Are you planning to visit your holiday home?

Thanks to both Ellianne and Grammaretto for your interesting and amusing stories.

I want to share a true story.
I have a friend who is a potter in London.
He gets his clay from Cornwall takes it home to London to make his pots. He takes the pots down to Cornwall to sell them to tourists who have come down from London!

Never underestimate how a holiday homeowner can fall in love with the village and become a permanent resident! ❤❤
A little tale if anyone is interested .......
We bought a holiday home in a quintessential Devon village over 35 years ago and came down from London every weekend. We loved it so much we moved down 5 years later and our children grew up there. We later sold and returned to London to live for the buzz and challenge the life offered us. 12 years later we decided there was no place we'd rather be than back in the village, so here we are again. It has been a privilege to have enjoyed such a beautiful place.

My old Dad had a saying for whst many describe, Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.

@applegran, I will be going onntonthis website to do this. We already give a week to childs school as raffle prize each year. We don't let it out commercially but alliw family and friends to stay for free, all they have to do is leave it clean and tidy for next visitors.

Oopsadaisy, you may not be able to be a councillor but that doesn’t stop you joining in village activities.

In our village every home gets a monthly news letter. It brings householders up to date with events and requests for help and involvement. We have some second homers who seem to ‘get’ what being a villager is and they step up.

They are welcomed with open arms. There are also homes here occupied by full time residents who are perceived not to pull their weight.
I can assure you that I, personally, am not watching them but some are. In the same way that they are noticing those second home owners who are coming up and staying here When they aren’t supposed to.

That’s what the OP was about and knowing this and the bad feeling it causes I certainly wouldn’t visit my second home if I had one.

You can only become a Parish Councillor if you live in the Parish where you are an Elector, so if you don’t vote there, you can’t sit on the Council, so I doubt that any second home owners could apply, however it doesn’t prevent them from attending PC meetings if they are interested.

I don't understand why you are arguing when you just do not know about this issue.

Perhaps because I do understand the issue?

I just happen to disagree on your take on it.

A courier service to deliver holiday trinkets to people who can’t visit the area seems an interesting choice for your suggested business to take over from tourist trades.

I believe holiday letting companies are now taking bookings for July so we are hopeful that we can go then if we have a free week.

I feel very sorry for those whose sole livelihood comes from tourism.

I read today that the luggage company Antler is in trouble.
So many businesses associated with the tourist industry will be affected, and of course the longer it goes on the worse it will get.

Just four months ago though most of us had never heard of it , apart from news just emerging about a flu type virus in China.

We have s holiday home in Brittany. Last year I went for six weeks. This year I will be lucky if I have two weeks at end of August if Covid gone and government says we can go. I am not holding my breath.

He he, Pbw, my husband decided it was time to retire from his job inside the M25 when people starting getting up on the tube and offering him a seat!!

PamelaJ1 - you said we don't make any contribution. Would any of the full-time residents want a 2nd homer on any committee? It's all very well saying we don't join in but I can imagine the welcome we'd get if we tried to get on the Parish Council!

And Ellianne I live part time in Cornwall, part in SW London, for the past nearly 40 years. We'd have moved there full-time if my husband didn't work in an industry that considers you either dead or retired if you're outside the M25.

My daughters and their families live full-time on the Lizard and for various reasons we all know rather more than we'd have chosen to about the RCH - it's been brilliant for them on the occasions they've needed it.

As far as I'm concerned, do feel free to travel to London or anywhere you like. I won't be putting nasty "get out" notices onroad signs. You're all welcome, as anyone in this nation should be to any other part of it.

Paperback writer , I don’t think I mentioned money did I?

In a city the city council sorts things out, in towns the Town councils are responsible for community centres etc.

In rural areas it’s down to the residents to sit on the Parish Council to organise the cleaning up of the pond, make decisions about street lighting..... the list goes on.
The village hall committee makes sure that the hall is fit for purpose.
Perhaps you do take part in that sort of activity but I can assure you that there isn’t a second home owner on any of our committees.

Do you live in Cornwall Paperbackwriter? OK so Treliske is a major hospital for the county but it has only 15 ICU beds which is a small number. This number has of course recently been increased but any additional visitors will place the service it provides in jeopardy.
I live in Devon and I know the south west looks most vulnerable in terms of ratios. It has the oldest population (so highest expected mortality) and lowest number of critical care beds per head of population. The modelling suggests it needs six times more than currently exists here (600 per cent). That is why we are having a Nightingale hospital opened here in Exeter next month. This hospital will receive Covid patients from both Devon and Cornwall.
Perhaps you would like those of us from Devon travelling up to London to wear our straw hats and clogs so you can dart out of the way when we approach.

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Elliane - The Royal Cornwall hospital at Treliske is not a small one! It has been fully kitted out for Covid19 and the several small hospitals have been sorted to take patients who need minor care or end of life arrangements. So far there have been very few cases of the virus in Cornwall but quite a few in Devon.

PamelaJ1 - those of us with second homes contribute to the local economy in a way very few think about. We pay full council tax but take nothing in the way of local services so the gain is to the local authority.

As for those worrying that we bug-ridden Londoners would take the virus and infect an entire county, there are (as of yesterday) no new cases up here. If anything, I'd be wary of those coming up here from Devon!

Kate54: same here. And we’re very much part of the local community. The only reason we don’t live there permanently is that we want to live close to the children and grandchildren and help with childcare etc. Have family holidays several times a year and rent it out during the summer. The messages we get in the visitors book are delightful as we try to provide a home from home for those staying. The properties in the area are expensive but that’ s mainly to do with the fact that @ 80% of them are owned by the big landowners and can only be rented from them so there’s a scarcity of properties to purchase. If, as I suspect, the government are planning to lift the ban on holidays in in July we have to go to the property to check it out properly as people are booked in throughout the summer.

We’ve been planning a holiday in Cornwall for ages and a review popped up on Facebook of someone that has just had a holiday there. So people are letting out properties already.

Not saying where I live because it is already too busy.

Last evening I overheard a very naice middle class couple trying to persuade the next door holiday park owner to let them stay in a caravan.......or did he know anywhere else open?
that is entitled......surely the rules are clear.

Of course, no one needs two properties. I don’t need a four bedroom house for my main tesidence, either. It surely has to be about choice, As it happens, I didn’t buy my second home, I inherited it from my late mother and decided to keep it so that my own family could enjoy it and so on down the line.
I also let it out which allows many other families to enjoy the area and all it has on offer. We, and they, are supporting the local economy all the time - visitors in restaurants, pubs, hotels, shops and tourist attractions and owners employing local tradesmen, cleaners, gardeners etc.
I do agree though that in some areas, second home ownership has got out of hand, driving prices up so that youngsters can’t afford to live there. I couldn’t have afforded it either, as it happens. Meanwhile, it’s a matter of mutual respect - the local economy needs its visitors and visitors need the economy. Hopefully, we will soon get back to a summer ‘norm’.

Ah but you can't be in both at once.
Callistemon

I was referring to house ownership. I am not such a tyrant. There are plenty of ways of enjoying the countryside , travelling and holidaying without buying property.

Do let us know where, Pinkquartz so we can all be sure not to venture there...

I just don't think anyone needs more than one house
there has been the occasional day (or two) during lockdown when I wished we had two houses.

I just don't think anyone needs more than one house when so many people have none.
Several Scottish islands are not allowing people to buy property unless they intend to live there all year, work there and send their children to school on the island.
At least one island I know of doesn't allow visiting caravans or campervans. There are no campsites. Nothing new. It's always been like that.
It's about keeping the numbers low enough and the views lovely enough that everyone can enjoy themselves

I don't want to say but I am appalled at the cheek and behaviour.......the rules don't seem to apply to so many people and when you are in a small village the impact is huge.
I think city dwellers cannot conceive of the invaded experience because you live surrounded all the time?

Where do you live pinkquartz ? You don’t have to mention the town if you’d rather not, just the county would do.