If you're from Cornwall, how do you personally feel about tourists and second home owners?

[Beerlovingwalker]

Genuinely curious really, as an outsider that loves Cornwall.

On the one hand, it must be nice to know that so many people love the beauty of your county and I'm sure it's nice to share it. However, it also must be difficult to adjust from living fairly quietly in the Autumn/winter months, to suddenly have to share your space with so many million tourists and second home owners in the summer.

Cornwall is hugely overrated. Beautiful landscape but inflated prices, unfriendly locals, annoying public school kids and "ya" Londoners.

Where do these stereotypes come from? Most Londoners are not "ya". Many millions of Londoners are like myself, 2nd gen immigrants!

If a local wanted to buy it they could have but they didn’t want to buy a doer upper so we have it

The locals probably couldn't afford the purchase price as well as the funds to do it up due to low wages and property prices artificially inflated by second home owners.

Personally, I think second homes should be subject to a very high council tax.

*many parts of the UK

Hang on, those of you who don't mind tourists but hate second home owners - where do you think these tourists ought to stay? If second-homers rent their places out for (say) 30 weeks/year, would that make a difference - is it the emptiness that's the problem, or the fact that there isn't enough housing both for residents and holidaymakers?

Just to say the vast majority of people I know have no issue with people relocating to Cornwall and working here and those who do are welcomed as long as they don’t suddenly start moaning to change things!

If local people didn't buy these second homes that needed a lot of work would the owner consider dropping the price hugely to only sell to a couple who were born and brought up there and worked there?
I can imagine that they probably wouldn't as money talks regardless of where you live.

It’s the second home owners who don’t use it for rentals I dislike. The ones who use it barely any time of the year. Some don’t even return each year.

I'm from Cornwall. I feel about tourists the same as I feel about everything - I like the nice friendly polite ones and don't like the rude entitled arseholes. I am lucky to live here and that I was able to buy a house on local wages before they went too nuts, and if people want to come here on holiday then I welcome them.

Second ownership is a tricky one. I know there are people who have second homes who make every effort to get involved with the local community, and who think they are local...but they're not really. There will always be a barrier and a certain amount of resentment, no matter how nice these people are. I think genuine locals aren't being unfriendly for the sake of being unfriendly, but because some places are so swamped by second homes, that rightly or wrongly they want to keep something to themselves. And there is of course the resentment at the unfairness - so many people receive such awful wages and there is no hope of them ever owning their own home, barring a lottery win.

A lot of people don't spend their money locally when they come down on holiday. They order a Sainsbury's or Waitrose delivery to coincide with their first night.

(Having said all that, it has crossed my mind that I could make rather a lot of income if I let out my house for the summer and went to stay with my boyfriend. But I probably won't - it would mean too much cleaning and tidying.)

@tecatea. I know not all Londoners are "ya". I live in an outer suburb myself. Plenty of normal people round here. But a lot of the "ya" ones seem to congregate in certain areas of Cornwall during the summer where it can be difficult not to trip over teenagers talking about what schools they go to.

It’s interesting when talking about ridiculous South East especially London prices, people say ‘just move out’ but when talking about youth being unable to buy in Cornish fishing villages, it’s a tragedy.

My husband was born and bred in Westbourne Park. I come from Hounslow. Despite two public sector wages we can’t afford a reasonable lifestyle in London so we moved. I do think high house prices should be addressed and second home ownership is a huge issue for some
communities but ultimately nobody is entitled to live where they were born or their family comes from whether that’s Central London or Cornwall.

The problem isn't that the houses are so expensive it's that there are no decent jobs. I left Devon for the same reason.

If Cornwall wasn't full of second home owners then it would be like the village I left and full of retirees who have made their money and move back pushing the prices up in just the same way. It's just in Cornwall people are even more insular than the people in Devon IMO and don't want to go anywhere to get a job they'd rather just stay in Cornwall and moan.

Where do these stereotypes come from? Most Londoners are not "ya". Many millions of Londoners are like myself, 2nd gen immigrants!

There's a lot of ignorance about London and Londoners, it seems.

Funny really, because most of the 'ya' types I've ever known or seen on the telly tend to hail from the countryside and more rural parts of the UK - Cornwall, Norfolk, and Devon included. Large country estates - with just a second home London bolthole.

It’s interesting when talking about ridiculous South East especially London prices, people say ‘just move out’ but when talking about youth being unable to buy in Cornish fishing villages, it’s a tragedy.

It's a strange double standard.

@Tealightsandd. But we don't feel the same outrage about London boltholes, apparently.

Someone asked why locals do not call out other locals for selling their properties to the highest bidder - often it is because the owner has died.

I am not sure that this follows. So it's the sons and daughters selling the home? If they already own their own homes they don't need to get the top price for it. I speak as one who has been in this situation and we were happy to go for a quick sale at a knock down prices because while an inheritance was very nice, we had lived before without the money and could continue to do so, and we didn't want the bother of attending to an empty house.

@tealightsandd and @tecatea you are BOTH missing the point! Tell me how villages survive with no public transport, no school, no shop, because all of those have had to close because of second homers? Let me guess - in London, you don't have to walk eight miles to the nearest shop, the nearest school, the nearest public transport? Try it sometime. Because this thread isn't about London house prices, it's about second homeowners in rural areas.

But what about people who genuinely live in more than one location during the year?

Would a multi-home owner be as despicable if they were living in the home more regularly?

I'm not in the UK at the moment but my MIL has two houses in different parts of the country and she splits her time roughly 60/40 between them. She goes to the warmer one more often during the winter months etc.

If I inherit my parents' house in the UK in the future I will probably keep it so that I have somewhere to be based in the UK on trips or in the future. I think I might even come for 3-5 months at a time etc. I don't think I'd feel like a second home owner just someone who lives in more than one place.

[quote sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea]**@tealightsandd* and @tecatea* you are BOTH missing the point! Tell me how villages survive with no public transport, no school, no shop, because all of those have had to close because of second homers? Let me guess - in London, you don't have to walk eight miles to the nearest shop, the nearest school, the nearest public transport? Try it sometime. Because this thread isn't about London house prices, it's about second homeowners in rural areas.[/quote]
YOU are missing the point. All the priced out Londoners (very many people) aren't using London shops, schools or transport. Because they've been priced out by people from Norfolk, Devon, Cornwall, etc moving in (or buying a second home London bolt hole, whilst mainly living in the countryside).

@EmpressWitchDoesntBurn

People buy houses in London to live in them.

Well, not always. There are loads of central London flats bought by foreign investors & sitting empty - and that should most definitely not be allowed. It’s shit.

Totally agree, this shouldn't happen

I bought a holiday home in Devon last year. It's a wooden Scandinavian style lodge on a very quiet holiday park.

I thought long and hard about this before doing it and would be very interested in whether any locals object to this sort of arrangement.

The park was originally developed about 40 years ago and is not licensed as permanent accommodation so I am not denying a home to anyone local who would need to live it in all year round.

I contribute to the local area by paying council tax, but use very few local services (roads only plus occasional visit to the tip - I pay for normal rubbish removal separately).

I employ local workmen to do repairs and buy things in local shops. I spend money on eating out etc while I am there and occasionally let it to friends and family who do the same.

It's an area I have been holidaying in since the 1970s and, so far at least, I have not been made to feel unwelcome. Having said that, because of Covid I haven't been able to use it yet as much as I would have liked.

Am I kidding myself that this is ok, or should I be feeling guilty, and if so about what?

@cakefanatic

You should watch Simon Reeve’s Cornwall on iPlayer; I think he gets it really spot on with the assertion that there are jobs in Cornwall but no careers. That’s certainly my experience of growing up in west Cornwall. I left for uni and haven’t gone back.

I’d dearly love a second home there, but I don’t think it’s fair. Even though it’s the place in my heart that feels like home. It is quite literally the home of my soul, and at times I physically ache to be there (dramatic, i know!). I bumped into some friends on the beach a couple of summers back, and we were chatting; it was painfully obvious to me that our nursery bill was comparable to household income for them.

The Cornish need the tourists, everything is built around a service industry, and they desperately need the money that will be rolling in this summer. But even so, the wealth is so unevenly split, with most of the money in my hometown shared between a handful of families.

@cakefanatic - the Welsh have the word "hiraeth", which is basically what you're describing. An aching longing, more than homesickness, almost like a grief and sadness at the loss of a place you cannot return to, nostalgia, yearning - all wrapped into one. Dramatic, yes, but completely understandable to me! I wonder if there's a similar word in Cornish.

@HesterShaw1 go for it. Do it word of mouth for families of friends who want to come and visit them but can’t find anything suitable or affordable this year.

@Mousetown never once have I said I’m saviour at all. So no embarrassment for me thanks. Just kinda weird how you hate people with second homes but not tourists when second homes most of them bring tourists. Almost laughable. It’s also not people’s fault that villages collapse and things close. When I go on holiday I use the village shops and pubs etc. . If theirs no money then why don’t locals pay up instead of blaming other people.

If locals didn’t sell their properties to people then we couldn’t afford to pay them. You have absolutely no right to blame second home owners and not yourselves.

In my area lots of shops and places have closed do we blame people with second homes? No we don’t because there isn’t any. Places close. Perhaps look at the fact that Cornwall has jobs but not careers everything resolved about money these days.

@Fifthtimelucky no issue with that. It’s the ones that strip family homes, dodge business council tax and don’t pay for waste collection pretending it’s all domestic I have issues with.

What about the 2nd/3rd home owners letting out to students in university towns charging excessive rents and the houses are usually very shabby