Thanks,
@dowie
Made a huge mistake moving to Cornwall in 1990, managed to escape back to civilisation in 2002, I now live in Hertfordshire. PROS: warmer winters, people think you're living the dream.
CONS: Winters are gloomy, miserable and wet, summer days without clouds are rare.
Cornwall has a rather different climate to the rest of the UK; temps rarely ever get below freezing. That means we can grow some semi-tropical plants here without bringing them indoors.
The last two years running we've had a very long, dry summer with no rain for weeks on end.
Currently there is some quite bad flooding up country; we're not exceptionally rained out down here. The whole UK is a bit wet, really.
Our summers and winter temps are moderated by the ocean, so we don't have extreme cold or Spanish summer temps.
A lazy laid back attitude where outsiders are not made welcome,
Laid back? Definitely. Absolutely. It's one of the best things about us.
Hostile to outsiders? I've heard this a lot but I've not personally seen it. Can't really comment.
job situation and pay are very poor, I took a 10k pay cut to move down and it crippled me,
Yup don't come here to get rich. You can double your money just by moving into Devon. True story.
places like Camborne, Redruth, St Columb major and St. Austell are full of chavs and are poverty stricken.
Yeah there's some truth to this. It's not universal even in those mentioned areas but there *is* a lot of poverty in Cornwall in general. High house prices coupled with the aforementioned low wages has taken a toll.
Life seems 10 years behind the rest of the country, there is no get up and go, an appalling road infrastructure,
Roads are not the worst you'll find in the country. My Aunt who lives up near Reading says their roads are much worse.
We're extremely rural with a low population density, and lots of places have crap broadband, etc. The Westminster govt has not been seen to invest much into Cornwall, and we've had to scrape most of our funding together from Lottery grants and the EU in particular.
getting around is hard work and the standard of driving generally appalling, getting out of cornwall during the summer is very stressful and once took me 7 hours to get to Hertfordshire.
I've only really driven in Cornwall and Devon so I can't compare with anywhere else.
There are some new dualling projects coming in the next decade, to make getting in and out quicker and easier.
Personally I love driving down little back roads but I'm never really in a hurry. As you said, we're very laid back, and I'm quite happy to get somewhere "drekly" rather than instantly
Very rough council estates, Harmony close, Murdock close, close hill in Redruth. The town centres in both Camborne and Redruth are like the land that time forgot, boarded up shops, rough pubs, charity shops and pound stores..avoid!
High streets are dying everywhere aren't they? I grew up in Helston and it's all charity shops, estate agents, betting shops now.
The locals don't like any negativity regarding Cornwall, but constantly moan about there plight. House prices totally out of line with the pathetic wages, petrol expensive and second hand cars. Rotten work on offer, food processing factories such as Roach foods which are mainly a last resort for the huge influx of foreigners. High suicide rate, regular jumpers off of Trengweath bridge Redruth.
We certainly have social issues and challenges down here. I've regularly mentioned it on here.
Lots of drugs too! And little prospects for many.
Again, central govt doesn't really want to invest in the area...
Life seems to stop at about 16:30 for Cornish tea, when the rest of the country is still working.
Eh? That's not something I've ever seen, tbh. News to me!
The only decent areas to live are very expensive and have very little to do. Dead in the Winter and packed with holiday makers during summer. AVOID unless you want to take a step back.in time in a bad way and have sufficient funds to keep afloat. Try visiting both Portreath and Porthtowan during summer and the winter, in Summer you won't be able to move or get parked, during winter Beirut is more appealing, empty, desolate and thoroughly depressing.
Depends what you want, I guess. Epic night life? Big city? Lots of young people?
Yeah that's up country.
I live in Truro. It's nice enough. It's pretty expensive with a single room in a shared house being 600-700 pcm. Thankfully I don't rent.
Locals can't really afford to live in any of the coastal towns. They mostly used to be fishing villages but they're just 2nd homes and AirBnbs now.
Parking is pretty dire, and you normally get to pay a fair whack even to visit the beach.
So yeah, there's much truth to what you say, but I think the real issue is it just isn't what you are looking for.
We're not big stressers down here; we're not high-flying professionals who party hard on the weekend. We don't have much in the way of night-life if that's your thing. We have some lovely pubs.
People come here mostly to retire. They come for the scenery. They come to grow old and potter in the garden.
The central govt sees us purely as a place to buy a 2nd home or a quick photo op eating a pasty. That's it. The lack of central govt investment in Cornwall is telling. Even the Welsh valleys have had more money put in than Cornwall.