Relocating to Cornwall

[Vickivicster]

We’re seriously considering moving to Cornwall and I’d really love some honest opinions from anyone who has actually done it, particularly with children.
We’re a family of three currently living in Sussex where I grew up. We love where we live in a lot of ways, but we’re increasingly drawn to Cornwall for the lifestyle – being closer to the coast, beaches, walking etc and it reminds us of the lifestyle we had when my husband and ai lived in New Zealand. Additionally we feel we are being priced out the area here and property prices in our area are becoming unattainable.

We’re at the point where we’re actually looking at houses, rather than it just being a vague idea, so it’s starting to feel like a very real possibility.
The thing I’m most worried about is schools.
Our DS is 9 and will be heading towards secondary school age, which makes me slightly nervous about moving now. He would be going into a mainstream secondary school and is generally doing well, but obviously changing schools, leaving friends behind and starting somewhere completely new feels like quite a big thing at this age.
For those who have moved to Cornwall with children around this age, how did you find it? Did your DC settle in OK and make friends? How have you found the secondary schools generally?
And what about actually living there long term? Did you buy a house before moving, or rent first? Did you feel you knew enough about the area before buying? I’m conscious that looking at an area for a weekend is very different from actually living there year-round.
I’d particularly love to hear from people who moved from elsewhere in England rather than people who have always lived in Cornwall. Was it what you expected? Do you still love it? Anything you wish you’d known before making the move?
We’re not expecting it to be perfect and I’m definitely interested in the negatives as well as the positives. I think I’m just trying to work out whether we’re romanticising the idea of Cornwall or whether it really could be a better lifestyle for us.
Any experiences, particularly from families with school-age children, would be really appreciated.

What will your plans be for employment?

I know Cornwall well and have lived there on and off.

The schools are dire. You can usually find a nice primary in a good village, but secondaries are a completely different kettle of fish and have huge catchments with all sorts of impoverished areas incorporated. Unless you can afford private of course.

Young people don’t thrive there. They either leave or fall in with a ‘bad crowd’. There are a LOT of drugs, teenage pregnancy, violence and poverty, which you will not see as a visitor. It’s all there below the surface but invisible unless you live there.

That’s not to say don’t do it - but life as a ‘local’ is very very different to life as a tourist in ways that are hard to explain on here.

Honestly if I wanted a relaxed beach lifestyle but I didn’t want my kids to end up addicted to ketamine or a NEET, I would look at the Dorset coast.

honestly? Rural life for teens is boring, I think you'll regret it

Also bear in mind Cornwall is difficult to fully integrate into because they’re an isolated group who have a distinct culture from the rest of the South West. Unless you were born and raised there you’re an emmett and it’s not easy to feel 100% at home.

You're romanticising it. Can you both drive? Are you happy to be a permanent taxi service? Have you actually looked at the price of houses in the cutsie areas you would probably want to live in? Are you prepared to only have 1 acute hospital in the county & little chance of getting an NHS dentist? What are you planningvto do for work? etc etc etc

I know Cornwall reasonably well and I think the reality of living there can be VERY different from visiting.
Some communities are incredibly insular. You can live there for 20 years and still be an “incomer” (or emmet). What gets romantically described as “fierce Cornish identity” can sometimes feel more like old-fashioned parochialism and suspicion of anyone whose grandparents weren’t born within 5 miles 😬
Some of the resentment is understandable. Local wages are low, opportunities limited and people arriving with SE salaries/equity can afford houses many locals can’t. But that resentment doesn’t always come out attractively.
I’d also take the comments about secondaries seriously.

There are pockets of poverty, drugs and low aspirations that you simply don’t see on holiday.

It’s not a very welcoming place to ‘new’ people and that would be my concern. They just about tolerate holiday makers.

I live in Cornwall, born here - it's absolute hell in the summer months, everywhere is so busy, the traffic is a living nightmare.
We've no decent airports & have to fly from Exeter (limited routes) or Bristol, which adds a lot of extra travelling. There's one decent theatre for the whole county.

Previous comments about schooling are spot on & most kids have long bus journeys for secondary. There's zero chance of getting an NHS dentist & job opportunities are limited. There's a lot of poverty.
There's a scarcity of rental properties.
Think very, very carefully....

Cornwall is,lovley but not a place to bring up teenagers, so much poverty there, its a nightmare in the summer. Have you thought about hospitals and dentists? Let alone getting a doctor appointment.
We relocated to Somerset once the kids left home its lovley but still an hour to our nearest major hospital, public transport is rubbish, but these are all things we factored in. My adult children love to vist but say they would never live here.

I love Cornwall but I think you have to be realistic if moving there.
For us, as we get older it would be medical care and the distances involved.

My FIL lived in mid-Cornwall and when he became ill it was the distance to the hospitals that were a real problem. Truro, Exeter & Plymouth (had to go to a different hospitals depending on the specialist, treatment etc) none were just down the road and it meant real issues getting to appointments and when he was ultimately hospitalised, awkward for family to visit, again because of the distances & transport links.

Don't get me wrong, absolutely love the county but as someone who attends hospital regularly, I just could not do it.

Thought I would offer my positive perspective. We moved 7 years ago from the south east when son was 7. He says he prefers our life here to the one we used to have. He is very happy in his small secondary school and I would have been equally happy with his second choice. Yes he gets on a bus but it isnt a huge deal, he has friendsnin our village too for weekends etc. He has NHS dentist, i pay. The local urgent care is excellent and my experience of the main hospital is also great. The hospital i lived near in the south east was shocking in comparison! Yes some things are far to travel to, but I didn't go to the theatre before so don't worry now either. There are some small local venues that have some great acts too. Decent shops are far away, but online shopping exists and it doesn't bother us.
My main negative is that cost of living is very high here compared to wages which can be hard. Weather can be very wet but as soon as the sun comes out you forget all about it!
I say if you have jobs, give it some serious thought - what do you actually want from life? It may well suit you - it does us. Good luck with what ever you decide.

I know someone who grew up there in a large family. All of them have left, and even now the parents. They didn’t want to stay and raise their own families there for many of the reasons mentioned on this thread

It’s a beautiful place, I grew up there and return multiple times a year. It’s also bleak. In ways you definitely can’t appreciate from visiting. Pps have covered it - poverty, desperate poverty, a kind of greyness that seeps across entire villages and towns, a real lack of quality education post 11 unless you can pay, and limited opportunities for young people. I loved Cornwall, love Cornwall now and couldn’t wait to leave at 18, and wouldn’t move back now - especially since having children as I would see it as taking a lot away from them. It’s easy to imagine an outdoorsy lifestyle and beach walks etc but I’d really try and factor in the reality of life in Cornwall away from the pretty spots, coffee shops and pretty harbours etc. Not trying to be patronising, or suggesting you’re being naive, in my weak moments I still do it myself but I can then quickly channel my 16 year old self who couldn’t wait to get away.