Cornwall Travel Forum

Hello everybody,

I'm a German female and have been living in London for almost 11 years.
But the big City life is starting to irritate me now.....
Also my question is...are there any Germans in Cornwall, I think it's always nice to have some friends from your own country.
I'm thinking about moving to Cornwall and are happy about any advice given.:-)

Susanne

I'm sure there are Germans in Cornwall (and a large number of other nationalities). It's a lovely place: I will envy you if you move!

Couldn't find any Cornish groups online in my brief search, but you might drop an email to http://pags.org.uk/ (Plymouth Anglo-German society). It's in Devon, but they will probably know what's going on in Cornwall.

And where do you live?

Susanne

Erm......Leicestershire? That's why I'm 'Leics'.

Why do you ask, just out of interest?

Another reason why I want to leave London is...I'm really fed up with flatsharing.:-(
I already lived on my own in Germany, but since I'm in London....only flatshare:-(. Unless you are very rich, this is how you have to live until you die.
I hope Cornwall is a bit cheaper and possible to afford one owns flat..??

Susanne

oh well....just because you said you envy me, if I move to Cornwall :-)

O.....well, erm again.

Afraid Cornwall isn't cheap (though a bit cheaper than London). The number of people who have bought holiday homes (and retirement properties) there has meant prices are higher than perhaps you might expect.

It's the same in all pretty areas of the UK, I'm afraid: the Lake District, N Wales, Pembrokeshire, Devon, Dorset, Norfolk etc. Local people find it very difficult to buy properties, unless they have good incomes.

But if you want to leave London (and I can't say I blame you at all), then you perhaps need to think about moving north rather than south. Prices will drop the further north you go in England, and there are some lovely place around which aren't too expensive (the East Midlands is supposed to be one of the cheapest areas).

Job comes first though: it's no use moving away if you can't get work. so that's the first thing to check.

House/flat prices sorted by county here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/uk_house_prices/counties/html/counties.stm

I envy you because I'd love to live in Cornwall/Devon/Dorset etc......but can't afford it!

Hello Susanne and welcome to VT.
Many towns throughout the UK are twinned with towns abroad - my town has a "twin" Germany, France and Italy.

Here is a list I found on the internet of Twinning links and just on this page alone you will several Cornish towns with a German Twin. The local associations always welcome new members particularly if they can speak the relevant language and help when exchange vists take place.

http://teigntwin.co.uk/atoz/twins-p.htm

While it is true that some parts of Cornwall, particularly in or near desirable coastal resorts are expensive, friends of mine recently retired - he from social work, his wife from teaching in an area of Cornwall with high unemployment and quite a lot of poverty.

You haven't listed any special interests on you Personal Profile Page but I wonder if there are things from City Living that you would miss in Cornwall?
Theatre, cinema, concerts?
These are things to think about when considering a move - but you made a move from Germany to England and must have weighed up such things then so there is no need to tell you that! Good Luck, anyway.

cornwall is a nice place to go,but if you lived there you would probably be more irritated by living in an isolated area, because it is a long way to travel back to ameneties you might be used to.
another option might be to look for web links to any german communities or other people that have meetings in different parts of the uk,go along to some,and you will get to see more places,and get an insight into an area you would like to move to.
while i like living in the south midlands area,i also find it irritating,but i am the opposite of your situation as small town life gets me,

I answered a question for a German VT member who was coming to England for a short time and found an Anglo German society for her in Hertfordshire who seemed to have links across the UK for Anglo - German friendship. I cannot recall it now but I could ask the VT member if they were any help (unless of course you are reading this Christine).
I think as everyone says you probably need a job before a move to anywhere but bear in mind that earnings will be lower outside London and costs not necessarily much cheaper.

Hello everybody,

thank you for all your answers.
Well what can I say, I come from a smallish town in Germany (near Munich)...and I feel no that I'm getting older ;-) I want to somehow get back to my roots....so that means, live in a smaller town.

I liked London for about the first 5 years...then it started to change....
Now I even feel I would be happiest living in a village....

Yes, one thing which I will definatelly miss in London will be Covent Garden...I just love this place :-)
I sometimes like to go to the Theatre or cinema...but its not so important that I have to do it all the time....mostly important for me is now: Nature...that I can possibly walk to work (because I really hate the tube during the rush hour) and maybe have a own place, rather then flatshare.

One thing I'm not sure about Cornwall....how do the towns work?
If you look at places in Spain for example everything is widely spread out....one town spreads over and then the next one starts, buses are quite bad so you would need a car.

Is it like that in Cornwall....or are the towns a bit more like let's say Brighton...where there is a towncenter and people live around....Buses also go everywhere so it's not a problem.


Susanne

Hello Britannia....yes that would be nice if you could ask for the society..:-)

I think the buses are quite good but there are not many large towns - Penzance, Truro ( very nice town), Newquay and Falmouth are probably the biggest towns but are no where as big as Brighton. The trains are not great locally but there are regular trains to and from London and you can change at Plymouth for trains north.
You do of course get a nice climate with mild winters - have a look at some of the very good pages here on VT.

I think this is the link -http://www.laenderkontakte.de/region/europa/grossbritannien_und_nordirland_vereinigtes_koenigreich/bilaterale_vereinigungen_freundschaftsgesellschaften_voelkerverstaendigung/index.html

Thanks for that :-) I will have a look at it.

Susanne

yes there are Germans living in Cornwall, my neighbour is German and there are at least two others in the St Just in Penwith, i do not know how much you are paying in rent at this moment, but it is very hard to find accommodation for long lets as many are only for let in the winter months as they are let out as holiday lets in the summer, when i let out a property i had 20 people ask if they could rent it. the other problem with Cornwall is the low wages you earn here, Penzance has the lowest average wage in England, a two bedroom house costs more than 10 times the average yearly wage, and West Penwith is bucking the house price trend at the moment, property prices are up 4% this month. It is a very beautiful place to live but it is costly, as the public transport is terrible and very expensive so the county has the highest car ownership rates in the uk and the highest water rates. It is best to rent some where in the winter for six months as if you can survive the wind, wet and sea mist you will love living here.