If you live in Cornwall

[Flopseemsstoned]

What’s it really like to live there?

Parents and sister live there, thinking of maybe making the move (abroad at the moment)
What’s life like? Is it affordable to get a house on average wages? We have a toddler, is the lifestyle as great as it seems?

I agree with the lack of ambition. Also, it is grey and wet a lot. But it is beautiful.

I don't live there any more, but I'm proper Cornish (from a fishing village where family still fish) and most of my extended family are there. I've been in London for 20 years with no intention of returning.

I always fall for these threads but...

There are lovely things about Cornwall. Parts are very beautiful, there's a great food scene and loads more indie businesses than when I was growing up (a grey Sunday in February, urgh). If you have a decent public sector job (teaching, social Work, for one of the universities, medical) and live away from the tourist honeypots it can be OK financially. We visit a lot (or did before covid and now can't afford a holiday rental this year) But- and there are some big buts:

• The idea of skipping down the beach after school is great, but in practice you're at work, kids have homework and the weather is awful for 8 months of the year. The rain! We spent heaps of time at the beach but completely feral and with no adult supervision. Excellent swimmers all though.

-The driving. Everywhere is far with bad roads. Your commute may be hideous and you might need to run 2 cars. My brother had 2 friends die in car accidents (loads of drink and drug driving). You may be called upon to pick teenagers up from party 45 minutes drive away at midnight. There are no taxis, at least not in the same way. -Schools are better than they were but your secondary options are limited. Casual racist and homophobic bullying still common in at least 2 of the schools younger relatives have attended. SEND provision is awful due to geography (eg specialist schools). -You can wait a long time to progress at work- because mobility is poor people don't move on much. My brother has weekly commuted from up country for big chunks of his career. -The quality of rental property is appalling. A lot is like something from the 60s. My grandma in particular lived in some awful flats. In the village I'm from most of it seems to be owned by the same family so no incentive to improve. -Not everyone hates outsiders (although a lot do) but you'll never really properly integrate. People will be nice to your face but unless you're from one of the 'village families' you'll never be properly accepted. -I'm always shocked by how much money we spend- none of the museums are free, arts things are £££ and swimming and soft play etc much more expensive than London. Eating out is pricey too, partly due to a lack of competition.

Having said that the family who have stayed (most of them) really do love it. So there's something! I do think it's tough for teens if they're not outdoorsy (and well off). There's very little public provision for them at all.

I don't find it too awful in the summer but we do know all the sneaky places to go which are quieter.

I dunno, I think there is a lot of casual racism. You only have to sit in the pub in the village I'm from to hear it. Loads of anti immigrant stuff, use of racist insults I don't hear anywhere else. My gran is in her 90s and says it's racist and she thinks it's got worse, emboldened by Brexit. But I think that does vary by place- it's not going to happen if you live in Falmouth.

My brother moved when he was about 20, he went to train as a nurse.

He married a woman from Devon and they are happy. They have three children, the youngest is at uni but the older two have had to move for work.

I like to visit but I couldn't live there for a few reasons.

Its so white, I was wandering around truro one day thinking, "What's wrong" then realised I hadn't seen anyone who wasn't white all day.

That means you don't get many (any) sweet centres, sari shops and no Jamaican take away.

Actually I looked at 'just eat', Truro has bout 15 places and 10 are kebab shops. My area has 160.

It also takes ages to get anywhere, there are no motorways and the trains all stop at every station.

Yes it is beautiful and has loads of fab beaches but it can also be wet and miserable.

As teenagers my brother's children found holiday jobs easily in hospitality and where more staff were needed for the summer, but waiting tables included working Xmas eve, day, boxing day etc.

As I said my brother loves it and lives there, I love it to visit but couldn't live there. Have a good think about what work you can do, and nanny/childminder is probably not going to be available.

Cornwall is beautiful but if you've ever spent a cold and rainy weekend there, you'd soon change your mind

It's sooo far away and cut off. It's a good 2 hours drive from east to west. Devon is better

I grew up in Cornwall and couldn’t wait to leave. Some of the things I didn’t like though would probably relate to a lot of rural places. Things like everyone knowing your business and judgemental attitudes! I love living somewhere anonymous where people aren’t still dredging up things I did 20 years ago! A relative of mine still brings up fashion mistakes from my teens, I’m now in my 50s! If you cross someone it is never forgotten.

I didn’t like the fact there was very little to do in my teenage years. Even though it’s set in the cotswolds, I felt “this country” on bbc was an accurate portrayal of what it’s like for young people living rurally. It’s actually a comedy but I found it very relatable. My life in Cornwall was like that.

It’s so far from anywhere else. This is the big one for me. I love travelling abroad. I regularly go for weekends away in Europe (outside of covid!). Living in Cornwall you have to add a days travel either side and extra travel costs. So it’s not just hop on a plane and go.

There isn’t the choice you get elsewhere in terms of entertainment, shopping, food etc. But lots of rural places in England are in reach of a big city, Cornwall isn’t.

I agree with what everyone else has said about work, housing, poverty etc.

I personally think there are better places where you can get all of the natural beauty, beaches etc without so many of the negatives. If I had a desire to live by the coast again I wouldn’t choose Cornwall tbh.

'but it's basically a lobster pot full of low wages, low aspirations, drugs and despair.'
Erm, we are a family of three postgrads, who have managed over the years to eke out a living down here!

Choose where you live carefully. I am on the Devon/Cornwall border in the Tamar Valley, which when I was teaching gave me access to lots of schools within a reasonable commute. I now work in Plymouth, again, not too bad a journey. Living where we do gives me access to better job opportunities in terms of Plymouth for the public sector, and jobs in West Devon. As dh was in the RN, it was about the limit of where we could be and him still get to the dockyard fairly rapidly if required.

I like it precisely because it is not full of shops and the bright lights. I don't like cities as they are too full of people, so living in a village where I can be as sociable or not, as I choose is bliss.

@Meruem

I grew up in Cornwall and couldn’t wait to leave. Some of the things I didn’t like though would probably relate to a lot of rural places. Things like everyone knowing your business and judgemental attitudes! I love living somewhere anonymous where people aren’t still dredging up things I did 20 years ago! A relative of mine still brings up fashion mistakes from my teens, I’m now in my 50s! If you cross someone it is never forgotten.

I didn’t like the fact there was very little to do in my teenage years. Even though it’s set in the cotswolds, I felt “this country” on bbc was an accurate portrayal of what it’s like for young people living rurally. It’s actually a comedy but I found it very relatable. My life in Cornwall was like that.

It’s so far from anywhere else. This is the big one for me. I love travelling abroad. I regularly go for weekends away in Europe (outside of covid!). Living in Cornwall you have to add a days travel either side and extra travel costs. So it’s not just hop on a plane and go.

There isn’t the choice you get elsewhere in terms of entertainment, shopping, food etc. But lots of rural places in England are in reach of a big city, Cornwall isn’t.

I agree with what everyone else has said about work, housing, poverty etc.

I personally think there are better places where you can get all of the natural beauty, beaches etc without so many of the negatives. If I had a desire to live by the coast again I wouldn’t choose Cornwall tbh.

It's so funny - the extra travel to an airport is such a factor for me! I have to travel for work quite a bit, and having to leave loads of time to get to Heathrow makes every journey SUCH a pain. It was something that I had never ever considered, but especially with Flybe going tits up, I know it will start annoying me again (if we ever start flying routinely again). It just makes ever single journey an absolute ballbreaker - and never used to think about hopping on the Heathrow Express or the Piccadilly line.

Yeah I live on the Piccadilly line so it’s so easy. Although I do hope someone takes over the Newquay route as I prefer to fly to go and see family, rather than the train that feels like it takes forever!

Although Newquay airport has to be seen to be believed! I remember first time landing thinking “oh it looks like a shed” then getting inside and thinking “oh it is a shed” but sooo handy. And actually it’s quite nice to go to an airport that only takes 5 minutes to enter/exit, rather than stupidly long queues everywhere.

@Meruem @Countrylane British Airways have taken over the route between Newquay and London Heathrow with flights expected to resume from 1st July 2021. Quite a few new routes have been announced recently.

www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/newquay-airport-cornwall-flights-start-5071263.amp

The weather is a massive disapointment in so many ways - while the rest of the country from Devon up is enjoying the snow, it will be five degrees with horizontal freezing rain / hail in Cornwall. Likewise in summer, heatwaves also only occur from Devon up, and any Spring heat will be accompanied by coastal sea mist, thanks to the freezing seas.

Cornwall is beautiful - I grew up there, then went back to look after aged parents there. However, my children and I couldn't wait to leave. It's just too remote and the undercurrent of hatred from the locals is wearing.

We live in the dreaded Newquay which is so often cited as the worst part of Cornwall on threads like these but we love it. What I like about Newquay is that most people are originally from other areas so it has a more welcoming, less closed off feel which is nice. Yes it could do with a lot more investment but just lately almost all the empty shops have been filled (in stark contrast to Truro; we visited recently and it's looking quite sad and desolate with Topshop/Topman hone amongst many others). We love living somewhere where people pay a fortune to to come on holiday for a week.
Downsides are yes wages are low and well paid jobs not plentiful (generally public sector but even our Secondary school teacher friend can't get a non agency job and lives in a HMO). Luckily we own our own home outright (thanks grandparents) so we don't really struggle even on low wages. We like the slow pace of life, neither of us are at all ambitious and are happy with an easy, chilled life by the sea. House prices have jumped up lately (a house on our ordinary road of 1970s 3 bed semis just recently sold very quickly for £100,000 over the previous ceiling price only 6 months ago) and rental properties are hugely short in supply so you will find it hard to find a property I would think. Newquay was recently named as the hottest property market in the UK. We hope these new residents will be permanent (rather than second home) and bring more investment for local infrastructure and businesses and perhaps a culture of more engagement with local government which would be a great help down 'ere.
I can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else, but I get homesick for the sea if I go too far inland.

@hamsterchump 100,000 isn’t that major cheap for a house?

@hamsterchump Ah, over!! Ignore me, sleepless night with toddler.

@Puttheneedleontheraquet Yeah £100,000 more, you can't get anything for £100,000 down here sadly! In Newquay now for a 3 bed house you're looking at starting around the £285,000 - £300,000 mark now even in the cheaper parts and they are going like hot cakes, the estate agents don't know how to price them because they're selling so quickly. I feel really sorry for our friends who aren't on the housing ladder, it's speeding away. Our house has about doubled what we paid 10 years ago (was the worst house in the street but still, it's mental). We desperately need to build more social housing, especially flats for single people and couples, even the so called "affordable housing" down here is anything but when most people are on minimum wage or maybe £1 over and seasonal hours. Don't come without a job and house lined up OP.

In the summer it’s lovely, the winters are just endless rain and limited entertainment.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned the internet yet, but the speeds down in Cornwall are literally 44 times faster than we have here in Berkshire. (Would have made distance learning a lot easier through lockdown!!)

With a lot of jobs going WFH permanently, it will be interesting to see if that makes a difference to the kinds of people moving down as year-round residents.

A close friend of mine has just moved back to Cornwall after growing up there moving away for uni and work, now moved back. After 3 years she's not made friends, she can't find like minded people ie it's very Tory/Brexit/insular which isn't her.
I visit a lot from the north of England. What I've noticed,
The weather is shit.... It's cold and rainy. My most recent visit it was at least 5 degrees warmer where I'm from in the north of England than where we were staying. The warmer down south thing is a myth.
The countryside inland is seriously unremarkable, I live near the peak District, that is stunning scenery not the rather boring inland fields of Cornwall. However the coast is breathtaking and stunning, when it's not raining.
No taxis or public transport which I hate. Have to drive everywhere on roads that aren't fit for purpose.
Very white, which feels weird when you're not used to it.
Lack of diversity in food, friend admits it's great for sea food but there's nowhere decent for Indian/Lebanese etc.
Lack of jobs, you need to be near Devon to access a bigger jobs market or willing to travel 3+ hours for work unless public sector.
I love it when we visit and it's sunny a we can just go to the gorgeous beaches. It's extremely boring when it's raining. There really is nothing to do.

The Cornish beaches and fishing villages are beautiful BUT the county is one of the poorest in the U.K, house prices are very high, I don’t know how good the schools are and I think there is only one hospital. There isn’t much well paid work and some say the locals can be unfriendly (can’t say I blame them, given how incomers have raised house prices).

Some areas are beautiful, others are seriously deprived. If you need to get back “up country” it is one hell of a drive.

I wouldn’t do it unless you both have good jobs, can afford to live in a nice part and don’t mind how bleak it can be in winter. There’s not a lot to do there on rainy days.

Interesting thread. I'm moving to camborne in cornwall in 3 weeks 😂😂 but I'm moving from a really rough area in the Midlands and I orginally come from a popular seaside town , so I'm well versed in how the tourist season works. Are people friendly though? As I've found them most unfriendly here where I am in the midlands and we found it so so difficult to break into any kind of circle.

@romdowa Camborne sadly has a poor reputation and is quite far removed from the touristy side of Cornwall but it has a great community, has some lovely local walks, is not too far from the coast and has good transport links. Also it has a fantastic history and used to be the mining centre of the world. I have always lived in Cornwall and I lived in Camborne for several years.

Also Trevithick day is fantastic!!

I'm kind of wondering what the rest of the UK do for entertainment in the winter?! Cornwall really isn't that cut off if you live in East Cornwall. Within 30 mins I can be a at National Theatre, Cinema, 10 pin bowling, ice rink, ski slope, shopping complex, museums, Eden Project, art galleries, woodlands, beaches or moors. And in the winter, they are deserted.

@cjpark you must live within easy reach of Plymouth. I grew up a good hour away from Plymouth and it was a major expedition- once a year for Xmas shopping and maybe once for the theatre or something.

It's expensive to do that stuff in Cornwall- where I live now we have access to tens of free museums, galleries with free activities, cheap cinema showings, £15 tickets for the National. Everywhere in Cornwall is £££. Wages are low so it's not very accessible to most people, you need a car and petrol money, not a couple of quid on the bus.

I get why- it doesn't have the subsidies and that's unfair- but there we go.

Yes but as you said that’s east Cornwall. I grew up in Penzance. Not so much down that end!

@101spacehoppers The cinema is pretty cheap down here too, we have Meerkat Movies like the rest of the country and £5 Mondays.

But not so many cinemas! Or variety of films. I remember going to 'arthouse night' at the cinema in St Austell when I was in 6th form; it was curated by one of the lecturers. Used to get the last bus home, but you can't do that now because they stopped the buses at 8pm...