To think it's a good idea to move to Cornwall?

[hooliodancer]

This is inspired by the thread about moving to the Highlands. That poster got some great information!

We currently live in the South East, but have put an offer in on a house in Cornwall. I am excited, but terrified that I might be doing the wrong thing. I really want the slower pace, to be near the sea, to be mortgage free, to have a bigger house. Of course, we need to sell our house first, which is a whole other issue, so it could not even happen.

I am worried about a few thing though!

The weather(I didn't realise that average temperatures were lower there until I researched yesterday)

Travel in summer. I have never been in the summer months. I will have to travel at least one day a week. I am self employed so work all over, but will have to at least get to Exeter or Bristol to fly to wherever I have to be.

We are planning to set up a small holiday let business which my partner would run, and I would continue to work one or two days a week to begin with. We have done a business plan, so it all seems to work out. I am thinking we will be happier there because we will be doing our own thing, not beholden to anyone etc.

I would like to know what it's really like from those who live there. The house we have offered on is on the south coast, in a village. We don't have children. Thanks!

I live in Cornwall and I agree that it is a beautiful place to live and the pace of life is certainly less frenetic. BUT wages are low, for example, I am considered reasonably well paid for the area on around 18k a year. Having said that, I have a short and cheap commute so I suppose it does balance out to some extent.

I moved here when I was 13 and hated it. Cornwall pretty much shut in the winter, public transport was, and still is, pretty dire. I spent a lot of my time stuck in the rural nether regions with not a lot to do in the holidays. Its definitely better now, but still not very exciting for teenagers. Both my DC can't wait to leave the county for the bright lights of the big cities and I don't blame them at all.

I'm lucky that I live a great town with a real sense of community and it truly is a fab place to live. However it does come at a price though, because we have no hope of ever buying a house.

It sounds like you've done your research OP so I wish you lots of luck of you do decide to come down.

Ideally, renting for a year would be perfect. However, we are in a catch 22 as we need the money to start the business. Renting we would have very little income.

We have looked at other seaside places, but house prices seemed much higher. Also it seems from our research that where we are buying is a place where cottages are almost guaranteed to rent out. I also fell in love with the village- in winter mind you! The scenery is just so stunning, it really made me take my breath away.

I am worried we are making the wrong decision though. We have been thinking about this for years, actually were thinking about going abroad before we fell for this village.

I really want to do Zumba and other fitness classes. I discovered yesterday that I'll have to drive half an hour to Liskeard to do it!

Well based on your last post I say sod it, go for it. Better to regret something you tried than wonder "what if?"

Maybe you could become a zumba instructor for your local village

Hoolio, I used to drive for about 20 minutes to take ds to swimming lessons at Liskeard from the Tamar Valley.

It used to take 25-30 minutes to drive him from school on the outskirts of Brussels to the swimming pool used by the school for swimming lessons, and could take longer, depending on the Brussels traffic. Guess which journey I preferred, and it wasn't the one where you dice with death changing lanes on a Belgian motorway!

If you are used to a 24 hour city, you may struggle to adjust, it's beautiful, but basic facilities like shops (and zumba classes) may be a drive away, and there won't be the same choice as you are used to.

Also, Cornwall is a lot farther down than Devon/Exeter/Bristol, I think you may be being a bit unrealistic about the drive/transport links if you think you can go there and back in a day to work elsewhere in the UK. More likely you will end up working away for a couple of days. I would definitely do this drive a few times/plan out the travel more realistically.

Everywhere pretty much on the South Coast is rentable in the summer for lettings, I wouldn't say one village is miles better than another, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, all of them command high prices in the season, so there may be villages/towns much further up that still give you the rent/opportunities.

The fact that this village is much cheaper may not be a good thing...why don't other out of towners want to move there?

The water rebate is £50 a year but water bills are really high, so this doesn't represent the difference.

Liskeard to Bristol is 2 and a half hours on a good run, from a village probably 3 hours, so it's not realistic to do that, fly, then work a day, then fly back, drive back and so on. If you can stay away one night though, it's doable.

It sounds like I'm trying to put you off, I'm not in that I love the area, just that you sound a bit unrealistic about how far away Cornwall actually is and how well it is linked to transport if you need to travel at least once a week!

Yes, I would stay in a hotel when I go away, as I do that now anyway, and work pays for the hotel and travel. It is one of the things I hate about my job, I often do a 12 hour round trip for 1 day. That is the rut I need to get out of! I am planning on working perhaps half the number of days I do now. Hopefully if the business works as we think I could reduce that even further in a few years.

The village is not cheap for Cornwall, not at all. But I found other seaside places I looked at, e.g. Suffolk, Rye, much more expensive. We also looked at Wiltshire, gorgeous but unlikely to start a rental business there. We have also looked at other areas of Cornwall, but this particular village ticks every box for both of us. Cottages seem to rent during the winter too.

If we are going to have a new life, which is what we both want, then some things might have to go, e.g. Zumba.I don't think I could be an instructor. I am uncoordinated so people would find it hard to copy me!

I really wish we could have a year to see if we like it. We are going for 2 weeks in September, but I don't think we are going to be able to tell from that.

My DP and I were about to move to Cornwall. We don't have kids so it's just us. I took him there on holiday and he fell in love with it. We even looked at properties and there were good jobs that I could do and I even applied for them. Everytime we went though it rained about 60-70 percent of the time and we though of how nice it was to move to the beach (we both grew up by the beach) and then realized how often would we actually be able to go as its freezing most of the year and pouring with rain the next. Plus he doesn't drive either.

So instead we took the plunge and moved to an all year round hot place right on the beach with a brilliant job to go to. Tons of shops and restaurants plus beautiful scenery. So it was totally the right decision but I do still think about St Ives and sitting outside my beautiful but imaginary St Ives cottage watching everyone walking by. But realistically it would probably not be like that at all. So you need to imagine the worst case scenario and if you can live with it then it's not a risk really.

I have spent A LOT of time in Cornwall, winter and summer, primarily in the Fowey/St.Austell bay area.

It rains. Sometimes it rains for weeks at a time, with no let up.

There is very little 3G/internet access, it is maddening if you are used to having it.

If the business doesn't work, you may find it very hard to get work and wages are very low. Brexit means that Cornwall is set to lose £2.5bn of EU funding. Even without that happening, Cornwall has higher poverty levels than any other place in northern Europe. Even Lithuania and Hungary are better - www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2016/02/real-cornwall-county-poorer-lithuania-and-hungary

I agree with PP it may seem expensive to rent for a year first but if you can manage it somehow you would get a far better idea of what it would actually be like. Good luck.

The geography of Cornwall means it catches a lot of rain. There may be rain shadow areas.

Yes, the rain concerns me a lot. I love the sun.

We could afford to rent I suppose. I could carry on working, staying away most of the week. If I knew it was a set period I could manage that.

But...We would lose the house we have offered on. Which is perfect. 2 holiday lets in the garden, huge garden, sea views, mortgage free, in a lovely village, 5 minutes from the beach...

Aaaaaaggghh!!!

Just go for it! Sounds as though you've thought it through as much as you can. Nothing is without some element of risk.

I am here now and have visited loads in the winter. I'd still much rather be here than in my home near London with the rat race, overcrowding and long packed commutes. We are stuck there for jobs and kids education but if it wasn't for that I would move away in a heartbeat and be mortgage free.

OP, what are your hobbies? Do you enjoy outdoor things like country walks, surfing? Or do you like going to theatres, going to spas, shopping etc? If the latter, you would struggle in Cornwall, if the former you should be fine! As others have said though, just be prepared to travel at least half an hour to do anything. If that would annoy you, don't do it!

If you don't go you will spend the rest of your life wondering... if it fails & you don't want to stay, you move again !
I spent a lot of time in Cornwall when I was younger, but didn't mind walking along those beaches in the rain ! I love big wind, crashing waves, tides & being outdoors.

But, I wonder if you have done your figures on the B&B ? it is not all profit, the laundry, (tumble drying & ironing cost money) the breakfast, the cleaning, the hot water & heating, repainting, fixing etc .... The real profit is a lot less than you think.

Also, everyone seems to think its easy. It is NOT, there is a lot of work getting the business, doing the paperwork, deposit, contracts, cancellations etc, Constant moronic demands (at midnight... )
& of course people are opening more & more, & at some point there will be more offers than the demand & the prices will drop. as will the value of your property.

& finally, do not moan about the traffic if you are living off the Emmets !

I'm from Cornwall it's a lovely county it's beautiful in summer but bleak and wet in winter it's pretty mild though it never snows. However transport links are limited, there's not much industry and job opportunities are few.

I'd say the weather is very changeable rather than 'rains a lot'.
Quick squall and it's over.

As you don't have kids, you won't need to worry about your bored teens complaining there's nothing to do (at the Penwith end of the county anyway). Although it's great for very young kids to relocate.

I lived in Penzance and a hamlet near Lands End. If you've ever seen the old 60s film Straw Dogs which was filmed around that area, it will give you a good idea of the feel of the place. I still reckon it has that same 'ambience'

Away from the coastline, interior Cornish landscape is reminiscent of West Yorkshire moorland to me, although the little secluded wooded valleys are picturesque of course.

I moved away because I always felt claustrophobic. Living on a peninsula where the land literally ends all around you made me feel closed in.

It's a funny old place. It has its pockets of earthy, dirty, creative people, poshnobbers relocated from the Home Counties, cruddy, deprived drug towns, and proper natives.

Even if it doesn't work out, you'll change down there. You'll become a different person.

Did you at least consider Dorset? We have a holiday let in Bournemouth (hear me out- it's not all hen party hell- there's a good family market too). Our house is always occupied from Easter to end of September (plus the odd other week out of season), and the last 2 years we've also got a winter corporate let, which is a big bonus. Maybe I'm wrong but you'd be unlikely to get that in Cornwall. It's got some beautiful countryside, amazing beaches, plus its on the train to London and Southhampton airport not too much of a shag. Admittedly it's not a stone cottage rural idyll but I think it's a very good compromise.

have you spent any time in Liskeard OP? my mother lived there for a bit and it was...grim in places.

We aren't moving to Liskeard, that was just a point of reference. I will go there to Zumba though!

Dorset was above our budget, certainly bits of it with guaranteed income from a holiday let. We also want to live in a beautiful village that we love, so it has to be both a place to live and run a business from! I really like Bournemouth though. I also looked at Deal, again, above our budget. Actually though, anywhere more than an hour from where I am now would mean moving away from friends, so I suppose I have just thought I may as well go the whole hog!

My hobby is gardening, so I think Cornwall will be ok for that. The house we have offered on has a huge garden which I find really exciting.

Do you have to move to a remote village with a half an hour drive to a bigger town? Can't you move to one of the bigger towns? Also whoever said thereis no WiFi or 3g in Cornwall is obviously wrong. Some areas there is no signal bit that's only the very remote areas!

We moved down here (from a large city) 2 years ago, very near to where you're looking at by the sound of it.

I have mixed thoughts on the area, it's lovely and relaxed, a slow way of life.. Yet also quite boring and claustrophobic at times I personally find. Some gorgeous places, in the summer it's a dream! I couldn't live here forever though, no way. We will be down here for another year or two and I'll be happy to move on. But then I love living near to a city, and Plymouth doesn't quite give me that city 'buzz' to be honest..!
Feel free to PM me, I'd be happy to answer any questions!

I did find that Cornwall had some great communities. Loads of kids clubs that took them on lots of activities, cheap holidays camping etc. There were also adults social clubs that ran events, comedy nights, live bands and the booze was always cheap. The churches were also fairly active and organised all sorts of fairs and family days. I guess the villages made their own entertainment.

When the kids were primary school age they loved it. It isn't so great for teenagers though.

It can also be bloody hilly. The walk to work was wonderful, all downhill with stunning sea views. The walk home was not so great but I did have fantastic legs from all the exercise.

There's 4G in my town (North Cornwall)! Towards the coast coverage gets a bit hit and miss though. There has been massive investment from the EU to get most of the county linked up to superfast broadband, so internet is generally pretty good, although some in some rural areas it is still painfully slow.

@hooliodancer
Update please! Where are you and how's it going?

It is one of the things I hate about my job, I often do a 12 hour round trip for 1 day

Unless the clients you visit are in the south west, won't moving down there make this worse, rather than better?

It might all be academic anyway, if you can't sell your house in London and you can't move there without selling it?