Tell me about moving to Cornwall?

[Seasider6]

My DH’s family is from Cornwall and we spend a lot of our school holidays there. DH is now talking about moving (working from home is now standard in his company) and how good it would be for the kids.

There’s no doubt the kids would love that lifestyle, but I don’t know what it’s really like to live there! although his family is from there, he didn’t grow up there either (they moved around a little and then back when he was growing up).

Did anyone relocate from London to Cornwall?

What is it like for kids? Teens especially? Which areas would you go for? I’m drawn to places like St Ives, but perhaps that’s because they’re lovely to visit?

I don’t know how it’d feel going from London to Cornwall, although we do have a lot of family there. Anyone got any experience with that?

And I’m concerned that as an “outsider”, I’d never properly belong...

I've been down here for about 12 years and now have 3 teens -- the thing that helped me the most was, as Fressia123 says, moving to central Truro, so they can go out and do their own thing, meet up with friends and catch the train to Falmouth etc. Two of mine have been through Penryn College which has been brilliant, so my experience of secondary schools has been great, though I know things can be very variable.

It can indeed be really boring in winter. I've found it a great place for the DC to grow up, but the moment they're all out of school (and all of them are very definite about leaving Cornwall at that point) we'll be off too, out of the county and country.

However, they've had amazing school trips (DS2 went to Berlin on a history trip and London on a drama one shortly before lockdown, and there have been loads of Eden Project / Scillies type things over the years), and youth theatre / dance and other extra curricular things have been brilliant.

Also in defence of the university! There's also Falmouth University, which isn't all affiliated to Exeter, and they have a wonderful array of creative courses, like the Illustration degree, that are highly regarded, specialised and fantastic. The creative writing dept have a Writer in Residence scheme every year that has brought people like Lionel Shriver and Matt Haig down here for prolonged periods, and it's very much not a Poundland Exeter.

Seasider6 we are in the process of selling our London place and buying in Cornwall, where my parents have lived for the last 15 years.

We go down several times a year in summer and winter so I feel like I've got a reasonable handle on it, although I'm sure there will be some surprises.

It's a big step into the unknown and we'll be completely rearranging our lives. But as a friend said to me, you have positives and negatives on both sides of the scales, there will never be a definite so you have to move forward knowing there'll be downsides as well as upsides.

In terms of the schools, there is a really excellent secondary in the catchment we are moving to, which is much more appealing than the London options near me. So that's not on my list of concerns.

In terms of jobs and ambition - both me and my husband are self employed and will be relocating the nexus of our businesses as well as continuing to work a lot 'up country'. I suppose I think that will be my kids reference point - that you can create your own opportunities as well as looking for jobs.

Happy for you to DM me if you want to chat about it.

Just quickly popping on to say I am still here and reading these with a lot of interest! Will reply properly soon. And Babamamananarama will take you up on the offer to DM you! Thank you!

We are Londoners coincidentally just back from a what is a semi regular visit to friends in Cornwall, but we now live in Folkestone, Kent after deciding we wanted to raise our children by the coast after returning from overseas. Does it HAVE to be Cornwall to realise your husband’s dream? Cornwall is undeniably idyllic and somewhat other-worldly in a sense, but there are plenty of seaside towns that will hold the same level of wonder for a young family. Our children have an amazing quality of life here with sea sports and horse riding, but are still able to hop on a train to London or Canterbury with their friends for a ‘culture fix’. Just thought that there may be a compromise to be had somewhere?

I would think carefully about it. Cornwall is beautiful in places, but it still has places that aren't and are run down and filled with drugs etc. It's among the (if not THE) poorest county in the UK in terms of average income versus average rent or house prices. Where I live the rents are a joke and the jobs are few and far between as well as being mostly minimum wage at best. You can count yourself lucky to get a job where I am without also owning a car - chicken and egg situation as many employers won't give you the time of day unless you already have a car.

If you're going to raise kids here it's a decent place to grow up if select the more rural areas, but those areas might be very boring for a teen. And the urban areas are nowhere near as "cool" as most major cities in the rest of the country for the sort of stuff teens and young people like to do. So - young children will probably be fine but once your kid starts looking for their first job.... unless you plan on leaving your house to them to live in (or them never leaving home) it's going to be VERY difficult for them to get onto the housing ladder. (Unless you are rich).

Cornwall is basically becoming overtaken in the nice areas by super rich buyers and pricing the locals out of existence. On the whole Cornish folks are not too pleased about that, or about their fishing villages being turned into holiday home ghost towns etc. Which is understandable. Everyone treats their county as an idyllic getaway instead of a place that needs to exist for the locals as well. Many young people just move out of Cornwall in order to have any prospects or a shot at buying a house. There's much to be desired in the way of good bus services and council provisions in most of Cornwall.

If you like isolated windblasted cliffs or tiny villages or moors instead of nightclubs, posh restaurants, good cinemas etc. then you'll love it. If you think you will miss convenience, city comforts (including believe it or not having gas in your house - much of rural cornwall doesn't even have gas pipes fitted to houses for heating! you would instead have to use electric or oil fired) or entertainments, then I would not recommend Cornwall. Most people coming here are fleeing London, as it were, and they have enough money to set themselves up. But I should mention that the population SURGES here in the summer and in many "idyllic" villages on the coasts it can get seriously overcrowded with tourists. It is NOT pleasant at that time of the year if you just want to relax and have "the quiet life" - not much quiet if you live in a tourist spot and people are falling about drunk or turning up in thousands every day on the buses. When they take nice pictures of beautiful empty beaches for the postcards, it's probably taken on a sunny winter's day! In summer many places are "heaving".

Oil fired heating isn't a huge issue though is it? You just have to remember to get the tank filled, and I set the amount I pay into an account with the oil company and it ticks up over the year.

We do have posh restaurants in Cornwall, and some just over the border in Devon, and I can get to two or three cinemas from where I live in Cornwall.

but we now live in Folkestone, Kent

@Freeamigos I’ve been looking at Folkestone as a place to move to but a lot of the housing stock looks so... meh. Having looked around extensively on StreetView, many of the roads look very bog standard too - the properties look like the kind of thing you get in the outer zones of London, with very few trees. In the more expensive west end area the houses are admittedly nicer but it seems to mostly consist of huge wide streets, which doesn’t exactly engender a sense of community IME. I wanted so much to like it because I’ve heard a lot of good things, but architecturally it’s quite an uninspiring looking place compared to Hastings, Brighton, Margate and even Ramsgate. It’s not even comparable to Cornwall aesthetically and it’s certainly not a place I’d look to for that pretty, quaint, historic vibe. Am I missing something?

much of rural cornwall doesn't even have gas pipes fitted to houses for heating

@CornishArtist you make it sound like something unusual or exclusive to Cornwall. No gas pipes isn’t just a Cornish thing - it’s quite normal in rural areas.

And oil heating will be phased out.

Many rural areas have relatively expensive housing. It’s not just Cornwall. Pretty villages are expensive nearly everywhere.

My DD has Cornish friends who moved to London for work. That’s a whole new ball game regarding house prices. If you have a profession in Cornwall you are Not paid the minimum wage. Teaching, health professionals etc are all paid on national wage scales (or close to them). Unqualified workers get what they can get like everywhere else. The minimum wage goes isn’t great anywhere in the uk if you have to factor in travelling - as you do in any rural area.

I think whether you can live in Cornwall is down to you as an individual and what you like.

My brother has lived there for 30+ years. I can manage a visit but I couldn't live there.

Cornwall is not culturally diverse, there is a lot of pride in being Cornish but you can't nip to a sweet centre for samosas (I send them down occasionally).

His 3 children have done well at school, one is a solicitor, another took a physics degree and the youngest is studying medicine so their STEM learning must have been OK.

All three of my brother's children chose cities for university.

When they were younger my nieces and nephew had a great life, come home from school and head for a beach for a couple of hours. Go to the tourist attractions at the start or end of the season so it's not busy.

How old are your parents OP? I know my brother found it hard when our mother was terminally ill as you can't just visit for an hour (parents in Lancashire).

My experience has been that when siblings move away, they are quite pleased to remove themselves from future issues with elderly parents! Seems to be quite a driver to go as far as possible! I’m also of the same opinion if the elderly move to Cornwall and leave close family elsewhere. We have all seen what a difficult situation that can be for years on end when elderly parents can no longer cope but live hundreds of miles away.

I cannot tempered ever seeing any BAME residents in Cornwall anywhere! Maybe in Falmouth?

I relocated Manchester to cornwall around 9years ago. Before I had children.
It's great for me as I love surfing. There are negative things to consider:
*Overwhelming crowds and traffic in summer
*Struggling GP practices and hospitals.
*Dentists are like golddust, lucky to get a NHS place within 3 or 4 years
*House prices for purchase and rent have boomed. Average on the coast is £412k.
*Jobs not in tourism and hospitality are highly competitive.

The overall impression you get when reading about Cornwall on MN is that it’s a hellish place to live.

Like anywhere if has ups and downs. Great if you are in good employment - like everywhere else! Fine if you have plenty of money. Average house price in my village in the Home Counties - £750,000. Nothing is ever sold now for under £500,000. With a teaching job or similar you are fine in Cornwall, just avoid the coast! Around here you avoid the more expensive villages. The towns are cheaper.

@almostautumn

but we now live in Folkestone, Kent

@Freeamigos I’ve been looking at Folkestone as a place to move to but a lot of the housing stock looks so... meh. Having looked around extensively on StreetView, many of the roads look very bog standard too - the properties look like the kind of thing you get in the outer zones of London, with very few trees. In the more expensive west end area the houses are admittedly nicer but it seems to mostly consist of huge wide streets, which doesn’t exactly engender a sense of community IME. I wanted so much to like it because I’ve heard a lot of good things, but architecturally it’s quite an uninspiring looking place compared to Hastings, Brighton, Margate and even Ramsgate. It’s not even comparable to Cornwall aesthetically and it’s certainly not a place I’d look to for that pretty, quaint, historic vibe. Am I missing something?

Well it’s horses for courses and everyone is different, but we love it. We have been lucky enough to buy a fabulous period property in the West End of town with a huge garden a few minutes from the sea for a price which enabled us to pay off the mortgage and upsize to something we would never have been able to afford in Crouch End where we were before. There are loads of ex Londoners and Brightoners here plus so many social media groups to find like minded locals on that the generously spaced housing hasn’t been a barrier to a community feel 🤷🏻‍♀️ Even during lockdown there have been local art projects for children running and plenty of activities ongoing on a weekly basis to ensure everyone remains connected. I also love that we live are in a town steeped in history with a glorious coastline and surrounded by beautiful countryside yet you can see France from your doorstep and in more normal times hope over to Europe for the weekend at a moment’s notice. Apologies for derailing the Cornwall thread with my Folkestone love 🙈🙈

And oil heating will be phased out. Not any time soon though, and what will be in its place? Older houses aren't always suitable for retrofitting.

@almostautumn

The overall impression you get when reading about Cornwall on MN is that it’s a hellish place to live.

It isn't though; any more than living in the far flung reaches of anywhere else in the UK. I'm about 25 minutes from Plymouth, not far from the market town in Devon where my Mum lives; have access to Waitrose, M&S; great independent butchers, a cheese shop, book shops etc.

No, it isn't like living in Brussels or Vienna, and there isn't a Michael Kors, Chanel, Tod's or Hermes about, but I have never shopped in those anyway. Given the internet and quick delivery, I can get most things delivered speedily. The broadband is similar in speed to that which we had in Belgium.

I can be in the countryside pretty quickly, or at the coast, so what is not to like?

I grew up in Hampshire, but would not want to go and live in the Portsmouth to Southampton conglomeration again - too crowded for me.

I think the op was about Penzance not 25 mins from Plymouth. Totally different.

Oil will be phased out whether you like it or not. It will be air source heat pumps. We converted from oil to these. Age of house is immaterial if you have radiators. Head in the sand won’t be good enough with global warming!

It won't be air source heat pumps for me; as there would be issues trying to drill through the walls, as they are very thick stone. I'll be keeping the oil tank as long as possible, and so I suspect will the rest of us.

The age of the house is not immaterial, as there is no point in over insulating old houses, as they were designed to breathe, not be hermetically sealed.

I am very cynical about global warming, as it seems to be a licence to print money for certain sectors.

I am aware that Penzance is different to my end of the county...but the Op said Cornwall; there are quite a lot of places other than Penzance that are worth looking at.

Ah! A Cornish climate change denier.

Difference between cynicism and denier - you might like to check the dictionary.

We have been lucky enough to buy a fabulous period property in the West End of town with a huge garden a few minutes from the sea for a price which enabled us to pay off the mortgage and upsize to something we would never have been able to afford in Crouch End where we were before.

@Freeamigos those sorts of houses are £500k plus though now aren’t they? From what I can see on Rightmove.

I also love that we live are in a town steeped in history

Is it though? It just seems to be streets and streets of nondescript (and in some cases rather scruffy) Edwardian and 1930s terraces and semis from what I can see, with quite a lot of ugly modern housing too - nothing with a particularly historical or beautiful feel in the way that Margate old town has or Ramsgate.

Sorry, I’m not trying to be rude - I’m just disappointed as I was really interested in moving there but genuinely don’t get the hype!

@almostautumn house prices are rising rapidly here so yes, those house will be easily over 500k - still a mere fraction of a similar property in a similar street in London though.

Folkestone has a huge amount of history, particular with regards to the World Wars so there are always really interesting, humbling commerations. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a worldwide tradition that originated here, Walter Tull - the first black army officer and professional footballer was born here. Danny Boyle chose Folkestone as the lynchpin of his Pages of the Sea sand art project as it was the departure point hundreds of thousand men and the last part of England they saw. Spitfire still fly over here daily. All of these things might not be of historical interest to many, but personally our family has always been interested in our heritage and history so the effort the local community take to commemorate such events was a real selling point for us. As is the Folkestone Art Trail and the Triennial which the Creative element of the town organise. As I say, it’s horses for courses, but we looked all over the U.K. at coastal towns and couldn’t be happier with our choice...