Editor who moved to Cotswolds from London ridiculed by locals after moaning about country life

A magazine editor who moved to the Cotswolds from London for a slice of the good life has been ridiculed by locals after penning an article moaning about her experience.

Jade Beer, the former editor of Condé Naste’s Brides magazine, moved out of London in 2014 after growing tired of the ‘sheer mass of people’ and the ‘daily commute’.

Writing in the Evening Standard, she then described how she and her family bought a cottage near the idyllic Stow-on-the-Wold, in Gloucestershire, and were ‘blissfully happy’.

But she soon realised the countryside was not quiet – farm vehicles were ‘far noisier than your average run-around’ – and the village’s only taxi driver needed to be booked ‘a week in advance’.

She also moaned that the local school was so small that it meant ‘three different year groups’ having to share ‘one classroom’ and worried about her six-year-old daughter not making friends with the only other child of her age.

Her article provoked a storm of ridicule from locals, one branded Ms Beer a ‘ridiculous, small-minded, entitled, pompous moaner’ while another told her to ‘move back to London and stay there’.

A magazine editor who moved to the Cotswolds from London for a slice of the good life has been ridiculed by locals after penning an article moaning about her experience. Jade Beer, the former editor of Condé Naste’s Brides magazine moved out of London in 2014

Explaining why she and her husband opted to move their family from London, Ms Beer wrote: ‘I had grown tired of the sheer mass of people, weary of battling the daily commute and the long hours associated with a job that required breakfast brainstorms and client dinners.’

She added that she needed ‘silence and solitude’.  

The family moved to the Cotswolds the following summer and wrote of the initial feeling of ‘contentment’ and how the group made new friends with ‘exciting’ people’.

However, she then described how things took a turn for the worse as the drawbacks of country life became clear. 

‘Just as in any town or city, people still do building work, they still sit in their gardens drinking, laughing and playing music late into the night, there is traffic, sometimes lots of it, and farm vehicles are far noisier than your average run-around,’ she wrote.

‘Come summer, everyone who owns a motorbike seems to descend on the Cotswolds in large convoys, ditto vintage cars.’

Jade Beer moved out of London in 2014 after growing tired of the 'sheer mass of people' and the 'daily commute'. Writing in the Evening Standard , she then described how she and her family bought a cottage near the idyllic Stow-on-the-Wold, in Gloucestershire, and were 'blissfully happy'

Jade Beer moved out of London in 2014 after growing tired of the ‘sheer mass of people’ and the ‘daily commute’. Writing in the Evening Standard , she then described how she and her family bought a cottage near the idyllic Stow-on-the-Wold, in Gloucestershire, and were ‘blissfully happy’

She went on to describe her shock at discovering that the nearest Accident and Emergency department was a ’45-minute drive’ after one of her children developed coup. 

The family then had to move ‘four times in as many months’ when the next-door home’s oil tank leaked beneath their home during neighbour’s renovations. 

Ms Beer is the former editor of Brides Magazine

Ms Beer is the former editor of Brides Magazine

Writing of what she and her family now wished for, she said they desired a life where they could live in the countryside ‘Monday to Thursday’ and then relocate to a ‘Cheltenham townhouse at the weekend’.   

Writing in the comments beneath her article, on local said: ‘I live in the Cotswolds and I speak for many here. 

‘Move to Cheltenham if you must or, preferably, back to London and stay there. 

‘People like this push prices up and squeeze locals out of the housing market.’

Another wrote: ‘What entitled drivel ! Clearly not put much thought into the move if it took a sick child to realise the distance to the nearest hospital. 

‘Sure village life is different to the city but you consider the pros and cons prior to committing to move.

‘I was happy to exchange traffic noise for bird song, and smog for clear air. Do your research first, rent before you commit to buy, duh!’ 

Another added: ‘I live in the Cotswolds myself and I think I speak for many here. Move to Cheltenham if you must or, preferably, back to London and stay there.’