Moving to Cornwall - Truro?

[Codswallop]

Hello south western PHers

I'll be moving for work to Cornwall in September. Need to be "central" within Cornwall as I'll be on 6 monthly rotation for 3 years, and will also need to make regular forays to Plymouth.

Have initially been looking at the Truro area as I fancy some city mod cons, but have noted that Truro appears to have almost as many parking permits and restrictions as London(!) Any locals that are better informed and know what the situation is like for people with multiple vehicles?
Or any other areas that are worth looking at?

Ta,
Codswallop

[South_of_Truro]

All the roads are narrow down here, both in town and the countryside. Areas where there are parking restrictions include centre of town, or anywhere within short walking distance there-of and anywhere near the college/hospital.
If your priority is parking and proximity to the Railway Station I'd go for Highertown or Malabar. If you'll be driving out of Truro to the A30, then I'd be looking at the houses to the east of Truro, like the Treffry estate.
Also, the council have garages to rent in most towns, google Cornwall Council Garages.
That's a bit of a stab in the dark as it mostly depends on what style of house you're after - if you want a flat/house near the city centre then your cars will be scattered to the four corners of the wind for free parking. Also, don't forget we have seagulls down here too which are particularly paint unfriendly.

[Codswallop]

Thanks for those suggestions chap - will check those areas out.

Hoping to get a small house, and will check those areas out. Just me, so realistically I need a garage with a bedroom and kitchen attached!

Good car scene in that area I hope? Certainly have the roads for it

[Midlifecrisis71]

Only you know why your suggesting Truro, but I wouldnt say its central Cornwall. But it is a nice town.
Truro to Plymouth in the summer will take you over an hour.
That said everywhere is relatively close in Cornwall.

Car scene - i wait to be shot down, but Devon is far busier than Cornwall. The cornish guys dont seem to like driving anywhere very far. We run alot of meets from Exeter and Plymouth and cover the southwest and beyond.

[Codswallop]

Midlifecrisis71 said:

Only you know why your suggesting Truro, but I wouldnt say its central Cornwall. But it is a nice town.
Truro to Plymouth in the summer will take you over an hour.
That said everywhere is relatively close in Cornwall.

Car scene - i wait to be shot down, but Devon is far busier than Cornwall. The cornish guys dont seem to like driving anywhere very far. We run alot of meets from Exeter and Plymouth and cover the southwest and beyond.

Truro was suggested to me by a work colleague who grew up there. Don't know the area myself so open to suggestion! Would like to be in a slightly larger place, and with good access to the larger A roads, but fairly flexible otherwise.

[Midlifecrisis71]

You either go for pretty coastal tourist places or Truro. I don't know Bodmin, St.Austell isn't great, Falmouth a bit remote ?

Padstow, St.Mawes, St.Ives all gorgeous but full of tourists.
Avoid Newquay.

The A30 will be your new friend, its a quick route to Exeter but gets congested in the summer.

[Oliiiiiiiii]

Do you know the possible locations of your rotations?
Will you be commuting at the usual busy times, or other times of day?

[KernowSid]

Midlifecrisis71 said:

You either go for pretty coastal tourist places or Truro. I don't know Bodmin, St.Austell isn't great, Falmouth a bit remote ?

Padstow, St.Mawes, St.Ives all gorgeous but full of tourists.
Avoid Newquay.

The A30 will be your new friend, its a quick route to Exeter but gets congested in the summer.

I would avoid Bodmin! I would stick to Truro or a village nearby. Still close enough to all the scenic parts with the benefits of living near the city.

[parksie]

You don't mention your Budget? Prices change a fair bit through out Cornwall

[mattyn1]

IMO the nicest part of Cornwall is south of Helston - toward The Lizard. This makes the commute to Plymouth a nightmare however, but as a consequence you will be in a less populated by tourist area. As you probably guessed that is where I am, and it is a 40 minute drive to Truro, another ten minutes at least to the A30, then 1hr 30 to Exeter. On a good day, with no queues at Temple. Plymouth is, as said, at least an hour from Truro.

Although we call it Big City, it isn't! If you are set on Truro, my suggestion would be one of the immediate surrounding villages, where you should get somewhere with reasonable parking spaces. Blackwater, Chacewater, Malpas, Kea are all nice, but go toward St Austell, such as Tregony, making that trip to Plymouth easier.

I have lived down here for 30 odd years, and as lovely as it is, it really does my head in at times.

As someone said, avoid Bodmin, Camborne, Redruth, Pool, Penryn.

[Butter Face]

mattyn1 said:

As someone said, avoid Bodmin, Camborne, Redruth, Pool, Penryn.

I don't know if that's really fair, they all have their good parts and bad parts. Houses are a lot cheaper in most of those places than in Truro and they're all about as good for commuting to Plymouth as Truro itself.

Find a house on the outskirts of Camborne/Redruth/Pool and you'll get a lot more for your money IMO, it's not exactly a slog to get to the 'nicer' parts of Cornwall when you actually want to go to them (days off if you have such a thing!)

[Codswallop]

Midlifecrisis71 said:

You either go for pretty coastal tourist places or Truro. I don't know Bodmin, St.Austell isn't great, Falmouth a bit remote ?

Padstow, St.Mawes, St.Ives all gorgeous but full of tourists.
Avoid Newquay.

The A30 will be your new friend, its a quick route to Exeter but gets congested in the summer.

Yeah, Falmouth may be a bit too remote... plus one of my cars likes to rust for fun and I doubt the sea air would do it much good.

Think I'd like to avoid places that attract too many tourists as can imagine it would drive me mad in peak season.

Oliiiiiiiii said:

Do you know the possible locations of your rotations?
Will you be commuting at the usual busy times, or other times of day?

Sadly don't know the locations yet, and probably won't know them until late September/ early October (by which time I'll have already started the teaching block and will need to be in the area).

parksie said:

You don't mention your Budget? Prices change a fair bit through out Cornwall

Would like to spend up to £1000 max. Seems like decent places can be had for a bit less though. It's only me moving, so even a 2 bed place with good driveway space would be ample.

[Codswallop]

mattyn1 said:

IMO the nicest part of Cornwall is south of Helston - toward The Lizard. This makes the commute to Plymouth a nightmare however, but as a consequence you will be in a less populated by tourist area. As you probably guessed that is where I am, and it is a 40 minute drive to Truro, another ten minutes at least to the A30, then 1hr 30 to Exeter. On a good day, with no queues at Temple. Plymouth is, as said, at least an hour from Truro.

Although we call it Big City, it isn't! If you are set on Truro, my suggestion would be one of the immediate surrounding villages, where you should get somewhere with reasonable parking spaces. Blackwater, Chacewater, Malpas, Kea are all nice, but go toward St Austell, such as Tregony, making that trip to Plymouth easier.

I have lived down here for 30 odd years, and as lovely as it is, it really does my head in at times.

As someone said, avoid Bodmin, Camborne, Redruth, Pool, Penryn.

Thanks for the suggestions. How bad is commuter traffic typically on the more congested routes? I'm used to bad traffic in London and the South East, so as long as it's not worse than that I'm okay with it

Butter Face said:

I don't know if that's really fair, they all have their good parts and bad parts. Houses are a lot cheaper in most of those places than in Truro and they're all about as good for commuting to Plymouth as Truro itself.

Find a house on the outskirts of Camborne/Redruth/Pool and you'll get a lot more for your money IMO, it's not exactly a slog to get to the 'nicer' parts of Cornwall when you actually want to go to them (days off if you have such a thing!)

To be honest I haven't noticed a huge difference in cost for Redruth vs Truro on rightmove. Will have to visit both and see I guess. Will try and make it down in a few weeks and check out a few of the suggested areas.

Out of curiosity, just how bad are the "bad" areas in Cornwall? Can't be worse than the rougher parts of London surely?

[mattyn1]

Codswallop said:

mattyn1 said:

stuff

Thanks for the suggestions. How bad is commuter traffic typically on the more congested routes? I'm used to bad traffic in London and the South East, so as long as it's not worse than that I'm okay with it

It is annoying really. Basically one main dual carriageway through Cornwall (A30) and some Dc on the way to Plymouth. Mrs N has just spent the last seven days in Treliske so that left me doing Helston-Truro-Helston twice a day for visiting - it moves albeit slowly building up to rush hours, then it can be gridlocked (Cornish gridlocked is nowhere near M25 gridlocked!). Patience is the key.

The road from The Lizard into Helston from 4pm to about 6pm is gridlocked during the summer.

Codswallop said:

Butter Face said:

I don't know if that's really fair, they all have their good parts and bad parts. Houses are a lot cheaper in most of those places than in Truro and they're all about as good for commuting to Plymouth as Truro itself.

Find a house on the outskirts of Camborne/Redruth/Pool and you'll get a lot more for your money IMO, it's not exactly a slog to get to the 'nicer' parts of Cornwall when you actually want to go to them (days off if you have such a thing!)

To be honest I haven't noticed a huge difference in cost for Redruth vs Truro on rightmove. Will have to visit both and see I guess. Will try and make it down in a few weeks and check out a few of the suggested areas.

Out of curiosity, just how bad are the "bad" areas in Cornwall? Can't be worse than the rougher parts of London surely?

We are not talking inner city, and there is some movement with regeneration schemes. I moved from Pool to Helston area as my opposite neighbour was raided one Saturday morning and had a loft full of cannabis plants! Not a place I wanted my kids growing up, playing in the street etc. There were a few other disturbances from that house which was a shame as the previous tenant to the one that got raided was stunning

I love Cornwall, but I cannot see myself staying here when I retire.

[mikal83]

And that's why we live in east Cornwall. Lovely n quiet....ahhhhh.

[driverrob]

mikal83 said:

And that's why we live in east Cornwall. Lovely n quiet....ahhhhh.

Apart from tractors from dawn to dusk

[nxh66]

I live on Treffry Road in Truro which someone mentioned earlier, made perfect sense to me mainly for its rapid access to the A30 as I have to make red eye flights in Exeter, Bristol etc every month. No parking restrictions and I believe every house has a garage, also a 15 min walk to the town centre. Think the smallest is 3 bed but they do rent for less than £1000 plus council tax/bills etc.

Something that would effect my choice of location would also be age to be honest. Truro is a bit of a magnet for young folks between 24-37 who have a bit of disposable income where Falmouth has a much larger student population, most of my friends have slowly deserted Falmouth and moved to Truro as the student population has grown.

Cornwall in general is pretty quiet for most of the year (That may be what you are after?!) but as you said you are coming on your own so for me I'd defo prefer to be in a bigger population rather than a small village though Perranporth is also popular along with St Agnes...both have good access to the A30/Truro and are pretty sociable places.

[nxh66]

Re parking permits in Truro...not a big deal to get one. £25 for the 1st car and about £35 if you need a 2nd.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Truro is nice, I'd like to live there, almost did but bottled it, its like Bath but smaller and less coachloads of visitors

I love Falmouth, great there and would happily move there now if the kids weren't settled in school in Wilts

The A30 is a double edged sword, use it @ peak times in peak season and you will lose the will to live, use it after 8pm and its quiet

I often drive Truro to Swindon and leave @ 9pm at night and will hardly see a car at all on the A30