Accommodation and travel strategy options

All the different ways of solving the shelter problem. To be static or mobile? Roots, legs, or wheels?
ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

guitarplayer wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:47 am
@ThriftyRob, from your research, what towns in Cornwall are worth looking at?
It depends on what you're looking for! Penzance and St Ives are quite artsy. Newquay is great for surfing and is near the only airport. Falmouth is kind of yachty but there is a university there, so there are good restaurants and culture. Truro is the only city in Cornwall and while it's small it does have more going on. Saltash, Bodmin and Wadebridge are worth a look. Some of the towns are very touristy and others are less photogenic (like St Austell) but function as important local hubs. Padstow is a tourist trap and very expensive. I like Helston and Porthleven which have the essence of old Cornwall. If you want a view of the sea then property costs rise dramatically.

Driving through the county can be very slow in the peak season, so places to the east, like Saltash and Torpoint are relatively easy to escape from!

ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

ThriftyRob wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:38 pm
It depends on what you're looking for! Penzance and St Ives are quite artsy. Newquay is great for surfing and is near the only airport. Falmouth is kind of yachty but there is a university there, so there are good restaurants and culture. Truro is the only city in Cornwall and while it's small it does have more going on. Saltash, Bodmin and Wadebridge are worth a look. Some of the towns are very touristy and others are less photogenic (like St Austell) but function as important local hubs. Padstow is a tourist trap and very expensive. I like Helston and Porthleven which have the essence of old Cornwall. If you want a view of the sea then property costs rise dramatically.

Driving through the county can be very slow in the peak season, so places to the east, like Saltash and Torpoint are relatively easy to escape from if you need to travel to anywhere else in the UK.

guitarplayer
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by guitarplayer »

Thanks so much for this. DW and I have LISAs to use for getting the first property and although we now live in Scotland, I often think that it would be so so great to have those few extra degrees Celsius and more sun. Much appreciate learning from your research, might come handy.

tonyedgecombe
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by tonyedgecombe »

I wonder what health care is like in Cornwall. We have a lot of relatives in Devon and they seem to have much worse provision than my parents have in the home counties. I've heard the same about regions of Wales as well.

ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

guitarplayer wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:01 pm
Thanks so much for this. DW and I have LISAs to use for getting the first property and although we now live in Scotland, I often think that it would be so so great to have those few extra degrees Celsius and more sun. Much appreciate learning from your research, might come handy.
We thought about moving to Scotland. The midges and the weather are a big negative.

ThriftyRob
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2020 7:20 am

Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

tonyedgecombe wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:34 am
I wonder what health care is like in Cornwall. We have a lot of relatives in Devon and they seem to have much worse provision than my parents have in the home counties. I've heard the same about regions of Wales as well.
If you want the best health care provision you would live in London so that you could access the best teaching hospitals with top consultants.

However, if you live somewhere where crime and air pollution are low, take plenty of exercise, eat healthily and minimise stress, there are plenty of compensations. Most of the disease burden on UK hospitals results from eating and drinking too much processed crap and not getting enough exercise!

tonyedgecombe
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by tonyedgecombe »

ThriftyRob wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:36 am
However, if you live somewhere where crime and air pollution are low, take plenty of exercise, eat healthily and minimise stress, there are plenty of compensations. Most of the disease burden on UK hospitals results from eating and drinking too much processed crap and not getting enough exercise!
I agree to an extent. There is still a ton of stuff that just comes down to luck. My wife is going to need her knees replacing in the coming years thanks to an active life. My mother in law is still active despite being nearly ninety, she has needed knees and a hip replacement. Cancer is more prevalent in the obese but it isn't absent in people with a healthy weight.

Of course you can pay for it to jump the queue but that is hardly ERE.

UK-with-kids
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by UK-with-kids »

guitarplayer wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:01 pm
I often think that it would be so so great to have those few extra degrees Celsius and more sun.
Cornwall is warm and beautiful, but if you want more sun I would move to the east of England. Or better still, somewhere like Spain!

guitarplayer
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by guitarplayer »

@UK-with-kids, where in the east of England would you recon? We are still working so it would need to be where there are some jobs (not difficult in the UK) but would appreciate low property prices!

@ThriftyRob apologies, did not mean to hijack the thread!

ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

UK-with-kids wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 12:49 pm
Cornwall is warm and beautiful, but if you want more sun I would move to the east of England. Or better still, somewhere like Spain!
I think that the weather records suggest that the most sunshine per year is: Bognor Regis, followed by Eastbourne and Hastings. Unfortunately, property prices are too high for my downsizing to work in those places. Regardless, there are loads of solar farms in Cornwall.

ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

tonyedgecombe wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:42 am
I agree to an extent. There is still a ton of stuff that just comes down to luck. My wife is going to need her knees replacing in the coming years thanks to an active life. My mother in law is still active despite being nearly ninety, she has needed knees and a hip replacement. Cancer is more prevalent in the obese but it isn't absent in people with a healthy weight.

Of course you can pay for it to jump the queue but that is hardly ERE.
I'd say that paying to jump the queue doesn't get you better care – you would see the same consultant but without the wait time. Cancer is a relatively low risk and it's debatable whether UK interventions are effective (certainly France and Germany achieve better outcomes). Chemotherapy is a horrible therapy which affects quality of life and doesn't do much to increase life expectancy. I think the NHS is moving away from knee replacements because many patients report that they still experience pain after the replacement. My outlook is to avoid doctors and hospitals as much as possible.

ThriftyRob
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

Returning to the thread topic, I have been influenced by @jean and have spent a good few hours researching stealth camping online. I'm leaning towards a Citroen Berlingo which has the rear dimensions to make camping comfortable and there are many conversions which give lots of ideas for how to do it. That said, we would probably prefer the comfort and space of a larger vehicle such as a converted short wheelbase Sprinter van. Sprinters just about fit in a standard car park space.

A conversation over dinner on Friday opened up the option of relocating to the Isle of Man, which is something of a tax haven. Housing costs (to buy) look about the same as Cornwall (although renting is much more expensive). When visitors are allowed back in we will probably make a fact-finding trip (our plan is to go for a series of long weekends in Cornwall through the autumn as we have a slight concern that some places may be dead outside the summer holiday season).

chenda
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by chenda »

ThriftyRob wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:44 pm
I Bognor Regis, followed by Eastbourne and Hastings.
The other disadvantage is you would be living in Bognor Regis, Eastbourne or Hastings :lol: Honestly, I visited Hastings a few years ago for a course and I was shocked by the deprivation. I also worked for an estate agent in Bognor Regis once and it was well rough.

The Isle of Wight, its surprisingly cheap in places you can get a 1 bedroom flat for as little as £50 000.Though it has surprisingly levels of deprivation too, along with extreme affluence.

Dorset/Devon area might be a good compromise between accessibility and housing costs.

ThriftyRob
Posts: 148
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Re: Accommodation and travel strategy options

Post by ThriftyRob »

chenda wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:12 pm
The other disadvantage is you would be living in Bognor Regis, Eastbourne or Hastings :lol: Honestly, I visited Hastings a few years ago for a course and I was shocked by the deprivation. I also worked for an estate agent in Bognor Regis once and it was well rough.
Thanks – agreed! Apart from the deprivation, those towns don't have anything that would excite us about living there. My BIL had an aspiration to move to the Isle of Wight but his wife was against it due to health care provision.

Actually, the remoteness of Cornwall isn't a massive issue for me. We will be retired, so will have time in abundance. If we occasionally need to take 5 hours getting to London that won't be such a big deal. We should be able to plan carefully to make the most of any trips (in so much as it's possible to plan in these post-covid times).

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