Moving to Cornwall (an in-comers view)
Cornblogger - blogging about Cornwall
Letters to Cornblogger |
| Posted on Jun 24 2008 >> Back |
Help and advice on moving to Cornwall
Dear Cornblogger,
We are a young family from Manchester, tired of city life and want a better life for our daughter.
It all seems so idyllic but after reading a few forums, Cornwall seems pretty unwelcoming and perhaps jobs etc hard to come by?
Maybe it is a bit too much of a change for us, we would welcome any advice you have about Cornish life.
Hi (name withheld for privacy reasons),
Good to hear from you.
We moved to Looe which isn’t very far into Cornwall and although we didn’t realise it at the time, is full of people from all over the country! This makes it feel a little like an ex-pat/multi-cultural community and it makes Looe a very friendly place to live.
Overall though, I think it depends on where you move to. If it’s somewhere like Looe, St Ives or Truro or any other well known place you are likely to find lots of like minded people but if you go for a village or unknown small Cornish town then you might get some people treating you like ‘in-comers’. Many Cornish really do treat Cornwall as a separate country and as such they are very patriotic.
Having children, especially young ones, will help you integrate as there is the endless round of parties and school events to go to which entail meeting other parents and local residents. We love this side of things and it has really helped us feel settled.
Work can be quite hard to find (and poorly paid) but I guess it depends on what you do and where you move to. There is a huge tourism industry and burgeoning food and lifestyle industry and as always, good, reliable tradespeople are hard to find, more-so here we have found.
Cornwall is a lovely county, harsh in places and dominated by tourists in others but if you can see past these things, then it is quiet, calm, healthy, energising and full of really nice people.
There are a couple of Cornwall magazines that will give you a feel for what I think is currently happening in Cornwall and what I call the ‘Cornish Revival’.
They are:
Let us know what you decide to do and best of luck.
Cheers
Chris
P.S. In regard to internet forums, I wouldn’t be put off by them as they’re usually inhabited by young people who don’t always give an unbiased opinion.