Moving to Liskeard

[berkotopsy]

Hello, we are thinking of moving to Liskeard. Any mums there? Any good baby groups/ music clubs? My LO is 9 months old. Thanks!

[hanbee]

Hi I live a couple of miles from Liskeard. I moved here in March so I'm new but can tell you the childrens centres in the area are all good. They have bounce and rhyme for babies at the library and there are a number of toddler groups. It's a great area to grow up, the coast is stunning. I have a 2 year old and an 8 month old, we've recently bring viewing playgroups, agab their are a few that are good.
I'd pick a village outside of Liskeard if I was you as the town does have some problems.

[thingamajig]

Hello hanbee, I also live a few miles from Liskeard, near Looe. I have a 3yo and 4 month twins. If you would like to meet up/ chat more that would be lovely. Where are you? PM me if you dont want to go into more detail on here...

[berkotopsy]

Thanks hanbee and thingamajig. Good to hear some opinions on Liskeard. We're moving from Hertfordshire so it's a bit daunting... We should be down in Cornwall later on this year. Can you tell me what problems Liskeard has - always good to get some insider info! We are moving down as the in-laws are in Plymouth and also to give LO a more outdoorsy, beachy childhood. Can't wait! Thanks.

[piratecat]

as Jethro would say

'tis a shithole'

or am i thinking of St Austell

[hanbee]

I'm not sure Liskeard is a shit hole, the town is ok and actually has q a few nice independent shops.

I also moved from the south east (Buckinghamshire) and compared to towns there it's really v tame in terms of trouble. There are q a few very young parents, child poverty, and some drug issues but that's all I've heard of so far. A teenage "gang" made the front page of the local paper the other day and it stated it was made up of 6-12 14 year olds and that the police said the would deal with them. I laughed quite a bit as it would probably apply to every school in the town I moved from and wouldn't make the paper!

That said I wouldn't choose to live there as the villages between Plymouth and Liskeard and down towards Looe are as affordable.

[allthefires]

I think neither snozzle or liskeard are too bad.

Op come and join the Truro local board. Covers the whole of Cornwall

[berkotopsy]

Thanks hanbee, that's really useful. Where did you move from if you don't mind me asking? I grew up very near Aylesbury. Feel free to PM me if you prefer. It does sound tame compared to what we're used to up here (and we also used to live in Hackney!). Which is a good thing. Have you found it easy to meet other mums or people in general, or did you already know people in that area?

[hanbee]

Hi I moved from High Wycombe. I also moved down to be near family and didn't know anyone else. I'm slowly meeting people!

[IamtheSnorkMaiden]

I'm in a village halfway between Liskeard and Callington and I used to work at the secondary schools at Liskeard, Looe and Callington. All fairly okay small towns. I don't think Liskeard is a shit-hole...it has its fair share of drunken louts on a late Friday/Saturday night but other than that the place is fairly sedate with a low crime rate. (I grew up on a council estate in West Yorkshire with high levels of poverty and crime). I've lived here for ten years.

I agree that the local children's centres are good for parent and baby/toddler groups and the libraries are also good (I work at Callington library). We run Bounce and Rhyme (as does Liskeard library) and Booklets storytime. The children's centres all run the same groups across the area pretty much, with only slight variations. I'll post a link to Liskeard Children Centre's brochure below:

www.dobwalls.cornwall.sch.uk/parents%20resources/Lisk%20What%27s%20on%20Guide.pdf

There is also Lux Park Leisure centre which has soft play, Sterts theatre has (or used to have) Monkey Music and there are often parent/baby groups run in the surrounding villages especially if it has a primary school. We used to have Baby signing run by a Liskeard mum I know but I'm not sure if she's running it at the moment.

I have two sets of twins, aged five and 13 months and I have been along to many a group in the past few years!

We also have a booklet printed by the council that comes out every half-term with various activities running during school holidays and a magazine called Blackbird Pie as well as Primary Times which list local activities/venues for babies - school aged children.

It is also worth looking at the council's FIS (Family Information Service) page:

cornwall.childrensservicedirectory.org.uk/

So there is plenty to do really :) And we're not all that far from Plymouth either where there is a huge soft-play place and an aquarium. The Eden Project is just under an hour away near St Blazey, and of course there are lots of other places in the county to visit - beaches, moors, parks etc etc etc.

[berkotopsy]

Thanks SnorkMaiden - this is all great stuff. I will look at the links you have posted. I am feeling more and more positive about this move with all these postings :)

Hanbee - HW quite close to where we are now. Must be lovely to now be down there near the sea.

Another obviously very important thing - if you wanted to go out to a nice pub (with or without the kids) or go out for something to eat, where would you go in/near Liskeard. Any recommendations?

[hanbee]

Must admit I haven't been out much to pubs so snorkmaiden will probably be your best bet here! We have eaten at The Hayloft which is on the A38 about 3 miles from liskeard with the children. It was real good and I would def recommend it. Other than that Seasons cafe in liskeard is good as is Cafe Fleur in Looe (owner gave me a glass if water as soon as she saw me bfing and this is the only place this has ever happened to me).

When you move down pm me, we could perhaps meet up?

[berkotopsy]

Recommendations noted on the giant mental Moving to Cornwall list, thanks! Yep would be great to meet up when we are down :)

Cornwall (don't know where exactly) was on TV this morning, pining to get down there. I have just gone back to work commuting into London 3 days a week, so it's even worse. I cannot wait to stop that!

[thingamajig]

berkotopsy, I am guessing that you are from Berkhamsted. Liskeard is a bit like Berko was 20 years ago before the High Street got all posh. A good pub? The Crooked Inn is good, but a bit far from Liskeard itself. I would second that the villages around Liskeard are lovely, either in Looe direction or St Cleer way, some have lovely baby/toddler groups, and since you def need a car to live round here, you can do the rounds - someone else has posted the FIS link.

[berkotopsy]

Yes, thingamajig, you guessed it! We are in Berkhamsted. Fleeing from the ridiculous house prices up here, and wanting to be nearer family. It's funny you say that about Liskeard as we got that feeling about it when we first went there. We're coming down soon, so we'll have a good look around the villages, although our current idea might be to live in Liskeard until we suss out the area properly.

[berkotopsy]

Moved to Liskeard! :)
We are now here, so if anyone'd like to meet up, please post!

[crazycatlady]

Hi berkotopsy, just come across your old thread and wondered how you found the move and how you are settling in? We are moving from the south east to Cornwall next year (Wadebridge probably) so would love to hear how you've found it.

[berkotopsy]

Hi crazycatlady, sorry only just saw this post. I think if you move at the right time of year you will immediately love it here. We moved at the end of October! So, not the right time, as it has rained at some point almost every day - at least that's been my perception! But I can totally see it will be fab come the spring. And it's still nice even in the rain. It's been a bit of a slow process meeting other mums. We moved from somewhere where we had lots of friends and NCT buddies and I miss them! But ask me again in 6 months time and I'm sure progress will have been made. Good luck! :)

[oooggs]

St Germans is just round the corner from me!!!

[lilypink2]

St Germans is not too far from me either!

[berkotopsy]

Missmaviscruet - good news. St Germans supposed to be lovely. A change of season, some sun, and toddler group success have indeed made everything down here seem all lovely. If you can move in the spring you'll be laughing.

[hanbee]

Oooggs, lilypink and berkotopsy perhaps we should all meet and then Mavis can meet us all when she moves down?

Han x

[berkotopsy]

Yep, that's a good idea.

[lilypink2]

Hi sorry not been on for awhile..I agree sounds like a good idea too :)