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!

I don't think it's a shit place to live with no money. I think it's the best place to be with no money, as there's so many free things to do (I should know, am skint!).

I came down to Cornwall for uni 13 years ago and never left. I'm now a single mum living in rented accommodation with very little money (am self employed), but the quality of our life is great. I think it depends what you want out of life. Friday after school we went to the beach with friends. We had a picnic and the kids went in the sea. You don't need money for that. It was bliss.

That's excellent but not everywhere in Cornwall is by the sea ;) And public transport is awful!

As a non driver I understand that all too well Hogs!
To be honest I don't think I could handle living in Cornwall if I wasn't by the sea. I'm sorry to hear you're unhappy. I live in Falmouth and feel like I am surrounded by lots of like minded people. I know that if I moved to say Camborne that would possibly not be the case, and I'd be in the minority.

Thank you, but I no longer live there and I'm very pleased about that! If you live by the sea then Cornwall really can provide an idyllic childhood and lifestyle for not much money at all. You're right, it doesn't get much better than a tea time picnic on the beach!

Oh and I forgot: Falmouth is a really, really lovely place. It's always felt "warm" and has loads to do. I'd be happy to live there for sure!

I would consider Devon. It's got a lot of the benefits of Cornwall but with larger cities like Plymouth and Exeter that have more jobs, and much better connections to London- 2 hours by train from Exeter. We live there are relocating from London and go for day trips to Cornwall, which takes about 1hr 20 mins. The Jurrasic coast is beautiful and Devon has more large towns and variety of businesses. Lots of people commute to London 3 days a week or so, but it feels very far away from the pretentious and competitive side of London. However there are downsides of living anywhere. If you are unhappy where you are I'm not sure you'd solve it by moving house. I think living somewhere very rural can also be very different to expectations- I think sometimes it's best to move to a town or city with access to great beaches and countryside rather than living right on the beach, as lovely as that seems when on holiday. Jobs are crucial to enjoy the things you like when you go somewhere on holiday. I would not move to Cornwall despite thinking it's the most beautiful place in the world and spending all our holidays there.

Thank you for the sympathy and flowers, I’ve given myself a kick up the arse. My life is not that bad!

DH is home a lot more now and I have recently found two Mums that I click with and I’m trying to get a bit of a social life going – hard with no money though. I think if I had a job it would be easier because I’d at least see other people and I’m working on that.

I had my children in London and had a good network of friends but I think in Cornwall people socialise more with their families. Also I live in a bit of a rural backwater, some of the attitudes and beliefs I have come across amaze me but it just seems accepted. I did get into a fairly heated discussion with one woman who thought immigrants in Cornwall were the reason she couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment.

My husband was diagnosed with cancer when we were in London, Cornwall had always been part of our plan but I suppose we grabbed it a bit quicker and with less thought than we might have done otherwise! He’s in remission now and all is good so I have no reason to be so grumpy.

Cornwall is actually a fabulous place to live if you can get the finances to work and you choose your location wisely.

If I could live anywhere I think it would be Truro or Fowey or maybe Wadebridge.

So pleased to hear your husband is in remission Turbo. I'm not surprised you feel in need of a bit of break though. It sounds as though you are doing all the right things to get a bit of a social life - guess you just have to be selective .

I have to give myself a kick up the arse sometimes too. So what if every other person is a queen bee bitchy Mum?!

Some of this rings very true. A family member tells the story of chatting to someone not long after she moved down who said her son was about to get married. 'Oh, a local girl?' 'Oh no. She's from X Village.' It was the next village, 2 miles away. I'm ok as my dad was born there!

I've also had long heated arguments about 'immigrants' which apparently Brexit is going to solve. 1.5% of cornwall is from elsewhere in the EU.

I don't live in Cornwall but I do have a house in the IoW. Before you choose to move, I'd recommend coming for a few weeks in January - after Christmas but well before the summer season starts, when nothing much is open. Preferably when it is raining.

Turbo, you sound exactly like the kind of person I want to be able to speak to in the playground.

Truro and Falmouth are imo the best places to be but some coastal areas around st Austell are gorgeous- Charlestown, fowey, porthpean etc. The town centre is grotty but you don't have to go far for fantastic beaches, it's well connected and good value.

And don't get me started on brexit, never have I felt so disconnected from the people living around me. Reassuringly the vast majority of my office voted the same way I did. Cornwall owes a lot to Eu funding.

Agreed turbo. We've got fibre broadband and other infrastructure 'upgrades' because of the EU. A lot of Cornish voters voted out because of the fishing grounds, but that's already been thrown to the wolves and the negotiating hasn't even started. I know quite a few people who already regret voting out. Bit bloody late, me luvvers.

I'm quite scared about what will happen to Cornwall when the EU money is gone. We can't afford to replace it from UK coffers, and it is desparately needed down there.

Back to the OP, I would never bring my DC up in a rural area - I left the sticks as soon as I could and don't plan on going back until retirement

We love the close proximity of things to do outdoors. When we lived in London we rarely went out as it was too expensive, too busy, and just not our sort of thing.

Today we did a car boot sale this morning and then went to Bude and sat on the beach eating chips, then walked across the sand dunes and beach for a couple of hours watching the waves.. half an hour drive with no traffic and we were back home.

Dartmoor is a ten minute walk from our front door.. and many other free attractions only a short distance away.

We have found it easy to make friends. The locals are great where we are.

Cost of living is much lower and we feel our quality of life is so much better.

m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/43514901?search_identifier=5f5ebc6eba7cf673f014db9631c41260 This would just about buy us a grotty 2 bed flat back in London.. so I know which I prefer!

I'm in Falmouth - it is fab here! Certainly the university means that the town is always buzzing. We are within walking distance on the town centre and the beaches which means we don't have to get the car out if we don't want to.

Agree about the Brexit thing - especially galling as our constituency did vote Remain and had a pro Remain MP. It just feels that the pre referendum campaign didn't focus on how much EU funding has provided locally and now the realisation is dawning.

There's also a perception that the EU is completely responsible for any issues in the fishing industry. A bad deal was done initially but the blame for decline in the fishing fleet subsequently lies squarely with domestic fisheries policy.

I've got a family member who fishes full time and does very nicely out of it too (for all it's a tough, dangerous job). So there's a suggestion for you OP- fishing might buy one of those nice houses in Falmouth

Have been reading with interest, as I am Cornish born and bred, and have happily never left! (Apart from my university years) I love Cornwall for the many reasons already stated, and would never move because my entire family and friend network is here. However, it's not all delightful all the time. I do come from a poorer background, and am very aware of how destitute the less pretty areas of the county are. I also work with young people who are from the Camborne and Redruth area and who live in a terrible state of poverty. I took DH to London on our honeymoon three weeks ago (he's never been), and he's definitely even more Cornish than me!

I grew up in Falmouth, and agree that it's probably the best and most up-and-coming place in Cornwall right now. My entire extended family live there, most on the same street. Unfortunately, as a young couple, even though we both have "good" salaries for the county in professional fields, we have been priced out of our hometown. Which I know is the case for many young people across the whole country, but does go some way to explain hostile attitudes to emmets from some people.

From my experience, as a young couple from a poorer family, and having a circle of friends who are also all from the lower economic areas of the county, we generally take a stance of being angry at the presence of outsiders moving in. This is a general perspective, and nothing to do with individual people, but we are angry because we have all been priced out of our hometowns by people from "upcountry". In our eyes, these people are categorised as either second homeowners (dicks who don't even actually live here, so why even bother to drive our house prices up?) or rich London folk with mummy and daddy's inheritance to spend. Ironically, we are planning to eventually buy in one of the "undesirable" places PeaFace was listing within the next five years! They're the places affordable to the minority of young locals who can afford to buy. I don't expect my children will ever grow up in my lovely hometown down the road from their grandparents like I did. It may not be fair, but, in conversation at the local of an evening, we will be blaming the emmets for the house prices.

But, when it comes to individual friendships, I reckon you'll be all right for friendliness. Most people are generally lovely, very relaxed, folk, who you'll get along fine with, so long as you accept the different pace of life and culture (it's quite unique!) here.

And who the hell wants to live in Truro?! There are no good restaurants for a start!

Camborne does have an awesome fish and chip shop though, with the biggest fish cakes I've ever had!

(well, this was in 1990...)

Mind you, the reason the fish cakes were huge was because they were almost all potato. Because the town was so bloody poor

@TypicallyEnglishMustard it's the same here but we live in a town in Essex which is now hugely popular with London commuter and people who grew up here locally can't afford to buy.

@typicallyenglishmustard do you think council tax on second homes would help? The village I grew up in almost had to close the primary school a few years ago as there were so few kids in it. At least if second home owners had to contribute to the local tax base there would be more money to subsidise those services. Might go some way to alleviate the tension.

Although there is a lot of free stuff to do really poor people in Cornwall can't access that either. If you can't afford the bus fare to get off the estate you're not likely to get to the beach or moors.

In Cornwall you pay full council tax on a 2nd home or holiday cottage. There used to be a10% discount but this was scrapped.

Generally, I think if you can afford a second home you can afford the council tax. Raises revenue but doesn't affect prices. I suppose it might make someone choose a different county, but there are enough who'll pay.

I think only Channel Islands style local housing rules type thing would help.

Love's That doubles after 2 years if left empty, or so I was told. My house has now been relet.