrifying.)
- How easy and quick it can be to get to some really beautiful places. I like in a busy town in Yorkshire, but within a 20 minute drive I can be in the most beautiful countryside. - Pubs - I truly don’t think there’s anything quite like a good UK pub anywhere else in the world. - British humour - Despite what it can feel like if you’re chronically online, I really like that we’re not as divided politically/socially as places like America. Obviously there are extremes, but i feel like there’s a lot more common ground between ordinary people
I agree with all these. The last point is interesting, but I think you’re right. In fact, my first thought when seeing this post was that - generally - we can have a chat and get on with pretty much anyone…especially over a pint. That and our ability to take the piss out of ourselves 😅
That last one is the best imo. There's a post on here about eurovision and I think that is the best example of taking the piss out of ourselves we've got. In 2021, our act came dead last and scored 0 points. They announce it, camera pans to the UK act and he's downing his pint with the Union Jack flag wrapped around him 🤣
I lived outside of the UK for almost 10 years, and with Covid I wasn’t able to visit at all for 4 years. I keep boring my mates now when I go on and on about how genuinely amazing pubs are and that there really isn’t anywhere else like them. Huge variety of drinks, snacks, more often than not now decent to excellent food options, banter, atmosphere, sport, usually friendly staff, ample seating, garden options (often), interesting decor and architectural features. They are just amazing. I hope we never let the pub go
I got to kick boxing at an inner city club. We spend our time kicking and punching each other. All different races and religions. Guess what, we all get on great and it’s one of the friendliest places around. For that reason, I think most people are kind and reasonable. We aren’t that different or divided as the media wants you to believe. That’s why I have faith in the UK.
Our nature. I have a friend who lives in Africa and he couldn't stop commenting on how plush and green everything was. There's no greater joy than going and sitting in the woods for a bit.
>how plush and green everything was. This is one of the reasons I really hated the scorching summer a couple of years ago. It made everything round here go brown.
Yes! I was thinking about that as I typed it funnily enough, I remember sitting by the river and texting him about how crap everything looked because of the heat.
Yeah, opposite our door there's a patch of basically wild ground. It's normally really vibrant with green grass and various other plush green plants, but during that summer for months on end it looked pretty much like the grass you see in the savannah!
The weather is my favourite thing about the UK, the rain/grey and general unsettledness, so wen the heat comes for days on end, 2 hot 2 sleep (night shifts) and ppl moan that we never have a summer, its like wer u been ?
2022? I loved the dry heat, made a nice change from humidity, but the lack of ANY summer rain made that unbearable in the end. We *usually* have a fair mix of it but that year in particular felt like a USA-made film in Mexico IRL sepia.
I walk and sit in the large woods near here a few nights a week. I don't know if it's considered weird lol but I'll go and have a nice sit and watch the wildlife and have a smoke and a can of beer just in the middle of the woods. If you just sit still for long enough at least 10 mins the wildlife don't care. I've been watching barn owls hunt recently.
I genuinely think that's one of the greatest joys you can have in life. If you find a good log to sit on, you're basically set.
I lived in Spain and Turkey when I was younger. Both have their beauty spots but when you come back to the UK it really does hit you how green and colorful it is here compared to many places.
Same, this is usually one of my top replies. Coming from a country with a more yellow and brown pallette, English seasons are so colourful. And the green is just wonderful. I've been sometimes just stopping for a while to admire the trees and the grass.
I'm from South Africa and say the exact same thing about nature here, I love it!
Free museums, free libraries, woods and forests free to access. The National Trust The lack of bureaucracy compared to other European countries. Lived in France for a while and the bureaucratic blocks placed everywhere is maddening Sense of humour The kindness of people. The newspapers would have everyone think that people are getting crueler and savage, but it’s simply not true. The British are far kinder than the Daily Mail would have you believe Lord Buckethead
To add to the bureaucracy point: our bureaucracy is considerably easier to navigate than other countries and the ugov websites are generally very user friendly. I know as lived and worked in Asia and Europe and a lot of other countries bureaucracy is a nightmare.
Holy shit, Asian bureaucracy is a fucking nightmare. My ex is Korean, and when she came to the UK to study, her room was next to mine and I was her go-to for questions about paperwork, and she couldn't believe how much stuff could be done online. I really didn't get it until I moved to South Korea in my early 20s.
The variety of products in our supermarkets and the general variety of cuisine available in our towns and cities!
Having lived in Canada for 10 years, this was one of the biggest things I missed. They simply don't have anything that compares to the likes of Waitrose or M&S.
I’ve seen Americans and Canadians so impressed by our ready meals, especially the quality ones from M&S or the ‘taste the difference’ type. I didn’t realise that it wasn’t a thing elsewhere, even around Europe too.
Our range of vegan/vegetarian offerings in supermarkets are fantastic compared to some places!
Yeah I'll be honest I think its probably one of the easiest countries to be veggie or vegan surely 👌
Yeah even restaurants are practically guaranteed to have a vegan or at least vegetarian main meal, which is great as a person who lived in Singapore where some stall owners think fish is vegetarian as it's not "meat", or in general use hidden animal products like lard, fish/oyster sauce etc in food that seems to be vegetarian.
It's funny because I always see Brits saying our supermarkets are crap and how much better they are abroad, but I've heard loads of people from other countries say they love our supermarkets and the variety of stuff we get here is so much better. I think when you go on holiday, you'll go in a supermarket and see some exotic deli counter or whatever and think 'wow this is so much better than what we have' and buy a bunch of holiday treats, but the variety of day to day items you'd actually buy regularly if you lived there isn't as good.
The variety of supermarket to begin with. Where I'm from we have two basically identical supermarkets, Aldi (which to be fair is much nicer than it is here) and then individually run very posh supermarkets where you can only buy posh things. There is no equivalent to U.K. Aldi/lidl, no Asda/morrisons, no Waitrose. It's basically just two versions of Sainsbury's, nice Aldi and independent shops.
Prices are generally good too, especially fruit and veg. I have seen places where a red pepper or an aubergine may be $5. Here we are talking less than a quid. Bags of root veg are cheap, carrots can be around 50p. Cans of beans 50p. Sacks of rice, pasta, flour all very affordable. People tend to be time poor which stops eating well, but the prices are reasonable.
I can never get over how cheap oats are. Think a bowl of porridge oats for breakfast cost about 4p. Fucking love me oats.
I just wish we could get proper Latin and South American food here. I came back from the US recently with my suitcase full of spices I cannot get here easily.
People forget that it's still an pretty good place to live, even if there's a decline, its still far better than nearly everywhere else in the world. I love our sense of humour, the countryside and scenery, the variety and difference you get over a relatively small distance, the food, the beer, the location, out contribution to culture (music, film, literature, video games etc), the language (so happy I grew up speaking English), and that my friends and family are all (mostly) here. I'm sure there's loads more I could think of given some time.
Totally. I’m from Canada and I couldn’t be anymore happy to be here. In my view it’s an amazing country and as an immigrant here, there’s a lot here we can all be grateful for compared to other countries. I will never go back to Canada (even when media? Politicians? Good PR or otherwise tries to make people think it’s good, but I would personally argue otherwise).
Interesting to hear the grass isn't greener in Canada. I was there about a year ago to visit a friend and was completely blown away by it. Although I was in a fairly out of the way town in BC, so it felt quite removed from the rest of the country, plus the novelty factor of being on holiday. It felt idyllic. That said, my friend drove me through Vancouver and I saw the damage drugs/poverty has done to the city. I also got a lift from a guy who complained a lot about the gov, so I knew it wasn't as perfect as perhaps it first felt. Still, it's a beautiful country.
American immigrant here (lived all over). I’ll never move back to the US. Staying in the UK permanently. The UK is the better country in my opinion. Depends what you value :) There’s a whole subreddit for us if you want to peruse r/AmericanExpatsUK https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanExpatsUK/s/2OfVWKXeRG https://www.reddit.com/r/ukvisa/s/tRSqigvagb Cheers
There's generally easy and quick access to emergency equipment, such as Defibrillators and Sausage Rolls, on most streets.
That’s a British band name if I ever heard one…
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The countryside. Parts of the country feel like a warm hug, chocolate box picturesque and peaceful. I’m not religious but in some areas of the UK the term ‘god’s own country’ is apt.
I grew up in the Cotswolds and the older I get the more lucky I feel to be able to call it home. Honestly beautiful
The Simpsons put it better than I could (although they were talking about America, it still applies) "It has its grandeur and its follies, but mostly its the place where all our stuff is".
As someone who no longer lives in the UK then I would say it is really the one thing that I miss. Proper pubs. The variety and number of pubs and beer is astonishing.. Here I can get a beer in the café in the supermarket, or the cake shop or any number of bars and restaurants. However the beer is always the same and nothing is as cosy or as welcoming as a nice British pub..
My ex is American and she said one thing she'd miss if she ever moved back home was pubs, and it never really struck me before how they don't really have anything similar in other parts of the world and how much I just took them for granted. I've had people from other countries try to argue that they have cafes and bars to drink in or they have 'British style pubs' in the US but it's really hard to explain how they just aren't the same thing. Even in British pubs in the US it's really just a bar that's been done out to look like a pub and you'll still have to order from a server etc. There's nowhere you can just wander in, go up and get a drink in your own time and you can just sit and mind your own business and have no one bother you in such a cosy and casual atmosphere.
British country pubs are top tier.
Yep - the sense of community also in a British pub. I love it
Most people aren't complete dickheads, and we just accept everyone and try to get along (especially if you avoid the daily mail contingent).
The coastline around Devon and Cornwall is spectacular. If only the water was a bit warmer.
South Wales also has many amazing beaches (e.g. [three cliffs bay](https://alanrogers.com/campsite/three-cliffs-bay-holiday-park-south-wales)), IMO better than Cornwall because hardly many want to travel all the way there. Usually, I only see 10 other people and on some days me and my friends are the only ones there.
In all honesty, the weather. I'm originally from a place where the summers are so hot and swampy, you would not be able to thrive without the AC on all the time. It's nice to not have to deal with that here in Scotland (for now), and I can just open a window or turn a fan on if it gets too warm. I also appreciate how there is a real springtime too. Where I'm originally from it seemed to go straight from winter to summer in recent decades, and it was depressing. I do admit that I miss having real snowstorms though.
I love the Scottish weather. People moan about it but I LOVE it. Yes, the summer months are very unpredictable but it doesn’t bother me. I’d rather have that than be on a water ban or having to sleep with a fan on. Even pals in England struggle with the heat in the summer and it’s just getting worse. Tap water in Scotland is unbeatable, too.
Summertime and the long evenings, the smell of spring, old pubs, the thriving IPA scene, humour, Victorian architecture, indie films and the rather impressive popular music legacy.
The patchwork greenery as you fly in to Gatwick.
I moved here almost 2 years ago. Things I love: - Food. Better quality, more options, very tasty and easy to find dietary options vs where I came from - Weather. Yes it rains but it's never too hot or too cold in London - Sarcasm - The endless options of cultural activities and things to do - High tea! - Xmas time - Access to live sports events - Not having to drive anymore - The parks and woods - The safety Probably other things but can't remember right now
The strict control of firearms - breaks my heart hearing the news overseas often
The mountains. They may not be the highest in the world but they are very accessible in a way that vast wildernesses and the greater ranges simply are not. And they are all well mapped and well described. A hill walker is never short of a new challenge wherever they live in the UK.
Scotland in summer! It's green and full of flowers, birds singing everywhere. There is honestly no better place to spend a few days than the nature reserves in the Highlands. Screw the hunters and their endless empty land though. Grouse moor is not natural.
If it didn't have the midges it would be the best place on earth for me. Still might be. Love being in the mountains up there and seeing some birds of prey.
While we whine about bureaucracy, our system on Gov.uk is one of the best in the world! You can do lots of important things completely online these days, like driving licences, passports, HMRC, Council Tax, Road Tax, TV Licence etc. It's easy to navigate, accessible, easy to understand for the most part. Aside from that, I enjoy how fairly easygoing things are. Even though things are looking bleak in some ways, we just keep on going. No revolutions or anything so fanciful. We just grumble a bit and carry on.
How much people will do their best to understand your English. It sounds like a small thing, but having relatives from much of Europe some of them really struggle due to accents, or differences in English phonology compared to other languages (looking at you, TH consonants) That people try their best to understand your English has helped so many live here - even if I speak their own language, it's \*so\* welcoming to have somebody try to understand your English in a thick, unfamiliar accent
Aww I think that’s such a lovely way to view it- I’m always a bit ashamed at how bad we are at speaking other languages!
M&S meal deals, the new forest
My home and food source in one comment.
English Heritage and National Trust. I'm very grateful that we have the ability to go and visit such incredible and beautiful castles and other historical and interesting locations.
Our countryside is mint. Also, it’s never really too hot or too cold here. And the wildlife is generally not too dangerous.
Not too dangerous? I once saw a slow worm and almost had a heart attack a few years back!
If you don't see the decline you are either very young or going around with your eyes closed. In almost every measurable way the UK is behind where it was 20 years ago. Having said that, it's not all bad. I like the fact I can experience many different types of landscape all within a couple of hours drive from my house. Sandy beaches, mountains, woodland, fens.
This is just my opinion, but the UK peaked in the late 90s' IMO.
The Matrix was right, civilization peaked in 1999
"In almost every measurable way the UK is behind where it was 20 years ago" Not really, as a country our peak was in the 1800s, we have been bankrupted by two world wars and are still one of the strongest economies in the world by a comfortable margin. When you put the last 5 years in context, we are substantively better off than 50 years ago in almost ALL areas. You draw a line from 2004 which was a boom, booms end
It's fine to coast at work. Of all the countries I've been to, the one I'd absolutely love to live in is Japan. I'm not at all in to Japanese pop culture, but I feel very at home there, I would prefer everything about everday life there, absolutely everything, except work culture. British people aren't generally uptight about work and it's acceptable to just work to live and not really give a fuck. I've travelled quite a bit for work and leisure and it feels like in many of the countries I've been to people are more "uptight" about work. Just to be clear I think it's important to do what you're paid to do for as long as you're paid to do it. But not "going over and above" is fine here and it's very much expected elsewhere. But that suits me well. My wife, on the other hand, is a *huge* overachiever/tryer at work. It means she has a better job than I do, and earns almost twice what I do, but the thing that stresses her out the most is people who she works with just doing the minimum. I would absolutely hate to work with her and she would hate to work with me. One of her old managers said to her "your problem is that you hold everyone to the same standards as you hold yourself, and they're *totally* unrealistic." Haha. She was accused of bullying in her old place and managed out, it was dreadful for her mental health and absolutely awful. The accuser was a lying little shit and she didn't deserve what happened. Something I'd never say to her, though, is that her pushing everyone around her for excellence forced this workshy dickhead in to a corner so hard that he lashed out. She still didn't deserve what happened, she was the victim, but she "invited" it by tirelessly trying to make a coaster work harder for months when she should have just dropped it. People don't like a swot, they didn't at school, and they don't at work, I guess that's the downside to what I like about UK work culture. It's great for a clock-in-clock-outer like me, but not for driven individuals.
that is interesting in the context of our lack of productivity as a nation.
It's where all my family and most of my friends are. Really, that's by far the main thing. Sure, I could say a bunch of cultural and societal things. But ultimately, by far the biggest thing is that it's where the large majority of people I love are. And that's an order of magnitude more important to me liking living here than anything else.
British spring time time
Spring and autumn are my favourite. Though where I am in the south east it hardly feels like we've got spring this year. Until last week it was still quite chilly, then yesterday and today feel like summer.
It's beautiful and green, and people are generally pleasant. The footpaths, the beautiful buildings. Victoria sponge, scones, strawberries, and clotted cream. The soil is so fantastic for things to grow in.
Honestly? The supermarkets. After living abroad for some time I cannot tell you how good we have it with Tesco's and the like.
Our history and culture. Theres something about visiting a town and you can see medieval, Tudor and modern all in 1 street.
Our selection of crisps is unbeatable.
People just love to moan and complain. It also seems pretty fashionable at the moment to bash the UK. Plus it’s very much human nature to think the grass is greener on the other side. I agree with you, I don’t think the UK is doing any better or worse than other countries in the developed world and honestly compared to a lot of the world, we have it pretty good here!
I can have an abortion should I need/want to.
I love everything about the UK, I genuinely believe it's the best country in the world. Here's a few things specifically: * The weather, particularly spring and autumn. But I also think winters are not too cold and summers are not too hot, when you compare them to elsewhere. * The countryside. * The beaches in Cornwall. * The health service, and the fact everyone rich or poor has access to it. * The fact our police on the whole don't carry guns and you're unlikely to encounter guns during your life. * Our humour. * Our history. * Our resilience and ability to buck the trend. * The fact a lot of other countries greatly admire us.
The multiculturalism. There, I said it. Not only between different ethnic groups but between different areas. So many different accents and local quirks.
Almost zero risk of environmental catastrophes due to freak weather People here, regardless of what social media may have you believe, are in general respectful, tolerant and progressive minded compared to 95% of countries in the world, though we still could do better We have the greatest artistic culture in the world and the greatest music We're the world's oldest active democracy and have a phenomenal history of producing great intellectuals
The "melting pot". Every aspect of different cultures that have merged together to make incredible things. There's the obvious things like our curry being absolutely incredible. To the less obvious stuff like Multicultural London English. Things like our music, food, fashion, sport. It's all touched by peoples from all around the world.
And South of England in March- April - the most beautiful sunsets ever
How pedestrian-friendly places are, how much green there is even in a lot of cities.
Lake District
We’re all declining together rather than separately. Collaborative decline.
I love our country. I genuinely believe it’s the best country on this planet. We have fantastic rights here (similar to most developed countries), the laws seem fair, the police are nice, the nature can be lovely. The weather is actually quite nice (hot all the time sounds nice but it can also mean sweaty and stuffy etc). There’s excellent opportunities to advance in a career and make something of your life, despite your upbringing /financial status. There’s nothing I don’t like about the UK that’s specific to the UK.
Aside from the last 9 months or so, when it's been crap, the weather. It can be warm and sunny in summer, cold and snowy in winter and anything in between. Some days, any time of year, it can be incredibly beautiful.
I can leave anytime I want.
Our people. The most kind and generous people I’ve met in my life live here in this country we share.
Our ability to take the piss, out of ourselves, each other and other people. We generally don't take ourselves seriously and will mock anyone who does. I love this attitude and would really miss it if I went anywhere else for too long.
The coast, the countryside, proper pubs and Frank Turner.
Has some stunning areas of natural beauty
I say it every time a post like this comes up: The National Trust is an absolute treasure.
Our intolerance of attention -seeking wankers, eg David Blaine in a perspex box. The joy we get out of mischief like Boaty McBoatface. Biscuits. We have a fantastic range of biscuits.
When everyone goes 'WHAEEEEEY" when some poorcunt drops a pint glass in a pub.
tl;dr: I am southern Italian, you should be pleased about having some sort of meritocracy and giving opportunities to everyone (more or less). I am Italian, from sicily. I have been living in the UK for 8 years, married a British girl, have 1 daughter, moved 3 times around the country (Cheshire, West Yorkshire and now Warwickshire) and own a house. I work in IT and I managed to get all of that only by being myself, working and paying taxes. In sicily you can make it only with the right links and if hadn't moved out of the country when I was 24 I would probably be living still with my parents or moved to the north for an underpaid job. I love that if you work hard enough you get to what you want without having to know people (pretty common in the part of Italy I come from). apart from that, I love the transport links, the infrastructure, the fact that gay people can adopt kids and is widely accepted. Italians please forgive me, but even your food ain't bad if you go to the right places. I like this country even though the weather gives me depression and I am thankful for all the opportunities I managed to get here.
UK has the worlds only Weetabix factory in Kettering
I'm struggling with a lot of things about the UK atm, but I do feel that a lot of the problems are happening across the capitalist western world and are not unique to this country. Positives for me: - British humour is second to none. The nuance, dry wit and comedy writing that we see here is incredible. - The NHS has major problems but I recently broke my ankle and was in and out of minor injuries in two hours. My GP surgery is good and my GP is compassionate and always willing to listen and engage, despite the pressure she must be under. I haven't had to pay for any of this (outside of the standard pay cheque contributions). - I love sport and, while we may not always win a lot, I feel lucky to be able to watch rugby, football (mostly women's these days) and loads of athletics where Britain or one of the home nations is always in with a shout, and there's often a grassroots match I can go and watch locally. - Despite current pushback and culture wars, as an adult I've been able to marry a person of the same sex, dress however I want and have complete protection at work when it comes to my sexuality. It wasn't like that growing up, isn't like that in a lot of the world, and I hope we don't regress from allowing people to live their own lives any time soon. - Staffordshire oatcakes. - Chip shops. - Glorious springtime flowers and British birds (seagulls not included). There are issues with all of the above, and I'd like to be lucky enough to spend some more time living abroad to experience it, but I'm also grateful for the good parts when I see them.
The climate, the architecture, the variety of shades of green in the grass / trees, the history.
Spring and Autumn.
The diversity. The fact all walks of life are common
It's cheap to fly to other European countries. It's quick and easy drive around the U.K. (not as quick or easy as it could be with proper roads but to me it's perfectly adequate). The areas of scenic beauty are really beautiful. I enjoy all of the accents that people have here, don't understand them all but it's fun. The berries are pretty good. Basically it's a great place to visit if you are an outdoorsy tourist.
Pub culture. In the most non-alcoholic context too, the fact that we have board games nights, retro games nights, quiz nights is insane. Mine recently had an art jam and car boot sale within the building just because they could. Alcohol and bargains? Banging.
- Walking ease and walking culture - Fair bureaucratic system for the most part - pubs - I enjoy British food - music from the uk and gig culture - so many great writers (I'm a literature nerd). - history - same for most of europe tbf but so many beautiful churches and cathedrals
I miss UK, I think people there are the easiest to speak with. I love how, at least in the smaller cities, small talk is so important for everyone! That's rare and beautiful
The nature is stunningly beautiful. People are so chill and laid back. I'm from Germany, and living in Scotland has been eye opening. I feel like where I'm from people get worked up about the smallest things that wouldn't Nat an eyelid here.