Running away to Cornwall... where is best?

[pinkmamma]

Had enough of things round here and need a fresh start for me and Ds aged 3. Have always liked the idea of Cornwall, but never been there - thinking of where to start looking and would love some advice.
Looking for quietish, good schools, pref near to coast, nice community spirited and somewhere that needs a fab holistic and beauty therapist!!! Don't want much do I!
Any advice of where to start search gratefully received.

where are you just now Pinkmamma?

Went on holiday to Bude the other year (up the coast from Newquay). Gorgeous place, right on the coast. 3 beaches nearby. The people were really friendly, the village was lovely. A local we were chatting to on our first night was telling us the local primary school only had 100 pupils and then they bus the older kids into the city. He told us that the secondary scholl was very, very big "about 1000 pupils"!
If I had the money, we'd be there tomorrow no questions. (And would DEF have regular holistic/beauty treatments once a week!)

Tracy - in rainy SW Wales at the moment. Originally from Bath though
Thanks Ikl will have a look at Bude...

oh not too far to move then. I'm v. jealous - would love to move down there. Maybe not as far as cornwall - more like to Dorset - or bath - love bath!

Hi, Pinkmamma - I'm from the Isles of Scilly and it is the most gorgeous place in universe. In London at the mo but are progressing with our plans to move back within a couple of years.
Went to school in Truro - is a lovely little city. My fave place in Cornwall is Mylor. Oh, and really like St Agnes too.. Go on hols and check it out - so many lovely spots.

Yep I will have to try and book a cottage for September and check some of these places out. Any more recommendations?

I like Perranporth.

Friends of mine go to a fab school in Constantine which is near Helston.

Porthleven is a lovely (but crowded in the summer) port village with some lovely art/craft galleries - just the place for a holistic and beauty therapist?????

We've been to Helston many times and there seem to be lots of lovely, lovely places around there - Gweek, Porkellis, Porthleven etc.

Smellymelly's right, Perranporth is gorgeous.

St Ives is full of artists, but is unbelievably busy in the summer.

You need somewhere that isn't so impoverished (as a lot of rural Cornwall and Devon are) that no-one there can afford your beauty treatments. So I'd go for somewhere with a lot of other incomers. Also, as someone who moved from London to Devon and became a single parent in the process, I'd say go for somewhere big-ish: the stigma of being a single parent can be unbearable in some small minded places. I clearly don't think this is right but it's something to consider. Also bear in mind that although rents MAY be slightly cheaper the other costs of living like food, petrol, utilities etc aren't much cheaper than elsewhere whereas the income can be a LOT less. So make sure you do your maths before you move and work out some worst case scenarios re income and expenditure. Sorry if this sounds negative but I found Devon v tough and ended up moving back to a city (not just for these reasons though, there were others) and I'd like to help someone else not make the same mistakes I did iyswim!.

Thanks for your suggestions - got a good list going now of places to look at.
Any views on Truro?
WWW - I see what you are saying - I imagine that corwall is pretty similar to where i am now ruralish sw wales - except i am in a reasonably anti-english area too (and i'm v.proud to be english!!).
I am not going for money reasons (although properties do seem to be slightly cheaper there on rightmove than round here.)
Will def look for somewhere with incomers rather than all locals iyswim... and those with some sort of income.
Thanks for your advice, appreciated