Influencers, illegal parking and nosey tourists: What it’s really like to live in Bibury – the ‘most beautiful village in the world’
“My darling, isn’t it beautiful, a tourist, a tourist, turns to his partner, who seems unsuccessful to take a panoramic picture on his iPhone.
A vizör hat coming together with a punk bag around his waist, the man who makes a sport, passing the Colm River in the heart of the village, he stands on a twin -arched stone bridge, while he gets the visual flavors of Bibury.
On the last Friday of summer, tourists are treated with hundreds of other enthusiastic visitors in the afternoon sunlight that lays the rows of honey colored rural houses along the narrow streets.
A century ago, the future Japanese emperor Hirohito, who was fascinated by the calm and charm of the village of Cotswold, declared this “a sacred place .. Not at all, British textile designer, poet and artist William Morris described it as “England’s most beautiful village”.
And this month, apparently does not want to be overcome, American business magazine Forbes Only 600 people declared the society “the most beautiful village in the world – – is a good thing for the locals, right?
“My heart is sinking,” says Parish Council President Craig Chapman. “Even though we are not anti-Turist, this is only more tourists to achieve the right balance between the number of tourists and peasants.”
Mr. Chapman moved to the community with his wife from nearby Chipping Campden during Covid pandemia. “I really didn’t know Bibury, I didn’t know the situation,” he remembers.
Standing next to the walking tourists, thoughtless parking space, stone walls and a coach driver attacked a peasant telling a net -sleeved A4 folder.
Chapman, the problem, in January, according to a council survey, the number of tours to larger coaches, the number of 25-day blocking approximately 25-days, and mostly only one hour remaining and short-term tourists that provide very little financial benefit to businesses, he says.
On a Sunday, he had to run to the village of St Mary’s church to leave the local victory car and to serve, the traffic is very bad.
He says that the number of tourists has risen in recent years due to the increase in impressives on social media, which partly shared the Bibury pictures in the world. Some tasks claim to include images from other Cotswold villages.
“We are a small village, we know that it is beautiful here, but only here we think that no one is taking advantage of the extreme difficulty we see now.
Effort is being made to manage traffic. Quite ugly red and white temporary bunch, the village center of the village of the park closed the bays. Instead, two release points were established for coaches who were both policemen by a parking official.
On Friday, 15 -meter coaches seem to stand briefly to allow tourists to allow tourists in the air. “Them [coaches] Go, park at a intersection for 20 minutes, then go back to choose them [tourists] Up again, Mr Mr. Chapman explains.
In the meantime, the Gloucestershire District Council, which is behind the trial traffic plan that ends this month, encourages visitors to reach smaller vehicles and even go to Cotswolds.
However, Mr. Chapman wants the District Council to go further and to ban larger coaches completely from the village. “Larger coaches bring large groups that don’t spend much time in the village and do not spend a lot of money; all they do to bring the volume they do,” he says.
But the problem is not just coaches. All of the village agrees that the tourist flux creates a problem on the parking place.
With only a few small parking lots that demand £ 9 per day, the drivers look for the street parking lot, some illegally on double yellow lines, others park out of the peasants’ homes.
The first clue that most of the drivers parked on the side streets – the first clue to the local.
“It is ridiculous, Frank says Frank, a worker who returned to his house to find a tourist, parked a SUV outside, despite the positioning of the“ non -parking ”traffic cones.
“Always take it, I have lived enough”, before he questioned the driver when they return to his cars.
Pointing to a small window, he continues: ında One day I was inside and I saw a man who put his head into the window, then I saw someone ‘oh, there’s someone inside’, before another person came and took a look.
“You want to think and respect the people living here.”
In addition, as parents come to take their children outside of school, a mother claims that her two -year -old child almost overthrew by a car in the village.
Another mother, 43 -year -old Lucy Lawrence says: “Tourists are deported here and treat the village like a theme park.”
The parking lot is not only a problem for the school parents in Pick-up, but also for businesses, the village has two pubs on two pubs, a trout farm and a house with an art and craft café.
Lady Anne Evans, owner of Eleven Bibury Cafe, says that the solution is to open a parking in a field outside the village, to host visitors and to alleviate pressure on the streets.
His work is the biggest charm of the village; Arlington Row, which is the order of the 14th century stone -covered houses, was said to be one of the terraces of the most photographed huts in the country.
Lady Anne, who contradicts Mr. Chapman, said that the beauty of the community should not be “passing” from the outer people, but should be celebrated and shared.
“In the past, this village was rightly recognized for its beauty and charm, or he says. “Why don’t we want it and to stop people from enjoying where we live. This is a free country.”
After visiting Stonehenge the day before, there are American tourists Bruce and Lisa Taber who came to a tour of 135 pounds from London.
Orum I’m getting the problem with the buses, Bru 65 -year -old Bruce says, “But then they bring income and people like us who can enjoy their beauty. Even if we are here for a short time, we love very attractive and relaxing.”
A Canadian tourist, who overheard the conversation, said, “What are they doing [residents] Wait for them to choose to live in a place like this? “
As the twilight fell into the village, the thrones of tourists slowly scattered to coaches and cars waiting.
The staff at Ivy-Clad Swan Hotel, which costs a Pint Peroni’s cost to £ 7.05, takes quiet time to talk on the route and looks at another busy day in which the sun was born again.
“The truth is that Bibury is an international beauty point and people want to visit it, Lis said Lisa Spivey, the leader of the District Council.
“Tourism phenomenon is globally experienced in many places and it is not easily corrected as emphasized by protests in Barcelona and Mallorca lately.
“Cotswolds and Gloucestershire as a whole, have a very fantastic place to visit and encourage visitors to check the offer in other parts of the district, and if you are on your bibury list, to visit a smaller vehicle that is more suitable for a narrow street.”
