Feeling attachment to a particular place

[Manacles]

Here is a question: Have you ever been to a place for the first time and felt a really strong emotional pull to it, almost as if you belong or once belonged there?

It's a bit of a "spooky" question and I don't imagine the feeling to be anything more than a stirring of the old 'race memory' or just that simlar characteristics in some places remind the subconscious of others, but I am genuinely interested if any of you guys have come across this sensation on your travels.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I go somewhere often that I started to bond with long before I developed an interest in bushcraft...
Nothing like I've ever seen before as a child so its not from a distant memory but i do feel drawn to it.
Now every time I go, something new pop's up. I guess its because I'm actually looking now and It feels very comfortable daytime and night,
and I look forward to spending more time there!

On the flip side, I've been to places where I feel at-edge pretty much most of the time.

 

[Manacles]

I go somewhere often that I started to bond with long before I developed an interest in bushcraft...
Nothing like I've ever seen before as a child so its not from a distant memory but i do feel drawn to it.
Now every time I go, something new pop's up. I guess its because I'm actually looking now and It feels very comfortable daytime and night,
and I look forward to spending more time there!

On the flip side, I've been to places where I feel at-edge pretty much most of the time.

Yep, that's the exact feeling. I know what you mean about "edgy" places aswell.......

 

[Home Guard]

I get the same feeling sometimes. I guess in my case its just the fact that i'm used to the place I bushcraft. And Bushcraft being a hobby, I want to do it!

 

[Badger74]

I was taken to Co. Mayo in Ireland when I was 14 to meet my dads aunts/uncles etc. Felt at home straight away and been back as often as I could. That was 17 years ago.

 

[Harvestman]

The Rhayader area in mid-Wales does that for me. I just feel so relaxed as soon as I'm there.

 

[lucan]

Tenby, Our first real family Camping Holiday in 2009 with my Wife and kids, I'd holidayed there as a kid with my parents for years, Somehow it just feels like home, We've been back 3-4 times a year since , We all love the place, It's just a weird feeling we get once were there, Hard to explain

 

[santaman2000]

Yeah. It's very hard to explain; especially when you feel that attachment to 2 or 3 places that aren'r even remotely similar. Just the attachment is the lone link. I've felt it on the beach, in the woods, in the mountains and in the desert; in the wilds, in the city or in a village. Not every where in those places, just certain locations. Don't know what makes one location different from any other similar location; it just is. It would be easier to understand if it were somewhere I had been before but it isn't. Likewise the feeling that, no, this is someplace I don't belong.

 

[RonW]

I sure do have that too!
From the very first time I went to Sweden I felt a strange peacefull feeling coming over me, but when I came to the southern tip of Dalarna I felt really at home for the first time in my life. That was in '97 and have had that ever since, when I returned there.
So I am moving there coming august .....finally!

 

[Retired Member southey]

I have a spot just outside Amesbury, squeezed between the A303 and a steep hill, called Lords walk, I used to play there a lot growing up, and nearly always stop there when passing, it's a beautiful place with a real peace about it even though its next to a very busy road.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

Naughty corner at the moot cos I am spending a week there when I first arrive
And I am among friends and the crack is amazing and camaraderie is Ausome and there
Is just the feeling of true happiness and home and good times

 

[treadlightly]

The Tanat valley in Wales does it for me... plus a small piece of woodland in the Chilterns.

 

[Realbark]

The Orkney islands for me

 

[Silverback 1]

A place called Black Craig in Dumfries and Galloway is very special to me,spent a lot of time stalking roe deer there a few years ago, beautiful spot just off the A75 near Newton Stewart,you can drive past in the blink of ane eye if you didn't know it was there,haven't been for a good while but if i came into money would want to buy one of the properties on the steep hill to it's approach,dream on!

 

[Canadian Kodiak]

There's a secret spot I go backpacking to all of the time and I absolutely love it there. When I arrive I can feel a euphoria come over me and I know I'm at home, in the place I need to be. The feeling is almost indescribable. One of the many great things about it is I honestly think I am the only person to have ever set foot there. I have never seen any sign of other people there before, no garbage, no footprints, no snapped, trampled or broken foliage to indicate that another human has ever been there.

About 100 yards from my campsite is a spot where three small creeks come together and form a small waterfall. In between two of the creeks, overlooking the waterfall, is a small patch of land just big enough for one person to sit on. Every morning I sit there drinking my coffee and Baileys with the sun slowly rising and shining in my face. Man, you can't buy that kind of therapy.

 

[Ivan Owen]

Aye, i did a couple of days work on a veggie farm a month ago and felt a real feeling of belonging in the farm environment; completely changed my lifes direction. Get it in scruffy over grown terrace gardens too.... and Ilkley moor. Like people have said there no real pattern.

 

[Paul_B]

I have a few places I like to visit and think I have felt a feeling like you describe (just can't remember where). The feeling of place I don't like is when I go somewhere and I immediately feel at edge. Can't explain why but I have been to a few places where I just can't settle or where I just feel like something bad has happened or will happen there. IME that is a stronger feeling than the more positive place.

One such place is the Mosedale Cottages in the Eastern Lakes. Its a MBA maintained bothy and I have had a really entertaining and enjoyable night there but I was on edge. Another place that I've stayed at was Camasunary Bothy in the Black Cuillins mountains on Skye. That place had the strongest negative feeling for me. I am ashamed to say I was so on edge that I didn't sleep much. It felt like death to me. My own death. We saw about 30 deer come down to the loch and they were about 15 metres from the window looking out the side of the bothy which was nice but to me it was kind of like evil spirits.

Anyone else been totally creeped out like that? Or am I a total woose? I know some others get creeped as there was a thread on here about being scared of the dark. It was not the dark for me there but a feeling of bad omen. Darkness and being alone has no issues for me but that place did even though I was with friends. We each had a different room.

Anyway for me I feel very much at home in anywhere in the Lakes. Except Ennerdale. That valley is a work in progress with the re-wilding so there are very few camping spots and it just doesn't feel like nature is at home there yet so I don't feel at home.

I like camping near a few of the tarns in the Lakes. Those spots are really peaceful and sort of "at home" places.

 

[Pict]

Alaska. There was something incredibly primal about the place that really struck a chord immediately. I find it very comforting that huge wilderness areas exist.

Another area here in Brazil became a place with a deep emotional connection for myself and my oldest daughter. When we found it, it was just a large unregulated forest. We spent ten years exploring in that area. It has since been transformed into the Uaimii State Forest Reserve. The Uaimii isn't exactly a State Park yet but it is headed in that direction. While I am thrilled that the land is protected from human exploitation it makes me sad that we can't camp there anymore. Many of the most beautiful areas now have groomed trails with handrails etc. Mac