To ask whether anyone has relocated to Cornwall?

[Picklesandpies]

Posting here for traffic. We have just returned from another lovely week on the South coast of Cornwall. I have been going once or twice a year for my whole life (now 32 and taking our children too) and every time I've been in the last few years I've felt more and more that it's somewhere I'd like to live someday. We relocated to Hampshire about three years ago and, whilst I'm not dreadfully unhappy, I just feel there is more to life than where we are now. Dh commutes two hours every day into London, quite a bit of travel etc and the lifestyle here isn't very fulfilling. We love walking, beaches and generally being outdoors with beautiful scenery. Cornwall obviously offers this in spades.

My question is - we live in a £500K+ house where we are now but obviously this is only possible with London salary - but I'm wondering what people do for a living in Cornwall who have biggish houses and a more salubrious lifestyle? Are they all retired? Is it inherited money? Second homes?

We really would look at moving down and don't mind taking a step back on property ladder in order to improve our lifestyle but the jobs that pay a decent (but obviously not London level!) salary just don't seem to be about down there. I'm just confused as to how people can afford the big houses you see.

Have been on Rightmove on the way home and even looking at a much cheaper house, I can't see how we could do it!

Hogs I truly have to disagree, I've lived in cornwall my whole life and every single one of my friends, my husbands friends and my extended friendship group have well paid non seasonal jobs and can all afford our own houses. perhaps it's the circles I socialise in but we're just normal working people in relatively ok jobs! I just get so mad when people (not you!) have this patronising thought that we're all poor ice cream sellers and it truly makes me mad because it simply isn't true! And I can't help but defend us Cornish!

So, Cornish folk of Mumsnet if you could live anywhere in the county where would it be?

We'd like to avoid the really touristy places (eg St.Ives) but have no idea about the smaller villages and towns.

P.s Sorry for hijacking your thread OP, hope you're finding it as useful as I am!

Oh shit biscuits - my phone posted before I was ready!

I meant to say: it's really positive to hear locals having that experience - I do know that they are out there. Sadly, it's not my experience, or that of many people I know. However, the seasonal work thing is indeed a bit of a coastal myth. I've never done a seasonal job - just shit factory work. Seasonal work is really only applicable to those touristy places - nobody visits the town that I am from, unless it's to buy smack ;)

But hello fellow Cornish maid x

Oooh if money was no object, you can find me on Bodmin Moor. (Only move there if you like solitude and perpetual damp, mind).

If I was raising my daughter again, I'd go to Truro or Falmouth areas.

I left South Cornwall (the Roseland) at 18 and wild horses couldn't drag me back permanently; most of my family still live there though. The cost of living is very high- house prices, needing to run more than one car often, water bills are huge and things like public transport are astronomically expensive with often poor salaries to match. Home ownership for young people is an enormous challenge and the LA is very overstretched with a huge area and low population density. The honeypot towns and villages are crazily priced (but you could live near Camborne very cheaply!). My house in London cost the same as my sibling's in Cornwall for a similar size, so don't count in cashing in your chips...

It is beautiful etc etc. But to be honest, if you live there it's not all popping to the beach all the time if you both work- there's jobs, and dinner to make and all the rest. Being on holiday is really different (and for example, if you're on the Roseland your kids may have a long bus journey to secondary and get home late). I would recommend going for a wet week in February when everything's shut before making the move. It rains a lot. Like really a lot.

The work is an issue. Most of my family work in the public sector: NHS, teaching, social workers and that stuff is easily transferable. Other jobs are often seasonal and pay badly. My sibling stays 'up country' in the week as they'd maxed out the opportunities in Cornwall- jobs can be a bit dead man's shoes as people stay for the lifestyle and there's not much mobility. I do have some friends who have started their own businesses and do well; there's room for that, especially at the creative end and Falmouth is becoming a hub. Lots of the people I went to school with who stayed are Trades and like anywhere that's always well paid.

On the friendliness: hmmm. I think it much depends on which village as to the vibe that way. It can be friendly-ish but you'll never really be properly accepted unless you are local in lots of places. I still get asked when I am going to move back when I go in the bakers (because why would you leave!?). I actually find it really difficult that everyone is in your business and gossipy- and acceptance of diversity is improving since I was young but still isn't great- I hear racist language there, for example, that I don't hear anywhere else. People do spend a lot of time with family because there are often a lot of them reasonably close.

One of the things that might be worth considering is your kids' interests and ages. The outsidey stuff is great but there is not as much access to cultural stuff like theatre and music (although again improving, but often pricey to do rather than the subsidies you get in London and other big cities) - a big event used to be travelling 2 hours to exeter for the pantomime! And after-school activities etc are likely to involve a lot of ferrying about unless you are in Truro or Falmouth. Are you happy to drive 20 miles through lanes at midnight to pick up from a party? What there is is good- I grew up with very accomlished sailors, for example, but there's a much more limited range of stuff to do. Food stuff is good now though and there are some really fab places to eat and great coffee etc.

I would think about location very very carefully- especially if you want teenages to be at all autonomous you will need a decent bus route or train line.

Should have added, 3 DC but eldest may not come (19, moving out soon) younger two are 8 and 10 so decent schools are needed!

We moved down three years ago, to the Falmouth area. Cornwall isn't the economic wasteland many here seem to be making out, but wages are lower on average and house prices steep for non London.

We've made more friends, and had better job opportunities arise, than when we were in London and in another rural location. We've not had any unfriendly reactions from locals in our village, quite the opposite. I've joined clubs and have friends I go to the local with.

On balance, neither of us regrets the move in any way. DD is flourishing and we love the lifestyle. All good!

Thank you sleepless, it's good to get a balanced opinion.

Most village schools in Cornwall are good, actually, because they tend to be quite small. The only decent comprehensives that I know of are in Truro. Wadebridge comp had apparently improved over the years (possibly because of the gentrification of Padstow and the Camel estuary villages) but I'd avoid (and will chew my leg off before I sent my kid to) Bodmin, St Austell, Camborne, Newquay or Penzance.

Hogs - Penryn is pretty good but only goes to 16. Not sure re Falmouth.

Actually, I'm coming across as really prejudiced to some Cornish areas. Please disregard my last post about schools - it's been a good long time since I left Cornwall and I'm sure things have improved massively in those areas. In any case, all of those towns can be positive if you're solvent enough.
Sorry for being to grumpy about my homeland - I'm tipsy and belligerent

Hogs Tipsy and Belligerent would be the name of Mumsnet's in house publishing company

Ah glad to see I've finally found an Internet home :)

I live in SE Cornwall but work in Plymouth with a shortish commute over the Tamar Bridge.(Think Looe area ) Ended up here when I married a Submariner. There are jobs in Plymouth that pay well but you have to consider whether you want to be close enough to commute and that means not going too far down into Cornwall. My children had an excellent education and have grown up loving the outdoor life. Wouldn't go back to my home town in Berkshire under any circumstances.

Thank you so much for all the replies - it's been really interesting. It has mainly conformed what I thought re houses and how people can afford them but it's also given me a bit of food for thought about perhaps buying somewhere with something that could be used as a holiday letting. We toasted to this dream last night anyway We definitely don't see ourselves in Hampshire forever - I don't doubt that Cornwall has it's fair share of unfriendly people, just like anywhere, but Hampshire really takes the biscuit there. It's got a really hostile vibe compared to where we lived before. If it was possible to make things work in Cornwall, I definitely would. I think we would need to live near Falmouth/Truro to be able to continue dc's activities etc - I could be more remote quite happily though. We have done many a wet and wild week out of season in Cornwall so I don't have any illusions that it's warm and sunny all the time!

We relocated to Cornwall four years ago, from London where I'd been for 15 years back to the village I grew up in.

I say "we" it's taken four years for a job to come up for DH that pays a salary we could live on so he has worked in London and only been home at weekends for four years. Recently he has taken a £30k pay cut and changed jobs, actually needs to commute one hour 15 minutes up to Exeter for that.

I set up my own business in tourism as my career is over. There is nothing in my industry here at all. I am considering setting up a second business for additional income as looking for a job is soul destroying. Any job related to my career that I might get will pay around 1/3 of what I used to earn.

It's not all about money but I have struggled with the change in lifestyle, we can't afford to eat out or go on holiday.

I am lonely, I'm an oddity in the playground, I feel like I can't talk about places I've travelled, the jobs I've done or ANYTHING to do with politics. There's a strong UKIP/Tory/Brexit thing going on that depresses me.

If I was single and childless I'd be back on the train to Paddington quicker than a rat on a biscuit.

But..... my children have an amazing life, we spend a lot of time at the beach, we have a big garden and chickens and grow our own vegetables blah, blah, blah.

Saying all that I think if I was in Truro or Falmouth I might be happier.

Gosh Turbo - that was a hard lost to read - sorry you feel the way you do. I hope you don't mind me asking but what made you move down in the first place?

I know what it is to feel an oddity in the playground too. Do you think that's cultural or just because they layout haven't always been there? Did you have your children down there or move with them? I think it's hard when everyone knows everyone from antenatal and they don't see the need for more friends. I live in a village and there is a definite village 'clique' which I can't bear anyway - everyone else talks about it and I wouldn't want to be in it if you paid me!

Would you consider moving nearer to Truro/Falmouth? I think we would have to be near there in order to function as a family. Although I much prefer quieter areas.

I'm sure your children will have wonderful memories of the beach and of what sounds to be an idillic childhood (even if you don't share that feeling!)

I am always really surprised by the number of people (and it's usually husbands) who accept a long commute or being away all week as the trade off for these moves.

I grew up in Cornwall - yes, the beach walks were lovely. Though I lived near the stone covered sewage outlet capital of the county

I now have a long commute - and have spent long periods working away all week every week. Since children that's not to support their living in a place because it's pretty - it's because I'm divorced and my commute means they still have both parents living 5 mins from each other and in their daily lives.

I would choose a reduced income and an idyllic location for a whole family, easily. I just wouldn't for part of the family. I'd choose both parents every night over the beach every night.

Turbo that sounds hard all round.

As for friendliness... I grew up in Cornwall since age 2. At 16, I met my Cornish boyfriend's family, who all declared me "nice enough, not Cornish though".

They were from Camborne though. Even if I had been Cornish, I think the fact I was from Penwith would have made me an outsider

I honestly think you can't lump all of Cornwall together, like with anywhere in the UK. There are some very poor parts, and some breathtakingly beautiful parts, and some ugly parts everywhere.

We came to the conclusion when house hunting that we had to be in a village ( although I was almost swayed by a dream house with an acre and a pool!).

Neither of us wanted to drive everywhere. We wanted there to be a biggish community. We have been made to feel very welcome on the whole. I think it's hard that local young people can't afford to buy houses. But where I live now most houses are bought by 'incomers' from London with big London salaries. Local younger people can't afford to buy houses here either.

I think you have to pick your area carefully though. We will be near Looe, like someone else earlier, and I think that whole stretch is good- Fowey is apparently great to live in. Also nearer to Exeter/ Bristol.

I am used to a very long commute and staying away 2 nights a week. I would find it tough being away all week though.

What kind of work would you and your dh be looking to do? I have friends in Cornwall who are GPs and teachers. They moved down there and have always been treated well and welcomed by locals.

Ironic as we're in the south east (north Essex) which is now prime for London commuters and I would love to make the move to Hampshire. But we've got two kids with Sen so reluctant to move them when they're settled. Good luck.

So, Cornish folk of Mumsnet if you could live anywhere in the county where would it be?

In the west at least - avoid the towns of Camborne, Pool, Redruth, Penzance, St Austell, Newquay... Outlying areas of these are usually fine (with some exceptions).

I would ideally love to live on the south coast e.g. Praa Sands, Perranuthnoe, or Carbis Bay on the north coast is pretty but not as busy as St Ives. Some areas of Hayle are a good buy as it's up and coming.

I'd love to live in Polkerris or St Enodoc too!

We'll be moving back to the Tamar Valley in 2019, and I can't wait to be home again. My dh was in the RN, a submariner, (waves at Clotted cream), and the Cornwall house was our third in the area, having started out just over the Tamar. We had both grown up in Hants.

There is nowhere else I'd want to be unless I won the lottery and could afford a fab house in or around Tavistock. The food is great, the people in my village are friendly, and I had to be dragged back to Brussels after managing 9 months at home refurbishing the house post tenants. I have access to everything I need, and most of the stuff I want, and most of that is available on the interweb anyway. What is not to like?