Cornwall as BME family

[Moonwatcher1234]

Looking at booking Cornwall (near st Michaels mount) for Easter holidays. Just wondering how BME friendly south Cornwall is and any tips/places to avoid? Thanks

^ this

I sense that we were welcome as we were bringing money (tourism) but I imagine if we weren't it would be similar to my experiences of living in another similar demographic area up north. A lot of staring, comments, insidious racism. However on holiday it was great and a beautiful place, during peak season a lot of diversity was seen

White + gay with Asian gf. I’d stick to st Ives or Falmouth, more arty, less cunty

Op, there's a black MN page where you might get more responses. Let us know how you get on. I'd never go Cornwall as a poc

My sister is mixed & been to Cornwall a lot as she's a surfer, but she hasn't told me of any negative experiences.
But then she never tells me as I get angry, only told my mum of her awful experiences at school in rural Dorset. & being told to 'go home' on Bournemouth beach by some man soon after Brexit. And Bournemouth is quite diverse now. But maybe that was the man's problem??

I feel really sad that this is even a thing and that you have to ask this.

Some of the comments in here about comments people have had or ways they have felt are just totally unacceptable.

@Moonwatcher1234 we've had a few looks in very rural pubs. But the main tourist places all fine. We love it there.

Not what you're looking for but my church is probably 25% BAME in Cornwall (and it's biggish not just 12 people!)

Yes Cornwall is much whiter than London, Birmingham, Manchester etc but I hope and think you'd be welcome

It makes me so angry in this day & age you have to consider things like this.

I'm white and obviously ignorant.

I have black friends and Asian friends and they've ever opened up to me about any of these struggles they likely face.

Op you have every right to go where you like but I get (or try to get) the impact it must have if people aren't accepting and judging you.

It's shit. I hope you have the most amazing holiday and come back on here to tell us how great it was! Take care.

I guess all parts of the country have some areas or pubs frequented by twats. Ex-P is Indian and the only time we ever got comments was in a shit pub in a really diverse town in the Home Counties.

@Moonwatcher1234

I'm white and been visiting the Helston/Lizard area with my mixed race son for 12 years in the summer. I can honestly say I've never noticed anything particularly overt. I have noticed more BME families in the last few years, but probably noticeable because there are so few overall.

However we do stay with friends, who are another mixed race family. They have lived in Cornwall for 25 years, their youngest was born there.
My Indian friend has just retired from a pillar of the community type job which is overwhelmingly white. He was a very respected person, the mayor attended his leaving do and gave him as special award for his service to the community.
I also know that their son has been the victim of some outrageous racial profiling by the security guards at Tesco.
So I'm not sure what that tells you.
I think you'll be OK on holiday.

Living there is a different matter.

Thanks for understanding and you aren’t ignorant at all! I like to think that human connection goes a long way and the fear of the other can and does dissipate, especially when you chat and realise people are mostly decent and the same but at the same time, it’s wise to be cautious and know what you may be getting into. Especially when you have young kids. I’m sure we’ll love it from the comments!

I totally get why you're asking. I'm mixed race and went to rural Bulgaria recently. It almost became laughable the way some people openly stared at me with their jaws on the floor 😬😂 People were still pleasant enough though.

I've been to Cornwall a couple of times and my sister goes most years. It's fine. Never experienced any negativity at all. However, just to get my 2 pence in, there are nicer less crowded places in the UK. Yorkshire is beautiful imo.

Enjoy your trip 😊

My son lives in Cornwall,2 of the families he is most friendly with are mixed race families and have lived there years.Anyone would think from this thread that Cornwall is some foreign country years behind the times! Ridiculous.

@Borris please could you let me know where this is? My BME SIL is struggling to find the right church in the South West xx

Your son's experience is unusual in Cornwall, I assure you.

And yes, Cornwall is literally behind the times when it comes to diversity and inclusion. It's far better than when I arrived in the 80s as a foreigner (Scottish) but I live in a town of around 15,000 people and I can assure you that BAME families are a tiny tiny proportion of the residents. Yes, people here literally look at anyone who is not white (or not a local!) walking down the street. It's not a tourist town.

Not a place I'd visit with my kids because of discrimination, it's a shame because of the beautiful scenery..

As a native Cornish woman i need to say how inaccurate and unfair this statement is.

we’re pretty awful to people who ARE born there too.

You don't need to explain yourself to this person.

My family and I (Pakistanis) love to travel all over..Unfortunately we do have to take these things into consideration. It never stops is from going somewhere but we do always wonder how safe it will be for us/how enjoyable it will be for us just because of the way that others perceive and treat us. Very sad and what's sadder is that some people that have commented on this post have no idea what we go through.

Pure coincidence but we have booked Cornwall for this summer and are staying in Bude.. hope we all have a good time!!!

It's a very valid question OP!! I would not go somewhere where my black husband or mixed children would be stared at, made to feel uncomfortable or worse.

I'm sorry this is a consideration but I understand. Not BME, and not Cornish, but I visited a few areas last summer in Cornwall. In Padstow it felt very white. In Penzance, I noticed that visitors were much more diverse in terms of ethnicity. We were on a nearby beach and saw a lovely mix of people enjoying themselves. In particular there seemed to be a lot of people who looked like they were of Sri Lankan and Indian origin. Perhaps just the people who happened to be there at the time but the two areas felt very different to me in terms of visitors.

Also sorry that you feel you have to ask this, but understand why you are. As you can probably tell from the username, I live in Falmouth.

I really think and hope no one would stare at you here! We have a large student population, so we're perhaps a bit more diverse than then rest of Cornwall.

There were 30 kids in my kids' primary school class, and I think 6 or 7 of them had one or both non-white parents. It's a relatively white area, yes, but I think the 'never seen a non-white person in Cornwall' crowd are exaggerating a bit.

I really hope you have a great holiday here and your fears are unfounded.

I understand why you ask this question, but it really saddens me that in this day and age its still a consideration for you