Don’t move to mid-Essex ! We are plagued (pre-COVID and presumably again in due course) with flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southend. Luckily they are fairly high by the time they pass overhead. Plus air ambulance or police helicopters heading to the M25. The occasional military helicopter or plane from the RAF bases further north in Suffolk and Lincolnshire. Not to mention the small light aircraft from local airfields - why do their engines make that stuttering noise that makes me think they are about to crash land on my house ?
We’re in Birmingham and only occasionally hear an aeroplane and in the distance not loud. Luckily for us we aren’t under the local airport flight paths, just on the very edge of one of their reserve routes. We do sometimes get a police helicopter overhead but not often during the night, as already said rare enough to that we are just curious what’s happening.
There is a level of background noise, inevitable in a city and from having neighbours, but it can also be very quiet and especially at night. Pre-COVID days, with the wind in the right direction we can faintly hear the roar of the crowd if there is a home game at Aston Villa. We don’t get a lot of traffic noise but that’s because we are upwind of the busiest main routes, if the wind moves round we get a low steady hum, not really noticeable in the day.
I remember visiting a beautiful country garden, completely tucked away down winding country lanes in the middle of nowhere. One of the group commented on the motorway noise, those of us who felt we couldn’t have lived with it included the two of us from Birmingham. Our fellow visitors, mostly Oxfordshire based, wouldn’t believe that our gardens were quieter! It was really noticeable, always feel that must be worse than noise in the city/town - at least you expect it there and the trade off is having all the urban amenities
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
My in-laws live over the flight path for Heathrow and it's every half a minute and they are really low (landing). Their place and garden is beautiful and quite rural but the planes definitely get on top of you after a few days there. They say they don't hear them but it would drive me mad.
I lived under it for a while when I was younger and these things didn't bother me as much. I couldn't do it now (planes on one side of the flat and the Paddington line on the other).
We get a few planes each day taking off from Newcastle and coming over us but it only seems to be when there is thick cloud that they come in this direction.
As I get older I crave peace and quiet a lot more than I used to.
We live under a flight path for Manchester airport, but most of the planes were very high and no bother. Since lockdown though there's been none of them, though there's a daily helicopter goes out around 11am and the occasional other helicopter or light aircraft. If I hear a plane now, I rush to have a look at it! What I appreciate the most is the lack of contrails. On nice days we get blue sky, not misty blue, and during the hot sunny days earlier in the year the sky was that deep Australian blue that I'd never seen here before. Looked wonderful
When we lived in Lingfield we were under the Gatwick flight path. We now live in a village near Eastbourne. We have a spitfire go over daily,not terribly low, the odd tiny plane. I don't mind them. I enjoy hearing and occasionally seeing the spitfire. For many years now,apart from the last 2,we used to visit Eastbourne for the fantastic free airshow on the beach.used to love seeing the Harrier
When we lived in Twickenham we were under a Heathrow flight path. It was v.exciting when Concord flew over - we always rushed into the garden to see it. No choice really - all conversation had to stop as it was so loud. One evening we could smell a really strong chemically smell - so much so we called the local police (there were police in those days) but while they could smell it they couldn't detect where it was coming from. We suspected the sky - a fuel dump from a plane. My mum lived even nearer to the airport and her windows were always covered in an oily film. Now we are in East Anglia and - bliss! The occasional light aircraft, training flights from local air bases and that's about it. Although it was horrible when all the planes went over on their way to bomb Iraq. That was awful, knowing their deadly mission.
I have moved now, but lived right the Southampton flight path from 1961. A few years ago, looked out my back door and there was a passenger plane coming in to land, Much lower then usual, my husband had just come home from work, so screamed for him to come and see. He doesn't swear much but that day I learnt some new words. it was to near us to see what was going on, but later learnt someone was hanging out of the Cockpit. The chap survived but had Frost bite There was a film about it. VERY scary at the time!
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There is a level of background noise, inevitable in a city and from having neighbours, but it can also be very quiet and especially at night. Pre-COVID days, with the wind in the right direction we can faintly hear the roar of the crowd if there is a home game at Aston Villa. We don’t get a lot of traffic noise but that’s because we are upwind of the busiest main routes, if the wind moves round we get a low steady hum, not really noticeable in the day.
I remember visiting a beautiful country garden, completely tucked away down winding country lanes in the middle of nowhere. One of the group commented on the motorway noise, those of us who felt we couldn’t have lived with it included the two of us from Birmingham. Our fellow visitors, mostly Oxfordshire based, wouldn’t believe that our gardens were quieter! It was really noticeable, always feel that must be worse than noise in the city/town - at least you expect it there and the trade off is having all the urban amenities
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
What I appreciate the most is the lack of contrails. On nice days we get blue sky, not misty blue, and during the hot sunny days earlier in the year the sky was that deep Australian blue that I'd never seen here before. Looked wonderful
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
That's our next step. The "forever home" is a few years away (four if we end up going on holiday; not likely) but they are both top of the list.
A few years ago, looked out my back door and there was a passenger plane coming in to land, Much lower then usual, my husband had just come home from work, so screamed for him to come and see.
He doesn't swear much but that day I learnt some new words.
it was to near us to see what was going on, but later learnt someone was hanging out of the Cockpit.
The chap survived but had Frost bite
There was a film about it. VERY scary at the time!