Will Devon & Cornwall be ok to go to in July?

[EinsteinaGogo]

We are in a real dilemma.. We have to pay the balance on our holiday in the next couple of weeks which is about another £800 on top of the £400 deposit already paid.

We've gone for a self catering holiday flat on the Devon / Cornwall border for last week of June /
first week in July.

Don't really want to go if the touristy places we'd usually go to aren't open but our holiday company are only offering a reschedule so will lose our money if we cancel. We have a family wedding next year (hopefully) so we don't want to rebook.

We were pretty sure we'd still be in lockdown and be able to get a refund but now that the new rules are in place, I don't know if we are or aren't allowed to go.

AIBU to think we should be able to get our deposit back?

“The tables might be turned by August and we could be a hotspot with London relatively safe, so I'll come up to the city for a visit then.“

I’m sure the copious hospitals And major infrastructure In London could take it, as they have had to already. And supposed herd immunity might have kicked in. And maybe my mum, who is currently treating the people of the SW and therefore cannot meet her grandchild, could Come and visit me in the Home Counties. Wouldn’t that be lovely :)

No grandparents can meet their grandchildren. It doesn't matter what they do or where they live.

Like I said, in my experience the people doing that are not Londoners. They're people from other parts of the UK who've moved to London, journalists included. Those sorts of articles are an embarrassment.

I don't know why they do it but wonder if it's a misguided attempt to fit in. It's really not. Born and bred Londoners welcome people to the city.

France has just announced they’re going to allow summer holidays within France so I think we will be the same.

Sorry pressed post

But hopefully they will be able to by September. And we can all travel aboit freely.

Born and bred Londoners welcome people to the city

It's so easy to avoid tourists in London though. I don't think I ever went anywhere touristy when I lived there. I used to avoid Portobello on a Saturday! It's much harder to avoid tourists in the SW.

And you can’t travel to London, so the point is moot

And you can’t travel to London

Why not?

My point is that given my parents’ involvement in healthcare in the Sw no one wants the cases to remain low as much as I do. But I’m not feeling the hatred and bile towards would-be tourists. I can understand people’s questions.

Why would you want to go to London? You might bring the virus back to the SW and then you would be as bad as the murdering tourists

You don't live here though, so I'm saying you probably aren't as invested in it as someone who lives here, no. Plenty of us have friends and relations working in healthcare here.

Why would you want to go to London? for the same reason you want to come here?

Generally the international tourists who hoard all over streets in central London aren't rude about resident Londoners, but it seems to be ok for tourists to be rude about residents of Cornwall. Why?

Yes I know, lots of us (not me) voted for Brexit. Maybe that's where it comes from. But honestly the condescension about 'yokels with pitchforks' who 'will be sorry when we're all broke because the tourists stayed away' is so unnecessary.

People can and are travelling to London. And elsewhere. Public transport is running across the UK. Or at least it is in major cities. Perhaps it's not in Cornwall?
Airports across the UK are open.

Tony Why would people want or need to avoid tourists? It's flattering (unless you live in Cornwall apparently) when someone wants to visit where you live.

And, like I and others have pointed out, tourists don't just visit or stay in central London. Hotels are cheaper outside. And they have to travel in from the airports.

@Ihaventgottimeforthis not our family’s experience.
My mum and dad moved there in 1980 , I was born there a few years later and we were looked down on all the years we lived there and had Emmets used for us all the time..

I was only young so didn’t notice but my parents still talk about it now if I ever say I fancy a trip .

My holiday in isles of scilly is for first week July. I'm hoping it will still be ok.

Have you checked travel transport? Some island ferries/flights are operating a skeleton service that excludes tourists

My entire family (not just parents) lives in Devon, Cornwall and the SW - of course I’m invested. I’m not planning to go there this year and introduce the new baby - it would have been lovely but it’s not likely to be an option. I’m not one of the people that you seem to feel the need to persuade to stay away with nasty comments. It’s clearly very upsetting for you, but people really did book their holidays in good faith, and it’s fair that they would rely on the accommodation owners for guidance about cancellations and wonder about what the summer is likely to be like. I expect things to be much clearer over coming weeks, and hopefully without the need for a minority of people on MN and elsewhere being hostile towards Would-be tourists and trying to make people feel stupid for wondering about the future

That's so sad to hear @fluffybutter.

We are incomers, or 'blow ins' 😂, as many residents are, but our experience has been totally different.

Hope you get to visit your family soon @ivinghoebeacon and to introduce your new baby. Hold on to the hope that the phasing plan the govt has announced can be followed and that we don't go backwards.

I don't want Cornish people (or anyone) to go broke. I've said on different threads how I hope the unfriendly locals represent only a small minority. I think it's more that people reading these threads might feel a tad unwelcome seeing some of the comments. Still, there's nice and nasty everywhere.

Perhaps people everywhere need to stop with the stereotyping. Just as you say Cornwall isn't only yokels with pitchforks, nor is London paved with gold. The wealth there is for a small minority only.

Meanwhile the open airports with no checks or quarantine is a problem for the whole UK. We don't know where all these people travel on to. No point internal borders whilst that's going on.

@OrangeSamphire

I see we have descended into pedantry. Glorious.

I can't resist joining in to say, have you seen how close the houses are in most Cornish seaside villages? Try driving a normal sized car down the streets of Polruan, or Polperro, for example, and you'll see what I mean.

Some people have apparently descended into talking cobblers.

Ever noticed how close flats in high rise blocks are? Everyone sharing communal areas of lobbies, lifts and stairs? Ever noticed there are no tubes in Cornwall? Cramming people into small compartments?

Mostly grounded? 15,000 people per day have been coming into U.K. airports since lockdown!

Anxiety and self-interest is apparently convincing people Cornwall is a special case. It is not.

Everyone needs to stop whining and accept there will be an influx of people once lockdown ends, just as there will be in London.

Generally the international tourists who hoard all over streets in central London aren't rude about resident Londoners, but it seems to be ok for tourists to be rude about residents of Cornwall.

If London residents were as negative and unpleasant as some of the Cornish residents on this thread I think tourists would comment, quite rightly.

Why not consider why people are repelled by some of the attitudes here?

Yes @tatianabis, 9 out of 10 flights have been grounded since the UK went into lockdown. Now who's talking cobblers?

No tourist would be as condescending as to suggest to a Londoner that their home turf would be decimated without the tourist pound.

Why it's ok to talk to people in Cornwall like that, and then be scathing when actual residents say the economy is mostly not dependent on tourism, I just don't know?

For anyone who has a holiday to Cornwall planned this summer, it looks like most accommodation providers are preparing to be open from July and are taking bookings as such, and putting in place Covid-safety measures.

I expect that if is is safe by July for lockdown to release to the level that travel within the UK can resume, tourists will be as welcome as they usually are, which is for the most part pleasant and tolerant, with a few shitty exceptions.

This is not a normal year. Things have changed since holidays were booked and people will have to accept the need to reschedule or cancel. It's completely unfair to slate the people who live in our beautiful parts of the country for not wanting tourists during a pandemic for heaven's sake and it isn't at all unreasonable for the locals to tell tourists they're not welcome. Accept what you're being told and stay away, without the ridiculous sulking and childish threats to stay away forever.

fluffybutter

I moved to Cornwall in 1983. We were called Emmets and I had an awful time at school. I was brighter than the ‘brightest kid in the class’ and they didn’t like that. Her mother was one of the teachers.

It was a dreadful experience, we went ‘home’ after a year. I have however continued to holiday there every year, and my kids have been every year since they were born. I think the tourist bits are perfectly friendly. I often take a trip to stand outside my old school (it’s close to the A30 so not much of a detour).