Where can I go?

[Triggeredbysmoke]

After years of no symptoms or medication my asthma is now being triggered daily by chimney smoke from surrounding houses. I can smell it in the house with windows closed and air purifier on. I've lived here for 27 years and never had a problem with this before. Life is miserable and I don't see any option but to leave. Does anyone know of any areas (preferably South West England) where there is very little smoke/air pollution? I realise there are smoke control areas in some cities but would prefer to stay rural. I'm scared that if I don't move before next winter I'll be in an even worse state in a year. I recently reacted badly to Fostair and Montelukast and am feeling quite hopeless, so any relocation advice would be much appreciated.

[eleanordigby]

I blame the trend for installing wood burners, where I live it’s a total nightmare. The moment I sniff woodsmoke it sets my asthma off. If only the government would enforce existing regulations. Have you thought of moving to a seaside area within a smoke control zone. Less wooded areas have fewer burners

[Mandevilla]

I would suggest looking for dwellings that don't have many other houses nearby - fewer houses = fewer potential places to have woodburners. Be wary of moving to poorer rural communities - there are still many people for whom woodburners or open fires are their main/only source of heating, and people who are depending on a fire for all their heating requirements are going to have them going longer and more often than those who just enjoy looking at an open fire.

Also, you might find it helpful to consider the type of house you move to - a newer, better insulated house with well fitting windows is likely to be more successful at keeping the smoke out. Our current house is old, with wooden windows that don't fit properly, which is a nightmare for keeping smells, pollen, damp etc outside!

[Mandevilla in reply to Mandevilla]

Forgot to say it might also help to look for a fairly exposed location - I used to live in quite a windy location near an estuary and my asthma got so much worse when we moved to the bottom of a valley - it acts like a kind of 'bowl' holding in all the irritants. I often feel really ill, but if I manage to get out to a location a mile up the road, which is much more open, I feel so much better.

[eleanordigby in reply to Mandevilla]

So true, Mandevilla. Valleys trap pollution. I used to live high up overlooking an estuary and the wind blew polluted air away nicely. I now live in an affluent wooded area (with the trendy woodburners!) but you make a good point that those in poorer rural areas are more likely to depend on open fires - and to have very old fuel burners which don’t meet any environmental regulations.

Triggeredbysmoke I think it’ll be quite hard to find anywhere with clean air but I’d spend a long time on research, choose a couple of possible areas and go and spend a few days in each to try and see what life would be like

[Cloudancer in reply to eleanordigby]

Great advice

[Emaych61 in reply to eleanordigby]

I reached the conclusion when I was in my early thirties that living down in a valley was not a good idea, particularly a wooded valley with a river or stream running through it. In my case it’s the way such valleys trap moisture (so damp conditions which we know is bad for my asthma). Cities such as Bath are known to be bad as well; again in a steep sided valley with a river and whilst there is less in the way of trees there are several busy roads - so pollution is a big issue.

I now live in a rural area in the Midlands and whilst there are wood burners (indeed we have one) we do not live down in a valley although we do live in an an area with trees. My asthma is much better here than when we lived on the outskirts of Bristol (at the bottom of a wooded valley with a stream running through it - beautiful location but we discovered it was not good for my asthma). That location had no wood burners; it was just the way the area trapped the damp.

[Caspiana]

Hello there. I can well understand this. I can't stand smoke it makes me cough those fine particles from burning can travel deeply into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs so of course it sets off exacerbations. My mum lives in Kent near the sea. It's very laid back and she is comfortable there she is 78 and lives on her own but she has wonderful, kindly neighbours who help her when she needs it. She does not have a wood stove. I don't think her neighbours do either. I'm sorry I can't help much with your query but I hope you can move somewhere more suitable. xx 🌿

[guineapignot]

Good luck to you. I can fully understand . We had to move come years ago from TweedValley in Scotland after a tear. Our sons Astma became increasingly bad . Woodsmoke , poilen and damp air made life awful for him. We moved to the coast and life almost instantly improved for him!!!if you an try a few days break In a couple of areas… because we had to be wary of rapeseed !!! Too! Good luck !

[Mandevilla in reply to guineapignot]

The problem with rapeseed is that it doesn't always stay in the same place! Last year, we hardly had any rapeseed grown near us, and I went through the whole season without needing any antihistamines. This year, we're surrounded by bright yellow, and I've spent most of the last week in bed!!!

If rapeseed (or any other crop) is a known issue, I'd suggest looking in very hilly areas (hill farms don't usually grow crops due to the steep slopes) or woodland/moorland etc where arable crops will not be grown.

[Homely2 Administrator]

Sell your house, choose an area, then rent there for six months before buying.

It will take the stress out of selling and buying at the same time and stop you buying in the wrong area.

Just only do this if the housing market is reasonably quiet.

[ellamental]

It is so dissapointing when your breathing is good for ages and then knocks you sideways with something like this. I lived in the Thames Valley basin and it was known for making breathing difficult . A couple of years ago I had double pneumonia and came out of hospital feeling better but still not great. We had a holiday booked in St Ives and nearly didn’t go but we did in the end and it was marvellous. Sea air is so good for my asthma. When I go to visit my friend in Southport I always walk on the beach and feel great as a result. Montelukast did not work for me but Theophylline did. Hope you feel better soon.

[Pipsqueak77]

Hi

I hope you can find an answer to your problem… but please be very careful and do your homework throughly.

I live in the South West, very, very close to the sea and whilst I was born here and love it here it does absolutely nothing to help my asthma. Don’t be fooled by sea air… it doesn’t always help breathing problems.

As someone else also said we have other rural issues such as rape seed and tree pollen which if you are sensitive can be a nitemare too.

Don’t jump out of the frying pan, into the fire!!

Good Luck!

😊👍

[fraid]

I understand your frustration. I live by the sea, lots of folk moved here for the fresh air- now it's full of stinky smoke from log burners, bonfires and firepits, ridic! I also understand folk need to heat their homes but burners are not that cheap either and damage lungs and planet ! Bonfires etc are just plain selfish!

Govt. MUST stop this pollution- much worse than cars, you can move away from busy roads but not the air we all need to breathe! Hope you find a solution. Good luck. 🤞

[Elspe]

Sea air is great. But make sure the area you move to has a Clean Air Act in place. We moved from the Bristol outskirts (with HUGE problems with traffic fumes as well as general pollution and bad weather) to a town in the North East Coast - we were horrified to fine there is NO Clean Air Act, and we are here surrounded by coal fires, coal central heating (not ours, neighbours) AS WELL as the traffic from big cities to our seaside town. My asthma goa HUGELY better until the weather was cold enough for coal fires. I would say I am better than I was there, but not all the problems are solved.

[Emaych61]

Having thought about this I think one of the problems is because of the cost of using central heating over the winter people with stoves and open fireplaces decided to use them more instead.

I admit I’m surprised though if they are still being used. The south west is usually one of the warmer parts of the U.K. Further north where we are it’s very, very rare for someone to feel the need to use their wood burning stoves in May.

[Collienut]

I live in a rural area in the South West, but there are so many wood burners now. Most have been burning pallets or any old wood (including treated wood) they can get their hands on, it's not been good. On the weekends they've been burning all day and I've been stuck indoors or driven somewhere in the middle of nowhere to walk the dogs. I have an air purifier running too.The log burners are now dying down, but the bonfires, bbqs and fire pits have started instead and the smoke/fumes travel a good distance. The tree pollen has been bad and the gorse sets me off too. I used to love going to the beach in the evening for some sea air, but the bbqs have taken over there too 😭

We have so many clean air regulations now, which would be great if people followed them, or if they didn't keep pushing leisure pursuits involving smokey fires! It was great last summer when they banned bonfires and fire pits because the weather was so dry and they were afraid of gorse fires....was even worth the hose pipe ban we've been under since last August 😊.

Petition to bring back the humble picnic, anyone with me?😊

[eleanordigby in reply to Collienut]

Count me in! I don’t get the attraction of charred, half cooked meat anyway. It seriously does p*** me off, all these particulates being released into the air to irritate our lungs. Why don’t these people think of the effect of pollution, let alone climate change, on their children? The well-off trendy families where I live can’t claim they NEED to burn wood. They’re all busy virtue signalling by recycling like mad & buying bamboo loo rolls, then thoughtlessly pollute the air we all breathe. Makes me mad, as you can tell!

[Poshcards]

it's these damn wood burners! they affect me too and get in everywhere, can't even put washing out as it stinks! xx

[Triggeredbysmoke]

Thanks for the replies everyone, you've given me a lot to think about. The chimneys are spouting smoke again tonight - I could smell inside before I even saw, despite having blocked window vents this weekend, and my chest is now clenched like a fist. It's so violating having other people's pollution creeping in. Home isn't safe and life is awful

[runcyclexcski]

I have learned with years that, in the long run, one cannot rely on moving, the people around/the government etc to keep the air clean, and needs to take care of it oneself. Sure, living near a uranium mine or a coal mine is not a good idea, but generally the UK has "decent" air quality (compared, say, to Eastern Europe, India or China). In the countryside, there always will be occasional smoke while in the city there will be diesel exhaust. It would be great to live in Death Valley (where my asthma clears up in 2 days), but there are no jobs there. And people in Death Valley still burn wood when camping. One cannot control what others do, and only ~10% of people have asthma. The 90% will not change their lifestyles b.c of the 10%.

I deal with the air pollution by having HEPA and charcoal filtration where I live, sleep, and work. One cannot just close the windows in the house/flat, b.c. one needs fresh air to breathe. Thus, I have air filtration on the intake which creates positive pressure and keeps unfiltered air getting in. Gaskets on all doors. I always travel with a portable HEPA filter and setup a HEPA tent in the hotel. People keep asking why my backpack is so big, and what's in it. Epipens, drugs, respirators etc take up space. I always have a respirator on me in a backpack (there can be a smoker while I am waiting for a tram, and I would rather put the respirator on than tell people off)