Splitting time between London and Cornwall?

[vepid]

I am from Cornwall originally but moved away for a better life. Now that I've got that out of my system & my parents are getting older, I'm in love with Cornwall again.

My parents have a one bedroom flat in their property that we could live in which is in a gorgeous location (lets for £1.5k a week..) that we could stay for free in.

We own a one bed flat in central London as that is where work is. We are thinking of doing 4 days London 3 days Cornwall and vice versa, with flexibility. It would be very expensive on the train, using the sleeper and first class tickets, but don't most people dream of a place by the coast and a place in central London?

Sounds lovely but a lot of travel time and I’d be inclined to do this on a fortnightly rotation if you can eg a week in London a week in Cornwall.

Not sure what the question is!

Question was... has anyone done this? how was it?

Would it not be easier to fly from Gatwick. Only takes about an hour. If you buy flights ahead then that would be cheaper.

Personally, I think it would be hard to do and mean you have to have double of everything.

Well you don't have to travel first class or by sleeper - you can work on the train. I regularly do so - just be sure to book seats.

Are your parents on board with loosing £1500 per week in income ? For the long term - seems very cheeky to me. Will you keep a car in Cornwall ?

If you're planning to work when in Cornwall - how's the broadband ? Rural areas aren't as good or reliable as central London.

I agree with the another poster - I think you'll find splitting a week 4:3 will be too much hassle. You can end up disconnected from both places

I think the travel will get very waring, and it's a huge amount of money for your parents to loose.

We have done something not a million miles away (not Cornwall) but we owned both properties. Are your parents really happy to give up their rental income?

Work out which expenses will increase eg council tax and which stay roughly the same. Utilities go up due to standing charges. Insurance will be higher. obv travel costs will be high.

Having a weekend place can work well (leaving aside the effect on the communities, where it’s generally a negative) but Cornwall is a long way away. The people I know with second homes there generally treat them as holiday homes rather than trying to be there every weekend.

You also need to be quite organised.

The Gatwick flights are much cheaper - I got one for £40 last time

A really easy journey to Gatwick - way easier than you think honestly

Sounds great but it's such a bloody long journey

And expensive

It depends where in Cornwall?

I know people who have done this .
Wadebridge area is different travel time to the otherside of Penzance

Will you be driving or relying on trains the sleeper has been out of action recently think it's back up and running but if they're doing night works on the line and things might need a plan B

… but terrible for the environment. This is not sustainable.

Could fly but Newquay airport isn't the most reliable. In the winter it's quite often closed due to fog.

That would be too much traveling for me.

Why stay for such a short time each week?

We have done similar. Drive to the coast on a Friday return to the city on Sunday night or work from home Monday and go straight to the office on Tuesday morning.

It doesn’t work. No time to really settle in either location. Always miss out on social events as we seem to be in the ‘other’ location when things are going on. You either have to buy double of everything or you are constantly packing/un packing living out of a suitcase. You can guarantee the shoes/top/ moisturiser you leave behind will be the one item you need that week.

Then there is the whole issue of having two homes when people can’t get on the property ladder.

I've done similar for years and my advice is don't do it. Like PPs said, you miss out on a lot of social things, and any travel that looks exciting wears off when you do it every week. Trains get delayed frequently, weekend engineering works is a hassle and you're never settled in one place. I was always too tired to enjoy either location and always feel like I'm playing catch up with chores.

If you do it though, book train ticket in advance as they are significantly cheaper. If you're travelling together, get a two together Railcard to get 30% off including first class. It's a significant cost reduction - I save about 50% by being organised like this

Sounds like you don't have have dcs but it definitely wouldn't work if you ever had school age dcs - would they be a possibility? I do know families who have a country property and have a house in London, but they tend to limit it to 3 hour max train journey, and they have enough wealth not to care about the journey cost.

Fuck the planet, eh? Flights between UK mainland destinations should be banned.

Sounds like a nightmare to me! Regular visits to Cornwall, yes. Every week, no! I think you'd end feeling like you didn't really live anywhere and spent half your life travelling. And there is so much to do in London at the weekend that you would miss out on.

I assume the flat is a holiday let, so why not just ask if you can book some weeks or long weekends a year rather than committing to be there every weekend.

Hello,
I have been doing something similar for a year now and love it. Not Cornwall but Northumberland. My partner and I live in our London flat Mon night til Thursday then hop on the train (~3 hours) after work on Thursday, and stay up North until Monday evening when we get the train back down (WFH on Fri and Mon).
It works for us, we love the time away from London, whilst being able to move forward in our careers in the capital. I think the 3/4 day split works best rather than a 5/2.
Yes sometimes the train is delayed and yes sometimes you miss a birthday party on a Saturday in London (but if it’s that important then just stay for that weekend), but overall it’s wonderful.
I think on paper it seems unthinkable to some people but in practice it’s really doable.
From my experience I say go for it!

Where in Cornwall? Driving down there in the middle of grockle season would be hard, trains are long and painful.

I leave myself 5 hours to drive Devon-Stansted and it’s tiring. No way would I do that on a 3/4 day rotation, even on the train.
You’re also depriving your parents of a considerable income.
Winter in Cornwall can be wet, windy and cold without much to do. Probably why you left as a younger person.
Better to book extended holiday breaks in the property and really enjoy your stays.

Are your parents seriously happy to wave goodbye to 6k a month for this? I'd just go there now and again for visits. The arrangement you describe sounds exhausting and you can't rely on trains, especially not in that area. Going up north and back is better connected with more options but out to Cornwall and back that often you're going to be banjaxed by the rail crapness very often.

Sorry to quote the OP there! Moment of madness.