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

[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

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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.

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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.

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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?