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

Can posters suggesting Devon instead, please not. My family were farm labourers here for over 500 years in the same village (I guess we lacked aspiration) and none of us can afford to live here anymore because of Londoners in their ridiculous 4x4s, £200 wellies and fancy dress Barbours.

Hi OP.
I moved from London (zone 2) to Liskeard around 15 years ago and so know the town and surrounding area extremely well. 2 years ago we moved back to London, also zone 2 and both myself and my family are sooooo relieved.
No. There is no cinema, bowling alley etc. There's a v basic skatepark on the road to the station where someone was stabbed a couple of years back. There's no Maccy D's, no KFC, no Nandos etc no clothes shops. The town council have screwed up development plans time and again. Even the cattle market shut down. Plans to regenerate it remain just that - plans.
There's precious little public transport. Opportunities for teens are incredibly limited and jobs outside of the two primary and one secondary schools are far and few between.
I guess some people make it work and goodness knows I tried for years. But in the end it was the insularity that drove me out. It's an odd town.
The surrounding countryside is lovely though.

Well if no-one in your family moved on in five hundred years that could suggest a bit of a rut. Here in rural Wales forty years ago the young couldn't wait to get out, ditto in Ireland. There was only a hard life in agriculture . Transport and tourists have helped. Transport brought businesses into the area for the last century. Tourists a mixed bag are seasonal jobs in the main

In my experience of living in Cornwall, Liskeard is a very odd area, and quite depressing.
According to Crime Rate website, it is the 2nd most dangerous town to live in.
I lived in a beautiful area but could not stay because I could not find another place to rent long term.
Many young people leave when they get older as there are no real opportunities.
I love a lot of places in Cornwall, but there are areas which are nothing like how you would imagine Cornwall to be. This is just my view however.
There is so much unemployment, low paid jobs, high priced rental properties that are dumps, and a huge amount of drug and alcohol problems in some areas.
During the winter, Cornwall can be hugely depressing too.
The only people I met who owned property in the better places, were those who were from London who owned obscenely wealthy homes and who only stayed there a couple of times a year, and those who inherited property through Parents or Grandparents.

Lostwithiel is a lovely friendly town with lots going on,house prices are very high and sold instantly as it has become very popular.Lovely river for swimming,paddle boarding etc,a small beach area which is popular.Concerts ,Lostfest music festival in summer.Thriving community.Many families moving here now from the SE .2 primary schools,Secondary choice of 2.mainline Paddington to Penzance regular stops here.Have a look May suit you as there are many activities.Liskeard is very dull but cheaper than many ares.

I'm puzzled by what's drawing you all the way to Cornwall. Give me Dorset any day.

My in-laws are in Cornwall, and my husband was brought up there. His parents can't understand why we don't want to move down. We find it quite a sad and depressing place - 'this is good enough for us, it's what we've always done' seems to be the cultural theme. My husband was glad to move away at 18 and has never wanted to go back, which breaks his mother's heart but she doesn't really understand our jobs or how good life is anywhere else.

My dm lives there I agree with this phat it's really lovely

My mum moved to south Cornwall from London just before she had me, I absolutely hated it as a teenager. I found it stifling - it was so small, literally and mentally. You have to be driven everywhere, there’s nothing to do, everybody knows everybody’s business, the other kids at school were really racist (hopefully that’s improved), no one ever spoke to us at school about having a career and it was bleak in winter. I spent my teens getting drunk in parks, going out with boys 5+ years older than me and generally being miserable. I moved to Truro on my own at 16 and the only change was I got drunk and the rest at raves and parties instead of in the park. There’s a dark side to Cornwall like anywhere else, its a place of great beauty but also great deprivation.

The main things I look back on fondly is how safe it felt when I was primary school age. We rode our bikes round and wandered through woods unsupervised, swam in the sea all summer, etc. I live a few miles outside of Manchester City centre now and I can’t see myself ever putting any kids we might have out in the morning and letting them back in at tea time. I’d still never return to Cornwall though, I want my kids to have broader horizons than I did and have everything they might enjoy on their doorstep. My brother’s still down there with his boys though so it’s really horses for courses.

That comment annoyed the fuck out of me too!! What a tool! Cornish don’t lack aspirations! Knob. (Obvs not aimed at you Daisy!)

I never understand people moving to Cornwall unless they have family connections rather than say Dorset which has a quite similar coastline and is way more convenient for everything including airports, hospitals , trainline etc. Also somewhere like Hastings or Whitstable/broadstairs would give you a kind of similar feel for same money and massively more convenient and much better for teens. I do like the Cornish coast but not to live--it's a fag to get to, a bugger for an airport and not cheap! Guess it depends what you like doing a lot of the time.

I know a family who moved to Cornwall from the south east almost 20 years ago. They're stuck in dead end jobs and barley affording the rent. They're praying the landlord doesn't sell up like many have as there's no more affordable properties around. They're worried about the future of their teen.

We moved to Cornwall from the south coast and soon realised the locals are very possessive about their county and heritage and are not very welcoming to incomers and you don't ever fit in if your not Cornish.
If you ever dare to complain about anything ever your default advice will be to go home then.
I have met many non Cornish people who all feel the same hostility.
My teenager hated it and found it mind numbingly boring they moved to Plymouth as soon as they could and didn't look back.

Well, reading this thread, I feel like there might be something quite wrong with me, as I live in Cornwall and I love it.. Really love it. So do many of the other people I know.

Today, I will pick my DC up from school and, after they have a snack and get changed, take them straight to their surf club. It will take about 15 minutes to drive there. They will be in the sea/playing beach games for 2 hours. During this time I will pick up a coffee for myself and take Ddog for a long beach walk, and then I’ll sit in a quiet area and watch the dog swim in a river. It’s so beautiful and I appreciate it every time and think about how lucky I am to live here.

About an hour in, DH will come down on his way home from work. We will sit on the beach together, with a little barbecue, and get food ready for DC to have when they come out. They will sit wrapped out in big changing towels and get warm while we eat together.

When we get home around 7pm, DC are likely to ask to play outside with their friends, on bikes, skateboards etc. They will be able and will do this for an hour; we live somewhere where it is safe to do so.

Our older teenager will appear later on, he will probably take the dog out for another walk to a lovely area nearby (teenager is doing an apprenticeship though, which probably indicates a sufficient “lack of aspiration” 😁)

When he goes out with friends later, they might go to the gym/to a beach where a big group will meet up for the evening/to a friends house… they won’t be going to a shopping centre or a massive cinema complex (although there is a cinema if they wanted to go to one, which they rarely do) but I don’t think any of them feel deprived.

They all have bus passes which cover the whole county so are out and about anyway, but do drive as soon as possible at 17 as it’s really necessary here.

I think it’s a great place to live if you pick the right area (and I wouldn’t choose Liskeard) and if you really want an outdoor lifestyle.

I wouldn’t completely up sticks and change lifestyle to a place you know nothing about with 3 teens. They’ll have long-standing friendships and hobbies, they’ll be settled in school and working towards the most important final qualifications.

Can’t you stick it out a few more years and then you’ll be free as a bird too wild wherever you like once it’s just you you’re deciding for. This will be so much upheaval for them.

@LetsGoCrazyPurpleBanana but they may have been stuck in a similar situation elsewhere? Or are you saying they were previously flying in their jobs and lifestyle and that moving to Cornwall has scuppered that?
@Seaspace I also love it! But I can see the warts as well as the beauty spots if you see what i mean.
I can see my lack of aspiration comment has pissed people off. But I have seen it. And Ofsted saw it in my DC's comp. And worse still their former primary school has been put in actual special measures because of lack of aspiration, and worse - it pointed to lack of diversity and recognition of diversity in the nation as a whole. It said the children weren't being equipped to deal in a multicultural Britain. I find that shocking, and frankly something that will hold those children back. And it was in stark contrast to the state primary mine attended in SW London.
Of course there are huge success stories among Cornish kids. I know some of them. But there could be more. And I don't want to ignore that and just keep chanting 'it's all great' when it could be better.

The wife is in care work,the husband can't get any other work and has been stuck doing security work for a few years now. There's nothing else available.

Where are you based now, OP?

@LetsGoCrazyPurpleBanana - What work are they qualified to be doing/experienced enough to do, that isn’t available to them just because they are in Cornwall?

I can't think of many worse places to bring up children than Cornwall. Depending on how the OP defines quality of life, I'd suggest places along the SE coast, from Dorset to Kent.

How strange CockingASnook, as I can think of many.

@Seaspace Lovely to read your post, the very first positive 😀.
Are you from Cornwall or relocated?

I have now ufficially visited, although briefly, Liskeard and St Cleer.
After reading all the posts I was almost scared.

I really loved it, people were really friendly and helpful, I had no car so we walked everywhere. The area is beautiful.

I understand that is a very different thing visiting for a day and living there, so my research is ongoing.

What makes Liskeard more dangerous than Croydon (London) from your point of you?

Thank you for taking the time to write your experience.

@Giadar
I just read this conversation and since I am italian with same ideas of moving now in a more quiet place than London, I wonder how it went Cornwell or if you changed direction :)
Thank you!

Just intrigued as to what you did in the end. Cornwall is rough. I lived there for quite a few years and relocated near London and Surrey. I wish I was born here I would never ever move back down South ever again. So much more opportunities for kids up here