Do you think Cornwall will be 'open' in July?

[NoSoapAndGory]

Hi all.

A purely speculative post to gauge opinions, as I know we don't know, don't have a crystal ball, etc etc.

We have booked a self catering holiday cottage near Bude for the first 10 days of July. We live in the South East, so it's about 5 hours drive to get there on a good day. We have a dog so would need to stop at a service station at least once.

As part of general future-focused conversation, DH and I are ruminating about

1: will we be 'allowed' to go
2: if we are, would we want to anyway?
3: if it's 'allowed', will the Bude community welcome us or hate us?
4: will the tourist industry want revenue or not?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Anyone else having similar discussions, and if so, what are you thinking?

It’s not true to say Cornwall only has access to one hospital. There is a massive one in Plymouth that serves much of Cornwall. I know it pains the Cornish to cross the Tamar but the facility is there. Travel times are an issue though.

There are quieter areas of Cornwall to holiday in. We had a week of beautiful weather on The Lizard last August. Gorgeous beaches and no crowds apart from Kynance Cove.

@Lincolnfield

We found eating in any pub was extortionately expensive and dogs were not welcome anywhere.

Probably because you hit the tourist spots like Newquay, Falmouth or Padstein. Literally don't live near a single pub that doesn't welcome dogs.

But hey...I'd rather people with negative attitudes like yours stay away than attempt to convince you otherwise! We're always ready to welcome the friendly tourists who support our economy and come back year after year, and treat our beautiful county with the same level of respect the residents do. Have fun in Italy.

I love the fact that Cornwall has great food along with local offerings in the less touristy non seaside areas. If I’m on holiday I don’t want the same food that I can get at home. You would expect different food in Italy and I like different food in Cornwall and frankly I don’t care how it’s labelled! Good food is good food and everywhere has fish and chips! Just be aware that Rick Steins is expensive but you don’t have to go there.

Our dog went to local pubs but not restaurants. It’s the same more or less anywhere. The coastal path was also great for dog walking!

merrymouse thinks that a lot of people are ‘obsessed with going to Cornwall’. I have, truthfully, never understood why.

You are right that there are many other beautiful parts of the UK and that it is odd that so many people go to Cornwall. However, it doesn't really matter whether you understand people who visit Cornwall. The point is that they do, and in huge numbers and this has the potential to create big problems for everyone (not just people living in Cornwall) during a pandemic.

I cannot say how much I hope that you won't have a reason to start a thread about the impact of severe weather on hospitals coping with Covid 19 in Derbyshire this winter, but if you did, I hope people's response would not be to complain that you aren't posting about somewhere else.

Bloody hell, @Lincolnfield I don't know where you went in Cornwall but it really is dog city Arizona here. In our village dogs can even go into the posh restaurants!

I think maybe you went to Cornwall 40 years ago? I have never known any shopkeeper be rude to a tourist. Unless the tourist is rude to them of course, the type of person who moans about everything. You only have to look on Tripadviser for that, plenty of people moaning and complaining.

Honestly, your post sounds like you are chewing a wasp. Why get so worked up about somewhere you don't want to go?

@Movinghouseatlast I’ll put my hands up and admit it’s about 38 years ago when we went to Cornwall.

The straw that broke the Camel’s back was one day with three dogs and three excited boys in the car, we pulled into a cliff top car park (don’t ask me the name, it’s a long time ago!) and my husband duly paid the attendant the £5 day parking fee, which was a lot of money back in 1981. We all piled out of the car to be confronted with a sign at the top of the path saying ‘Dogs not allowed’. The sign was only visible when you’d walked across the car park to the edge of the cliff.

So disappointed, we piled everyone back in the car trying to explain to our little boys why we had to turn around and leave. My husband politely asked the attendant if he would refund the parking fee as we’d been there less then five minutes and clearly couldn’t stay. Not only did that rude man just laugh and say not refunds’ he also tried to do a mocking imitation of my husband’s Italian accent. It doesn’t give you a warm feeling for a place.

As for being worked up, I’m really not. I’m just fed up of the ‘poor us’ that’s been coming from a lot - not all, obviously! - of people in Cornwall.

I think we'll have a better understanding in six weeks or so. There will be huge pressure for schools and businesses to reopen for the last half term. It will either be end of June, or September I suspect. The country may reopen slightly for August just so we don't all go crazy so places might open with limits on numbers as I believe Italy are planning. I can't see us being allowed to herd down to Cornwall this summer though.

I think this debate will come to a head at some point down here.
I saw my first social media post last night about two restaurants closing in Lostwithiel, one of which has been a fixture in the scene for many years. Other things might have been going on but they said that the loss of this season was the final straw.
So I wouldn't be surprised if things kick off big style, even between the Cornish residents.

@ihaventgottimeforthis

Which restaurants? I live near Lostwithiel

Trewithen and Charlie's.
I know the current Trewithen people have only been there four years, but imagine Lostwithiel without it....

I'm obsessed with going to Cornwall and that's because we accidentally ended up camping in Sennen one year and I have never seen a place that is more beautiful, dramatic, or which called to me as much as the far west of Cornwall. I fully intend to live in St Just, Cape Cornwall, Botallack or that area when I can afford to. The people I have met down that area have all been fabulously friendly and lovely (even the lady who I scared rotten when I was taking sunrise photos of Wheal Call and she didn't see me til she nearly fell over me)

I have also holidayed in Padstow a few times and have found that to be, whilst gorgeous, less friendly. Possibly due to the fact that it is hugely touristy and I can quite see why locals would get properly fed up in the summer.

Even if people are technically allowed to visit restaurants, many won't be financially viable under social distancing restrictions.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/26/restaurants-stare-into-social-distancing-abyss

@Lincolnfield really 'poor us'? Poor all of us in the whole bloody world.

Moaning about experiences you had in Cornwall 38 years ago does rather indicate you do care in some way. Your main beef was with the food being described as 'gastro' 38 years ago!

I can assure everyone on this thread that the tourist areas of Cornwall want tourists back. My own personal circumstances are that without tourists I have no income and huge bills to pay as well as my own household bills. There are thousands like me up and down the whole country.

merry I read that article too. It is indeed rather bleak.

I'm going to do my bit by getting blind drunk in all my local pubs every night just as soon as I can.

I am also obsessed with going to Cornwall and I will miss it this year. Bloody virus!

These.

Yep that's them. Trewithen is part of Lostwithiel heritage,hopefully it won't be the end of the name altogether.

@Movinghouseatlast ‘really 'poor us'? Poor all of us in the whole bloody world.’ Thank you! That’s precisely what I’ve been trying to say!

No. Very naive to think things will be back to normal by July.

For the vast majority of small firms in the hospitality business, they won’t have the financial resources to continue. One would expect the big names to be ok but smaller firms will really struggle. Look at all the letting agencies with no income. Everyone has their break-even turnover and profit and continual losses will mean widespread closures. The loss of the summer season anywhere that relies on tourism is going to cause redundancies and hardship.

The country cannot be closed until this pandemic is over, which could be 18 months - 2 years if not more. It’s quite possible that the virus may become endemic and we will see annual outbreaks in flu season.

The idea that you can bolt the door on the rest of the country to protect yourself is absurd no matter where you live.

It's not about bolting the door to protect ourselves, it's about minimising the summer influx that more than doubles our population over a 6-8 week period, which risks a huge surge in cases.
I'm sure it's similar in the Lakes, Cotswolds etc.

I’m in Cornwall. I’m one of ‘they’. One of the apparently horrible ones. ‘We’ are not one person of one mind. There are 550,000 people who live here and a small handful have made some nasty comments. I’m getting fed up of how ‘we’ are portrayed in the press. What is written about Cornwall is written by journalists who might not even live here not by ‘us’. Most people here are just getting though the crisis as best they can, looking after their families and have no idea what is best in terms of the balance between making sure local businesses can survive and keeping people safe. ‘We’ are not going to be involved in decision making that has an impact on whether people can come here on holiday. It’s a scary time for everyone. I (obviously) know many people in Cornwall, the ones I know are lovely people.

Agree people are lovely in Cornwall. I have never come across anyone unfriendly and I have holidayed in Cornwall a lot. I personally don’t blame locals for being a bit fed up off the tourists even if they are also their livelihood. The house prices in Cornwall are crazy pricing the locals out of the market and their own towns. I’d be pissed off As a local if suddenly the local hospital was also full of tourists with corona virus.