Last week, Pete and I were clearing some brambles in our field, and he commented on how much noisier it is now than when we first lived here in 1985. At almost any time of the day one can hear traffic noise from the A35 or A3052.
The wonderful dark night skies are almost a thing of the past, too. In the 80s, we could see the Milky Way almost every clear night; now it's only very occasionally visible on the darkest frostiest night. Why? Thoughtlessness by neighbours with their intrusive security lighting, a general increase in street and property lighting, and especially the bright street lighting on the Axminster bypass, visible on our northern horizon.
You can see maps that show how our rural areas are being spoiled by thoughtless development here:
http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/planning/intrusion
(Edited 14/09: I asked for permission to copy parts of the maps here, but the CPRE is obviously a bureaucracy like any other and hasn't yet answered.)
James.
I live on the edge of a town but Louise has lived for 12 years now in what was once a quiet, rural village. As you say a combination of development and traffic increase has largely changed all that. And people seem to have changed, where did these all night firework parties come from ?