Dour Face of North

Our family spent a week in South Leicestershire, near Market Harborough, visiting family. The towns and villages of the area are so much nicer and prettier than our dour Northern climes. Scottish villages on the average are sour dour places, houses built up to the road, no pretty front gardens, no flowers. Thats is why places like Strathpeffer, Pitlochry and Aviemore stand out as "attractive". For example in my area Greenlaw is such an awful ugly place, and this was once the county town of Berwickshire. Earlston is dour, so Melrose is lovely in contrast as is St Boswells, what a difference a bit of green makes. How much nicer Keso with its outstanding central square over Galashiels with it industrial centre. The country of Scotland is superb of course, but the villages frankly mostly suck.