Moving to Cornwall from London

[Giadar]

Hi everyone,

we are thinking of moving to Cornwall, looking in the area of Liskeard, with 3 teens and 2 younger children.

Looking at different threads online, there seem to be quite of a negative image.

On the threads lots of people will say that people are not friendly, that teenagers struggles with boredom or start using drugs..
That the weather is actually worse then London...

I really don't want to believe this..
Are teenagers luckily to find it difficult?
Are people no accepting of 'new comers'?
Can I have some advice please from people that has made the move and also from local people?

Thank you in advance
Giada

It probably depends where you go.
I thought the cornish were fine if you moved there and got involved and worked and contributed, but very much a backlash against the part time second home owners.

You're planning a move to somewhere you've never even visited, for no clear reason?

I have family in St Cleer, funny to see it turn up on a MN thread 😄

I’d second the PPs who recommended Falmouth if you’re set on Cornwall, or Plymouth if you want to be down that way. Otherwise the Exeter area has a lot more going for it (although I’m a bit biased, I moved from Plym to Exeter for university and didn’t go back 😄). Exeter has better travel links, as well as the beautiful countryside, close proximity to the sea, etc. Exmouth might be worth a look, or Teignmouth on the other side of the river. Both are within easy reach of Exeter by train and have quite a lot going on in their own right.

What on earth are you using for research that pulls Liskeard and Minehead out on the top of the pile?!

I live in north Devon, I've got to say that there are no houses that locals can afford, and the ones that are for sale are being bought by people moving from cities either as a relocation or as a second home, and neither option are currently being received well.

Exactly this.

Acceptance of the slower way of life and not trying to change it too much is needed to.

Moaning about lack of things such as huge cinema complexes ( we have none- Plymouth is nearest) or big shops ( again Plymouth or Exeter) won’t be welcomed. Healthcare is limited and dentists nhs you won’t get one ( waiting lists for new customers are at 3 years plus)

I was you 15 years ago! My London friends were appalled - "what will your children DO?" they wailed?
The answer is they did just fine.
But we had a big advantage - me and my husband are cornish and we effectively 'came home', bringing with us all the expectations and experience we'd gained elsewhere. We found a big problem with the local school we sent the children to was lack of aspiration. With a few notable examples it was filled with children whose parents hadn't moved, and who had low exprtectations and aspirations. Our kids already had the opposite baked in thanks to their primary schooling in London. And we continued to reinforce.
There were activities for them - they were musical, and there were lots of brass ensembles and bands to get involved with. Trouble was I had to drive them to these. But the upside was they learned to drive at 17, like other rural kids (some of their friends were driving tractors on the roads at 16!).
Both DC now live in cities elsewhere, having gone to great universities. There's no sign they'll come back here to live, but there again when I was in my early twenties I had no intention either!
As for me and DH, I'm glad we did it while the children were at school - it made making friends for us much easier. If we'd waited til retirement I think we could have been isolated.
And Liskeard - its virtually Devon isn't it? 😜
We are much further west, so our big challenges are holidays - when we want to go anywhere its an extra day.

Yes OP, be aware that you want to move somewhere that's full of people who "lack aspirations"

Love a good Trago. The one near Liskeard and Newton Abbot. My best friend has lived in Torquay for 30 years and I drive from Surrey twice a year.

I am taken aback by OP's original post. Are you seriously suggesting that you are considering moving to somewhere to which you have never been? It's like those fricking idiots on househunting in Spain when she says to them have you ever been to this area of Spain before and they say no and they're considering buying a place there.

You have no idea what the places is like, what it's like to stay there on a holiday, let alone live there, what the community is like, whether it's very boiling hot weather for tourism makes the roads in passable during the summer, whether it is dead as a dodo in the winter.

Liskeard is 20 miles from Plymouth so the previous posters suggesting that teens regularly pop into Plymouth for shopping - surely there budget won't allow for this regularly.

I grew up in Manadon near Plymouth then moved to tiny village out on Dartmoor and went to school in Tavistock and then my stepmum lived in Bodmin so are used to go nightclubbing in Plymouth drive back across the moors to drop friends home and then drive down to Bodmin which is further than Liskeard. Incredibly beautiful, but quite eerie at night.

where do you live op? Have you ever been on holiday to anywhere any seaside town in the UK? Even in Norwich, camber Sands, even in Dorset where we've been going for 15 years in Bournemouth, Poole the poverty is shocking, the drug use is shocking.

In the winter months if you don't have a lot of money life there is not fun.

What do you think life in Liskeard is going to be like for your teens? It was easy for me because I was at a great school, went travelling for a year and then off to university.

but I can't believe you're even considering this. Im sorry, but I'm starting to think you're some sort of an idiot.

I live in one of the places mentioned which people are recommending to avoid. I've always lived here. In my opinion it doesn't fully deserve its reputation, but it is true that in most areas of Cornwall there are very high levels of poverty, unemployment and poor prospects.

Even in this undesirable area people are struggling to afford/find homes. The house next door to mine recently went up at double my monthly rent. A friend was recently evicted so that the landlord could let the property out as an air B and B. Food bank usage is extremely high.The hidden Cornwall is a very different place. And it is hidden as I very rarely see it represented.

There is very little for children or young people to do in the immediate area, and this gets worse as they get older. Some of the bigger towns may have more facilities, but it's not a patch on what's available in larger cities. And you definitely need to be able to drive - transport links have improved over the years but is limited and expensive.

I hope my children move away - career prospects are limited. I wish I had. Once I had children of my own I realised that there were many pros to raising young children here - beaches and woodlands, having family near by etc. But as they get older it gets harder.

I will say though that many of my friends and colleagues are 'incomers' - not a term I'd usually use. As is my partner. I see very little real life resentment towards people who choose to start a life here. There is animosity towards second home owners, but I expect that's typical in many similar areas.

Not just me. The school's
Ofsted inspection highlighted it, along with other shortcomings. It's a valid view based on our lived experience. And I am Cornish born, as is DH, so what's the problem?

Thank you to all of you, who have taken the time to give me an honest feedback. I appreciate that time is precious so thank you for dedicating it to me.
We are thinking of moving to Cornwall, doesn't meant that I am packing the house as I am writing.

I am doing my research, I chose this platform to start.
I didn't get the answers I wished for but I am still grateful that so many of you did give me a true account of ' life in Cornwall'.
Of course I will go to visit and have my own opinion on the matter. We will also explore different part of Cornwall and the South.

There is no need to judge me or to call me an 'idiot'. I haven't done anything to you. I have just asked a question.

Have a lovely day.

This thread comes in peace.

I think OP was looking for experiences. That is mine. Is it not relevant? I think I found it easier bc I knew the literal lay of the land. And naturally hooked up with folk I knew from when I was a teen. It so happens they were largely people who had also moved away and come back. Just like us. We also know some people from elsewhere. And obviously some who never moved.
I could have bypassed the aspiration thing by sending DC to the local private school (in Truro so actually not that local!), but we didn't want to do that; we wanted to be properly in our community.
One experience does stand out tho... after DD's first day at her new primary school she asked 'where are all the brown skinned children?' She was 8. So there is a lack of diversity. And it was reinforced when a mum asked me if I'd moved out of London to 'get away from immigrants?' Was a bit of a wtf moment. But there are bigots everywhere.
OP doesn't have the advantage I had of knowing the place. She hasn't even been here!

Glad to hear @Giadar that you'll be sussing the county out. And I hope we haven't put you off.

I'm glad the OP has had the unvarnished truth. Living in Wales is the same. The west coast is wetter, schools, NHS not as good. Transport seasonal train wise.Quality of life is excellent, it's horses for courses.

We live near a large town which helps but there's so little for teens unless they're sporty

I haven't lived in Cornwall but live near enough (Bristol) to get the same regional news programmes. The recurrent theme seems to be the lack of hospitals.

@intwrferingma Good to hear your personal experience. There is a lot to consider. We are after a slower kind of life, we do drive.
Kids have few years left with us before going to university.

I don't really mind driving them places, I do that anyway. I am more worried about acceptance and that they will be well received at school, rather than being push aside as the 'outsiders', something that, before this post, I never thought was even an option.
Sorry to hear about you little one first experience at school.
Thank you

There are downsides to everywhere. I guess some people who live in a place don't like to hear it, or the unvarnished. But good luck with your search. I think going on eyes wide open is a big plus and will always help!
We've lived all over the world with work (and the children) and have actively chosen to end up right where we started!

I love Cornwall. We live close to the county border and holiday around Sennen and St Just every year, usually over Christmas or the October half term. I would love to live there and potentially could... but I never would with children or teenagers unless I moved to one of the major towns, but that would defeat the object of moving to Cornwall in my opinion. Public transport is non existent in the winter months and (especially on the North Coast) when a westerly sets in which is the prevailing direction for bad weather in the UK it can rain endlessly for days on end.

I would suggest looking at one of the towns near to Exeter, I have family who grew up in Sidmouth and the children thrived. It's close to Exeter, by the sea, in the countryside, has two decent sized supermarkets, an independent cinema and a welcoming community.

Why do Londoners always want to move to Cornwall? It's just so totally different in every way possible.

OP I'm a bit baffled as to why you'd read loads of similar things but hoped everyone on here would tell you something completely different about the place?

Poor locals losing out to all the incomers and as for taking teens there and never having visited...what do they actually want to do?

Minehead is a grotty little place too, ok in summer but really think you need to actually go to some of these places esp in the winter.

Good luck!

You can get the steam train from the middle of Bodmin to the main train station at Bodmin Parkway - it always tickles me that an actual steam train is the best public transport option from Bodmin!!

I grew up in a rural village and while it was fine when I was under ten, it was stifling boring as I got older and I think thats why alot of my peers turned to drinking/drugs/being little bastards. If you werent horsey then there was just nothing to do and you relied on people driving you everywhere.

What about Bristol?

I think this to be honest.

the education in Cornwall isn’t good - very few privates, no grammars, mainly quite substandard comps

and it is insular. I loved my time there but i already had established friends and a boyfriend from Cornwall.

i sometimes wonder if Londoners know exactly what they’re getting themselves into when they move to Devon or Cornwall etc

Are you really basing a move to Cornwall without ever having been there?!

It will be a nightmare in summer, you'll be battling tourists all the time, everything will take longer. The roads are not built for traffic.

To top it off you have chosen a really random town.

back to the drawing board I think op!

Don’t be dramatic I’m sure she’s watched a bit of poldark 😉