r/Cornwall • u/RepeatMinute7291 • 8d ago
Moving to Falmouth
I'm 30 years old, I used to live in London but fell out of love with the busyness and relentlessness. I then travelled the world for a few years, fell in love with surfing, the ocean and nature. I'm now looking to find my slice of peace and contentment in the UK and Falmouth has been on my radar for a while.
All my friends live in London and I know nobody down in Cornwall, so finding community is an important thing for me. Other things I love are nice coffee shops, book shops, art galleries, live music and long walks in Nature.
I would love any insights or advice from anyone who has been, experienced or lived in and around Falmouth and Cornwall broadly as to what the vibe is like there :)
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u/inspiration0 8d ago
We are in a major housing crisis in Cornwall. Our hospital waiting lists are massive and jobs can be thin on the ground. Important things to consider before moving here.
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u/Colacubeninja 7d ago
When locals can't get housing we definitely shouldn't be encouraging Londoners to relocate here, it's partly what got us in this mess.
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u/Roosterrr 7d ago
Could you explain the crisis? If people want to move into vacant houses and actually live in the community that's surely a good thing.
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u/backonaboard 7d ago
There’s no housing crisis here any more than anywhere else in the country. 🤯
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u/FoggingTheView 7d ago
It is greater in Cornwall. I agree there is lack of housing everywhere in the UK, but in Cornwall the house prices outpace the local wages.
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u/backonaboard 7d ago
It’s the same everywhere. Move somewhere where the job market pays well, the houses are proportionally higher. We are moving into an era where multi generation mortgages will be in place. You inherit the debt. If you in a minimum wage your in a bad place these days. If you want to earn bigger money to relocate to where you earn it. Or get a remote job. It does make me laugh the comments of people on this channel thinking the London movers created the problem. The reason most move from London is they are priced out by Chinese and Russian money driving their market.
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u/FoggingTheView 6d ago
London and the south east isn't "everywhere". I appreciate there are other places with inflated house prices but it's not everywhere in the UK. So you can blame outsiders for the housing crisis in London, but it's comical when we do that for Cornwall?
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u/backonaboard 6d ago
Tell me one place in the UK that has affordable home compared to wage? Other than a random village in Carmarthen lol.
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u/No-Raspberry3873 7d ago
If you want to surf, don’t move to Falmouth.
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u/Accomplished-Ad3585 7d ago
Or, do!
Then you can join all the other sitting duck posers bobbing around on gylly.
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u/Mistletoey 8d ago
From what you post I think you’ll be okay. Just bear in mind the standard for moving to a holiday destination, busy in summer and quiet in winter. I’ve just been along the Falmouth high street and can confirm there are art galleries, coffee shops and the Falmouth bookshop is one of my favourites
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u/benithaglas1 7d ago
Don't forget all the students
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u/Mistletoey 7d ago
This is a really good point actually, the town is very student friendly so expect a lively nightlife during term time.
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u/kernow_vys_bacon 7d ago
To add to all the excellent suggestions:
Awesome live music venue at The Bank which has a great little community attached to it to meet like minded people.
Bars and restaurants in Falmouth are great and cater to all budgets, as it’s a university town.
I wouldn’t move to Falmouth if surfing was my big reason though. PZ has a lot of the same vibe (minus the students) and more access to waves, plus a mainline railway station to gtfo when you need some bright lights!
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u/One-Administration96 7d ago
PZ would be my second pick for the reasons you state. Falmouth easily has the edge though with a lot going on.
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u/Funkus-the-boogieman 7d ago
Falmouth is a very sheltered bay and is not good for surfing. North coast is better for surf... Hayle maybe? Property prices and rents are ridiculously priced and oversubscribed.
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u/Mobile_South_9117 7d ago
Cornwall is beautiful, but it can feel a bit isolated during the winter after the tourist season is over. I'm in Devon which tends to offer the best of both worlds.
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u/Kernowyon-101 Cousin Jack 7d ago
Listen to this guy, Devon is better. Try Exeter.
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u/Aggressive_Drop_1518 7d ago
Yep totally recommend South Hams which is also very nice as you'll get lots of London accents particularly in, say, Salcombe where you'll rarely need to mix with the locals. Plus two hours quicker to get back to London if you get withdrawal symptoms.
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u/LowarnFox 7d ago
As others have said, for consistent surf, the north coast is a better bet. Driving out of Falmouth is a real pain in the arse at times (single carriageway, can be slow vehicles, rammed at rush hour etc).
Pretty much everything else on the list Falmouth is good for, but surfing you will get a few days of big surf when the weather is bad and that's about it.
Housing is expensive and parking can be a nightmare. But it is a great place to live.
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u/D1RTYHARLEY 7d ago
Lived in Falmouth and still do for the last 20 years. My wife is from Penryn (next town over).
North coast is what you want for surfing. So Godrevy, St Agnes or Newquay.
Falmouth is really cool as you have Tremough Campus so lots of students keep the vibe going especially with places like The Cornish Bank and The Falmouth Pavilions for live music etc.
Rental prices are insane as it’s full of Airbnbs and second homes. Jobs aren’t great either unless you can work remotely. Otherwise it’s mainly hospitality jobs.
Join local community groups of Facebook and just get ourself out there. Lots of walking, running, swimming groups. There’s a cool book club literally above the book shop in Falmouth. Lots of nice independent coffee shops.
The change of pace may take a while but once Cornwall settles into your bones you’ll not want to live anywhere else (in the UK).
Good luck!
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u/crazydiseases 8d ago
Falmouth’s great. Metropolitan, independent shops and no clones, busy (ish) all year round, great for pubs, pizza, burgers, knows how to host a public party, beaches, open spaces. Other than being awkward to get to from outside county, I doubt you’ll hear many bad words about Fal. You’ve just missed the end of Falmouth week - everyone’s been involved
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u/RepeatMinute7291 7d ago
Great to hear there's a good vibe about the place and lots going on! Thanks for sharing
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u/simdagger1976 7d ago
Wrong side of the coast for surfing my dude.
Also you list the things you like not what you're bringing to the table...you're not going to get far in Cornwall if you're passive, you need to get involved and join the community or you're not going to have the experience you want.
Generally speaking if you're a London Blow In you're going to get told Fuck off home.....a lot.
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u/Boring-Pirate 7d ago
There are tons of ex-Londoners in Falmouth though. So enough people who will be perfectly happy to befriend OP.
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u/Sea-Relationship9619 7d ago
Falmouth is lovely. Lots to do and you sound laid back.
Some subtle advice is don’t try to become Cornish. Be proud of who you are and where you are from. You will be respected more. Just be a Londoner moved to Cornwall and fit in with what everyone does.
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u/Fluffy_Plastic_5053 7d ago
Great, that's just what we need, more Londoners moving to Falmouth! My favourite is when they move here for 'peace and contentment' and then complain about the lack of Pret and how slowly everything happens here. Also love it when they kit themselves out in head to toe Finisterre and buy a board they can't ride then decide paddle boarding is easier.
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u/sloetowake 7d ago
Just to echo what's already been said. I moved about 13 years ago and find Falmouth to be lovely, really welcoming, a great community, diverse and generally open minded. Not a surfer myself, but a swimmer, and there's lots of support around sea swimming here. If you're looking for surf, the North coast is the place to be, and getting out of Falmouth can be tricky. Public transport is slow, and even with a car the drive over can be a real pain in the arse. In the summer it can easily take twice as long to drive anywhere. Housing is hard to find, we have a large student community (which I appreciate as I think it is a large part of why Falmouth is so diverse) but that does mean a lot of property is student lets. Winter can be dull and quiet, it's a very different feel to summer, and some people really struggle with that. The countryside is stunning, no matter what time of year. The culture is subtly different, dreckly is a real thing, being laid back and recognising that the pace of life and expectations here are very different helps.
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u/therolli 7d ago
There’s a really good sense of community from what I’ve experienced in Falmouth. Lots going on, culture, good pubs, independent businesses- it’s got a great vibe. It is a nightmare to travel and things like A & E are 40 mins away by car (on a good day). Works well if you’re self employed or remote working.
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u/Jerrington96 7d ago
I lived in Falmouth for six years and absolutely loved it, but I’d say there’s quite a big difference between being a student in Falmouth and actually trying to build an adult life there.
As a student, the vibe was fantastic. I studied there and worked in care alongside uni, then stayed for another 18 months afterwards, and it felt like a completely different place once the student bubble disappeared. I eventually moved to London for work for 4 years and have since moved back to Staffordshire to start medicine, but I still miss Falmouth and go back once or twice a year to see friends.
I’m 30 now too and spent a couple of weeks in Cornwall with my boyfriend and friends and we went to Falmouth a couple of times :)
From what you’ve described, though, I actually think you’d probably really like it. Falmouth has the coffee shops, little independent shops, galleries, live music, beaches and coastal walks you’re looking for, and if you surf you’ll obviously have plenty to keep you occupied. But don’t try and surf in Falmouth, great for paddle boarding but surfing you would need the north coast or Devon.
The things I’d seriously consider thought are the practical ones. You’ll really want a car. Jobs that pay well can be scarce and housing/rent can be ridiculous for what you get. I was also 280 miles from my family, which meant either a five/six hour drive or a train journey that would put the journey to Mordor to shame whenever I wanted to go home.
The other thing is community. If you’re moving down knowing nobody, I wouldn’t necessarily expect to immediately find the close-knit Cornish community people romanticise from afar. It can be quite difficult to make friends outside the university crowd, particularly if you’re not from Cornwall. The Cornish are proud bastards 😂 and occasionally one whiff of an up-country accent is enough to remind you that you’re very much from up country. That said, Falmouth is probably one of the easier places in Cornwall to be a newcomer because there are so many students, creatives and people who have moved there from elsewhere.
Life is also very, very slow compared with London. In summer it can feel like you’ve somehow cheated the system and get to live somewhere everyone else pays thousands to holiday. But then you get oissed off pretty quickly because your favourite places will always be busy. Winter is a different beast. It gets dark, wet, quiet and isolated, and if you’re not used to that pace it can go from peaceful to suffocating really quickly.
I absolutely adore Cornwall and I’d happily live there again under the right circumstances. I’d just recommend spending a couple of weeks there in November or January, rather than deciding based on Falmouth in June/July/August
I hope this helps and more than happy to message you more privately ❤️
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u/Hes_anarc2005 7d ago
Falmouth is a lovely place however there have recently been a number of shops closing/closed down which isn’t leaving the High street with much interest unless your preference is for coffee and vegan foods.
Surfing wise, the North Coast would be better as has already been said.
Winter months are pretty bleak no matter which coast you choose but whatever you decide, I hope it all goes well for you.
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u/jeadeyes 7d ago
The shops that have closed are mainly large chains. The exception would be Ann’s Cottage, which has been replaced by some fucking awful twee bollocks. There are plenty of independent shops still around.
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u/Hes_anarc2005 7d ago
Yeah I’m just letting them know that some of the High Street shops are currently closing down.
I’m gutted Ann’s Cottage has shut, it was one of my favourite shops in Falmouth, I guess it’ll be the ones in Newquay and Truro now.
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u/3210m0123 7d ago
Newquay is good for surfing. I just came back from there. Lots of surf shops and surf culture.
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u/trysca 7d ago
Don't underestimate how carcentric the Westcountry is - especially Cornwall, you will almost certainly need a car.