St. Ives

[woebetide8]

Thinking of moving to St. Ives. Anyone made the move there? I'd be going on my own (work from home). Is it friendly?

Cornwall or Cambridgeshire ?

St Ives Cambridgeshire is lovely. The cornish one, I don't know, but can't imagine you'd get much property wise for your money.

Sorry... Cornwall. Also considering Devon coast... any suggestions for arty/friendly type vibes welcome.

Enormous proportion of second homes and Airbnbs.

Loads for sake ATM. All the holiday lets are on the market. Not cheap though and always horrendously crowded, in that walking down the road is really difficult.

Renting or Buying? Budget. Home type? Transportation needs? Medical needs?

Youd want to know if st ives is more of a community, or has been reduced to a destination. However if you were buying a former let to live permanently, you would hopefully be protecting one tendency against the other.

I should think St Ives would be pretty miserable to live in. It shouldn't be, but its congested, expensive, full of holiday lets. I was there in October and it was just frustrating trying to walk anywhere.

Have you looked at Newlyn?

Devon is a huge county, with big differences between north and south coasts.

What’s your budget and what kind of property are you looking for - detached, fisherman’s cottage, new build?

Have you been there in the summer? You might as well move to oxford circus tube station during rush hour- you will get the same experience 🥲
Devon much better. Lots of arty farty towns in South Devon, amazing food, friendly people.

Thanks for these comments... I have some of the same concerns. Currently not in a tourist area so living in one would be a bit of a culture shock...

Have you spent much time in St Ives? I’m very fond of it, and we had friends in the area we used to visit, but the sheer logistics of living there at peak season would put me off. Many houses in the centre have no parking and cars need to be left in a car park up the hill — the place we used to rent only had an unloading space, after which you needed to keep your car a ten minute walk away in a car park. Which was ok for a holiday, even with a toddler, but if you needed to drive somewhere regularly for work etc, it would be challenging. Even driving through narrow streets full of tourists is difficult. Plus I’m not sure St Ives really has an off-season, either. It certainly seemed pretty busy at Christmas.

I lived in a tourist area, specifically a largish coastal town of which a specific part is quite a famous and busy tourist destination - I lived in that part until this week. We are moving to the non touristy part, partly because there isn't much community- it's all second homes and holiday rentals- for example I never see any kids going to school from the surrounding roads. Dead in winter. V busy in the summer with cars parked on double yellows, gridlocked traffic etc. We have fortunately not had problems with v noisy holiday lets but it is a risk. It was beautiful but having to plan your days around summer traffic was a massive PITA.

Also, how secure is your WFH? Is this a type of job that is always going to be possible to do from home, regardless of employer, or if you changed employer, might there be another arrangement? Cornwall isn't known for its thriving corporate jobs market.

Totnes in Devon has an arty/hippy vibe.

I've spent a lot of time in Cornwall for work, and I'd be a little bit wary to be honest. Cornwall can be quite closed off to newcomers; the picturesque bits (such as St Ives) are gridlocked during the summer; its become very expensive (not just the housing stock, but also things like eating out in restaurants); and finally Cornwall can actually be really quite bleak in the winter- and I say this as someone who loves a wintery beach walk!

I mean why. It's really crowded in summer and bleak in winter. Parking is a nightmare. Property prices are horrendous and it is miles away from anywhere where there is major variety of employment - one of the things I always understimate is how bloody far the tip of Cornwall is away - and not only that the roads to get to it aren't always great. It's 300 miles and a 5 hour drive from London to St Ives.

Pretty place when it is not crowded though.

Falmouth is a much better bet: by the sea, a thriving town with lots of social activities. Loads of tourists but lots of locals too. And like St Ives it's also on the rail network.