Why doesn't a local just ask a few people why they're there?
Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#32Speaking as a local, this genuinely is bizarre. Three miles from Kidlington is Woodstock, which is a picture-perfect village with stone cottages and quaint shops. Ten miles away (where I live) you're into the genuine Cotswolds. The theories advanced in the BBC article don't stack up. Kidlington is not a "folksy cultural stop" or "a beautiful English village". It's really average suburbia - the fact it's formally a "v…
> It's really average suburbia from what i can see, it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US or china, which are basically just copies of the US suburbs (large mcmansions, cul de sacs, sterile landscaping, etc) it has a very specific english quaintness to it. fwiw, german suburbs (i was in bavaria) also have a very german quaintness to them.
>it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US
I wonder if people would mind contributing examples of what they see as "average suburbia in the US". Here's a couple of examples to get us started.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Walla+Walla,+WA+99362/@46....
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4113052,-105.8455333,3a,75y,...
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.810146,-100.7572514,3a,75y,1...
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6438991,-116.4085499,3a,75y,...
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#33Oxford Parkway railway station (https://goo.gl/maps/UKa1rz18pN92) has opened in the past 6 months which is practically in Kidlington and the stop before the mentioned Bicester Village retail park as you travel from London Marylebone. I suspect the tourists are thinking they can squeeze a little Oxford visit on their way back to London, not realising that the dreaming spires of Oxford city centre are a fair old way away from Oxford Parkway station.
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's really average suburbia from what i can see, it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US or china, which are basically just copies of the US suburbs (large mcmansions, cul de sacs, sterile landscaping, etc) it has a very specific english quaintness to it. fwiw, german suburbs (i was in bavaria) also have a very german quaintness to them.
It's certainly English, but if you want quaint, this area is Quaint Central - pretty much everywhere apart from Kidlington. Here's Benmead Road in Kidlington, one of the places the tourists are reputed to be turning up: https://goo.gl/maps/urEVsQEmRqx Here's historic Woodstock, which is just three or four miles away: https://goo.gl/maps/M2M9dzXv2e32 Here's Charlbury, another five miles away, where I live: https://goo…
All of the brickwork in your first link reminds me of Detroit:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Detroit,+MI,+USA/@42.428...
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's really average suburbia from what i can see, it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US or china, which are basically just copies of the US suburbs (large mcmansions, cul de sacs, sterile landscaping, etc) it has a very specific english quaintness to it. fwiw, german suburbs (i was in bavaria) also have a very german quaintness to them.
>it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US I wonder if people would mind contributing examples of what they see as "average suburbia in the US". Here's a couple of examples to get us started. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Walla+Walla,+WA+99362/@46.... https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4113052,-105.8455333,3a,75y,... https://www.google.com/maps/@46.810146,-100.7572514,3a,75y,1... https://www.google.com/maps/@4…
I'd go with this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.2167856,-77.5166197,3a,75y,2....
Alternatively this: https://www.bing.com/mapspreview?v=2&rtp=adr.~adr.Carlyle%20...
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's really average suburbia from what i can see, it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US or china, which are basically just copies of the US suburbs (large mcmansions, cul de sacs, sterile landscaping, etc) it has a very specific english quaintness to it. fwiw, german suburbs (i was in bavaria) also have a very german quaintness to them.
It's certainly English, but if you want quaint, this area is Quaint Central - pretty much everywhere apart from Kidlington. Here's Benmead Road in Kidlington, one of the places the tourists are reputed to be turning up: https://goo.gl/maps/urEVsQEmRqx Here's historic Woodstock, which is just three or four miles away: https://goo.gl/maps/M2M9dzXv2e32 Here's Charlbury, another five miles away, where I live: https://goo…
None of them have the big Sainsbury's though, which is pretty much the only reason I've ever visited Kidlington.
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's really average suburbia from what i can see, it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US or china, which are basically just copies of the US suburbs (large mcmansions, cul de sacs, sterile landscaping, etc) it has a very specific english quaintness to it. fwiw, german suburbs (i was in bavaria) also have a very german quaintness to them.
>it doesn't look like average suburbia in the US I wonder if people would mind contributing examples of what they see as "average suburbia in the US". Here's a couple of examples to get us started. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Walla+Walla,+WA+99362/@46.... https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4113052,-105.8455333,3a,75y,... https://www.google.com/maps/@46.810146,-100.7572514,3a,75y,1... https://www.google.com/maps/@4…
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#38Speaking as a local, this genuinely is bizarre. Three miles from Kidlington is Woodstock, which is a picture-perfect village with stone cottages and quaint shops. Ten miles away (where I live) you're into the genuine Cotswolds. The theories advanced in the BBC article don't stack up. Kidlington is not a "folksy cultural stop" or "a beautiful English village". It's really average suburbia - the fact it's formally a "v…
Didn't catch in the article if it was mentioned, but has anyone thought of you know, asking tourists why they picked to come there, or what they expect to see? Guessing the implication they can't speak English very well? I have seen a similar phenomenon when going to Jamaica. Our driver who was supposed to take us from the airport to the hotel to the other side of the island, happened to stop for a "break" at a road-…
> Didn't catch in the article if it was mentioned, but has anyone thought of you know, asking tourists why they picked to come there, or what they expect to see? Guessing the implication they can't speak English very well?
Yes, that's exactly what the article said:
> Michelle Young, who lives in The Moors, Kidlington, says they did try to solve the mystery.
> "A neighbour did try to ask them where they were from but they didn't speak any English and we didn't get very far," she said.
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#39Has no one bothered to ask the visitors why they came?
They did:
> Michelle Young, who lives in The Moors, Kidlington, says they did try to solve the mystery.
> "A neighbour did try to ask them where they were from but they didn't speak any English and we didn't get very far," she said.
> Baz Daniels, who has lived in Kidlington for more than 20 years, said he had been in touch with a friend in China to try to get to the bottom of the tourist influx to his village.
> "Kidlington is apparently being marketed by Chinese tourist agencies as a beautiful English village on the way to Bicester Village shopping centre," he said.
> "Many of the visitors live in cities, and love to see things like the hanging baskets and little flowers in people's gardens.
> "Visitors are now actively asking to add Kidlington to their tour itineraries," he added.
It sounds like the real mystery is how it got started and why it hasn't stopped.
Re: Kidlington's mystery tourist influx continues to baffle locals
#40Has no one bothered to ask the visitors why they came?
They did: > Michelle Young, who lives in The Moors, Kidlington, says they did try to solve the mystery. > "A neighbour did try to ask them where they were from but they didn't speak any English and we didn't get very far," she said. > Baz Daniels, who has lived in Kidlington for more than 20 years, said he had been in touch with a friend in China to try to get to the bottom of the tourist influx to his village. > "Ki…
Once a place becomes part of the tour packages, it apparently becomes a fixture and people ask for it. At least that's what I've been told by tourists about my current hometown Heidelberg, which is about as nice as a hundred other similar places in Germany and yet receives almost every Asian tourist in the country on a 10-day Europe package tour. Apparently the location is convenient too.