Liz Jones and fitting in on Exmoor.

H

henryhorn

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I'm not the slightest bit surprised LJ has found it tough going, with an attitude like hers, she'll never fit in.
To publicly slag off the very people she might need to rely on is hardly the way to make friends.
Sadly the woman seems to think employing locals will gain her some respect, but all I reckon many will do is up their prices because she's an incomer with an inflated ego.
To boast she feeds the rats on organic museli when many locals keep chickens to boost their incredibly low incomes is nothing short of arrogance, and no matter what she may feel about eating meat, in an area where farming is a main income, she should keep that mouth firmly closed.
I read earlier of how she wrote how dreadful a New Year's Eve party was she had been invited to, well she wouldn't be invited back if that was me!
I feel cross with myself I actually felt sorry for the woman and when she first wrote about how terrified she was about caring for her newly acquired horses sent her a friendly email with my number, saying we weren't that far away , saying she would be welcome to ring us if in trouble with any of her horses, as over the years we'd met most injuries and illnesses.
It tells you a lot she didn't even reply to that email...
I can't see how she can possibly stay living there now, I reckon she will be ostracised. I live on Dartmoor and once had a row with a local woman, who's parting shot to me was "My family have lived on this moor for hundreds of years. we were here before you arrived and we'll be here long after you've gone!"
We made it up but it did show me the depth of feeling hidden against incomers, and I'm in my 17th year living here..
Her story of how unwelcoming everyone has been to her reminds me of another, when a newcomer to a village is asked by an old boy what her previous neighbours were like. When told they were horrible his reply was that she would likely find the locals here just the same......
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It's probably a good job she didn't respond to my email, I have a feeling she would be the type to embrace parelli whole heartedly, and down to earth horsemanship learned over many years would not be appreciated or understood by her anyway....
 
I think most of us can recognise her as being ' eccentric' rather than nasty.

I do think there is a problem on both sides and she's not the first to notice how unwelcoming some elements of country folk are. There was a lady journalist ( who's name escapes me ) who moved back to the town because she was so ostracized.

Blowing out her letter box is hardly the way to change her opinions tbh and no right minded person would think that is very clever.
 
Yes she has shot herself in the foot really. I too felt sorry for her to start with but I think she has brought all the ill feeling onto herself I'm afraid.

Nothing like being rude about everyone, in a weekly publication, to put people's back's up! She's an attention seeker - end of.
 
Isn't she a Daily Mail journalist? - What did you expect?!!!

I haven't seen the article, have you a link? But I would agree that it sounds like she has a horrible attitude. Don't be cross that you send her a friendly email - it says a lot more about you than the lack of response does about her!

It sounds a real shame that she has an attitude like that. I'm sure the exmoor community might have been glad to have a sympathetic voice in the press but a bad attitude will likely put their hackles up. and will help keep her as an outsider.
 
I agree HH, I must admit I read her article and sliently fume. We moved to Dartmoor 3 years ago and love it here. We have great local friends, we have fantasitc local contractors and the people are lovely. But you have to fit in with the way of doing things, not rant and moan because it isn't London, thank god it isn't. She seems to be a typical townie tree hugger, has no idea of how life in the country is not all roses round the door and lovely fresh bread. it's hard, and people are poor and farmers need to earn to live. And to be honest what man would want to be involved with her, sh is so derogatory in print - she sounds like a real head case who really needs a long stint in the priory to sort out her issues. I really find her column such a load of garbage and now she writes in the Western Morning news so we are subject to it there as well. I really just wish she would take her overgrown ego, her stupid rantings and her sheep worrier dog back to London and stop writing rubbish.
 
Hmmm she's more than aware of whatever she writes in the Mail on Sunday will be read by a lot of people who live near her. Every word has been well thought out before being put to paper - she is a journalist after all. I used to think she was eccentric but I now think she is just plain stupid.

Of course it could all be a publicity stunt!
 
That woman is such an idiot - I try to avoid reading her columns as she irritates me so much! I honestly think she must have a screw loose not to realise how she comes over to other people. She was talking about overhearing a conversation in the newsagents, but only she had to point out that it was while she was 'buying a £20 bottle of wine'. I can only think we are meant to be impressed by that?
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I suppose it serves me right for reading the Mail though!
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Perhaps it is time for a change of paper as they are using her more and more!
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Thats the thing though, nobody pertains to like her but everyone reads her ( just like katie Price ).

On the positive side she does give employment to locals, who one assumes are glad to take her money.

No, for me I think she's eccentric and harmless.
 
Well I think they might take her money with gritted teeth when she then refers to local shopworkers as having 'learning difficulties' and then bemoaning the fact that they don't know what 'Illy Coffee' is! (I don't know what Illy Coffee is either - so I don't know what that says about me.
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Well they do don't they
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Have you not thought for once that this is all tongue in cheek, its no different imo to anyone being deliberately provocative, its just that she doesn't have the cudos to carry it off.
 
I must say that when she first started her column (before she moved to Exmoor) and was discussing every wrinkle and fart of her relationship, I didn't believe she was a real person and just thought the column was an editor taking the mickey out of the readership. Perhaps that is true and it is all just an elaborate hoax - has anyone actually met the woman!?

However, if she is real I do genuinely believe she has a bit of a problem and perhaps should seek some help. She seems to be alienating friends, family, partners and neighbours with her 'no holds barred' journalism. If she carries on then she is likely to pay a high price for her fame and fortune and will end up a very lonely and bitter person (if she isn't already
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Well, that's a novel way to work Parelli into a thread Henryhorn.
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I know the lady who works for Liz, and can assure you that Parelli will be far, far from their prefered training methods.
I also think it's all a bit of a shame, because I know that Liz Jones is very generous to charities and actually rather a nice person when you meet her. I always took her comments as tongue in cheek, but thought that some might get deadly serious about it.
Surely the letterbox peppered with shot is nothing though? Happens all over the place in areas where there is regular shooting doesn't it?
 
Hmm , I think she's eccentric , but not in a fun way .
I used to read her Sunday column but it drove me nuts in the end !
I was please when she campaigned for magazines to use larger models , then furious when she said ' She hated fat people .'
On the plus side , she appears to love her animals , but had a cat that was so ill it should have been put down to end its suffering . Whether or not she made the decision , I don't know .
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I knew moving to the country would be a bad move for her . I came from the suburbs to Norfolk in 1985 . Took a bit of getting used to , but found the people very friendly . I dislike shooting , but there are many shoots near me - I have to ignore them & shrug my shoulders .

I've no idea what Illy coffee is , had no idea that Agas came in Pistachio colour & didn't know that Hunter wellies were for townies
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I feel Liz Jones never wanted to grow up & has all sorts of issues , but slagging off the locals isn't going to help her one bit . I could go on , but I'm not going to - I might go as crazy as she appears to be
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Good God, the woman is a crime against humanity. Honestly, she deserves everything that's thrown at her, and that's talking from experience. Her parting shot was that she's moving to Wales. I'm not keen on the Welsh but they don't deserve her as a neighbour.
Perhaps we could show our generosity by starting a fund for a leaving present. A one-way ticket to Ulaanbaatar might be a good call!
 
Good Lord, haven't you inbreds got anything better to do than vilify a caring, charity giving, wine drinking, animal rehoming older lady
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Now get out there and milk your cows and leave her to her coffee. Mine's a skinny, decaf, wet latte please.
 
Having lived in Wales for three and a half years, if she moves there she'll get far worse than shotgun pellets I can guarantee..
Upset the Welsh and they retailate swiftly and with with no mercy, I got on great there but the feuds between neighbours had to be watched to be believed!
The sad thing is she seems to think how she and others look to be the most important things in life, well when your water supply stops, the electricity fails, you sure don't look at what your rescuer looks like, or what they are wearing, you're just grateful to be helped..
I'm afraid I do know what colour a pistachio Aga is (mine's wedgewood blue which is a rather lovely sky blue), but Illy coffee escapes me.
As for saying the shelf stackers look slow what an insult, perhaps some do have learning difficulties, and how hurt must their parents' feel after her nasty remarks.
I have a couple of female friends who moved as she did on their own to Exmoor, they however are of the hunting type and fitted right in.. Seems a bit mad to me for LJ to go right to the very heart of the most dedicated hunting fraternity in the UK and then slag them off..
We've all heard about her insecurities, her dreadful marriage etc, and it must at some point be obvious even to her the fault lies within.
By all means feed your fur babies (spoilt brat cats to the rest of us) on fresh prawns and live your life exactly as you choose, just don't write about it in a manner that hurts others. Has it ever occurred to LJ I wonder that in nearby villages people can't afford prawns for themselves never mind her damned cats?
Rural poverty is something people tend to keep well hidden, but it's a fact wages in the S West are awful..
In this area there are some really rich people, not just well off as LJ is, but mega rich. You wouldn't be able to tell them from the rest of us locals however, because they make sure they blend in and don't flaunt their wealth. One old chap who used to deliver leaflets for his tourist attraction always turned up in a disreputable old van held together by chicken wire. He was well spoken with lovely manners so it was no surprise to hear he owned over 1000 acres plus two of the finest listed houses in Devon..
Miss Jones will need to do an awful lot of bridge building if she wants to stay living where she does, but it may well be too late for that now.
I do have a sneaky feeling that deep down this shotgun incident will have given her just the excuse she wanted to hightail it somewhere else.
I think the fantasy she envisaged never really happened for her, real life living in the country rarely lives up to it , instead of lazing by the pool you're far more likely to be removing the frogs and toads from the inlet where they have putrified, and instead of wandering meadows of wildflowers you're out there picking ragwort...
I think she would be far happier in the outskirts of London, where town is near and she could still have her animals. (and the locals of Exmoor can sigh knowing they won't read about themselves in next week's Daily Mail magazine...
 
I think you're right - I came from Epping Forest area - worked in London , but had the peace of the village to come back to & the forest to ride in . Why did I leave ? ( got married & couldn't afford to buy as much as a garden shed there ! )

BTW - I used to shelf stack a few years ago to help with the livery bills for my horse . We used to start late , but if there were any customers in the store they had the same attitude as L.J - ' No use asking her where the maple syrup is , they're all thick '- grrrrrrrrrrrrr
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I think one of the reasons there is so much bad behaviour in Britain today (lager louts, football hooligans, neds, feral children, petty vandalism) is due in part to the readieness to verbally crucify people for being "slightly annoying".

Liz Jones' trademark journalistic style is slightly tongue in cheeck and brutally honest. If she were a man she would be viewed fondly as a Jeremy Clarkson type figure and feature on a "Wierd Fancies" list. But because she is a single woman and *gulp* goodness forbid, a single childless woman, she is subjected to all sorts of vicious criticism.

There are so many women out there who are scared to voice an opinion, so firstly I admire one who is not afraid to, even if her opinion may differ from mine (particularly in relation to her fashion column...).

And secondly, I admire her for not being afraid to speak her mind. Walk around your average British supermarket and you do see the characters she describes.

However, I do think Liz Jones would be much happier in Surrey. Surrey was clearly made for her and vice versa.
 
Illy coffee is an Italian brand of coffee for cafetieres and percolators and things..... you plebs
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As for Liz Jones..... good grief
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Any more explanations of what this damn coffee is ???
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I am happy to admit I am that pleb
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but in my defense I don't drink coffee - what ever is the matter with a nice cup of Tetley ??
 
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