Trip to the west country

Discussion in 'Wish You Were Here' started by Jack Sparrow, Dec 17, 2018.

  1. LauraRoslin

    LauraRoslin Gardener

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    Outside the holiday season, St Ives is a ghost town. And it's a real shame.
     
  2. Verdun

    Verdun Passionate gardener

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    Yep, mostly second homes now in the best areas. :sad:
     
  3. LauraRoslin

    LauraRoslin Gardener

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    I've been to Cornwall quite a few times in the off-season and, TBH, I prefer it. But a lot of it does shut down.
     
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    • PaulB3

      PaulB3 Gardener

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      I forgot about that Freddy !
      I recall standing on a cliff edge one night during a SW gale ; colossal waves visible in the moonlight hammering the coastline .
      Even on a night like that , miles away out at sea was a lonely light visible in the dark ; probably some fishing vessel and crew risking their necks !
       
    • LauraRoslin

      LauraRoslin Gardener

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      In fact, there was a really nice chip shop in St Agnes. But when we went in January, it was shut for the winter!

      The pasty shop in Portreath was a highlight but then it changed hands and went downhill. So Philips in Hayle is the place to go for pasties now.
       
    • PaulB3

      PaulB3 Gardener

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      The 'town' where I live in E.Lincs is 'shut down' for most of the year ! We've just lost our second and last bank ; the PO is inside a grocery shop now ; there is a part-time police station which is closed more often than not .
      There's one chip shop which is pretty poor quality and an over expensive Co-Op !
      When I moved here thirty or more years ago it was a bustling and thriving market town ; now there is virtually nothing . A shame really , but I think maybe this is happening in many rural areas .
       
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      • Jiffy

        Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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        Yep, our nearish town is a ghost town now (well just pubs and newpaper shops) 3 banks gone, police station gone, things now are in very poor shape, we have to go 15 miles to do shopping,banking etc you can do online but that's just as bad now(0.2mbs was 6mbs)
         
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        • Scrungee

          Scrungee Well known for it

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          Our village has lost 2 butchers (1 had attached slaughterhouse), our bakery, 8 other shops, the gasworks, our library, the haberdashery, the saddlery, our only windmill, the agricultural feed mill, 2 farriers, the forge, 2 dairies, 2 coal merchants, 1 chapel, 1 church, our bank, the post office (now in last shop), 2 pubs, 2 garages and the (part time) police station is going to close.
           
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            Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
          • Kandy

            Kandy Will be glad to see the sun again soon.....

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            The reason why a lot of the shops have closed down in a lot of the towns is that for one the rates are too high so many shop keepers have to make a huge profit just to pay for their overheads and staff plus with a large amount of the population of this country buying a lot of their stuff on line it is hardly surprising that the towns etc are dead.:sad:

            Most of the youngsters in my village buy their stuff on line and we are the mugs that have to take it in for them when we happen to be around at the time of the delivery as they are all sitting at work behind their computers or on their phones ordering all manor of stuff and they even have their food delivered by the supermarkets at night as we hear the lorries bumping up and down the curbs down our lane as they hurtle down the road.:sad:

            We have lost two M&S’s plus BHS in our local town so if I want to go and have a look round I either have to trek over to MK or Rushden Lakes which for us is a bit of a trek and the parking and roads are horrendous to get round even if the parking at Rushden Lakes is free:sad:
             
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            • PaulB3

              PaulB3 Gardener

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              Crikey !!!... I thought we had it bad !
              At least my broadband speed is still intact (14mbs) ; Kandy I agree entirely with your views of online shopping . We had our neighbours Tesco delivery outside the other night at 10.10pm!!
              Such a shame about the 'evolution' of our rural areas .:sad: Can't see it ever improving either .
              As Jiffy says , we also have a thirty mile round trip to the banks and shops .Then 'they' tell you to try and reduce your 'carbon footprint'!
              Program on the other night about the M25 motorway ; more than 200,000 vehicles a day use that alone .
              What the hell is it all about I ask ?
               
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              • Scrungee

                Scrungee Well known for it

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                If it's any worse in Cornwall than around here, I suggest taking as much stuff as you can to avoid having to waste time driving and getting stuck in tailbacks behind grockles' caravans trying to get to a supermarket.

                That's why September is a good time to go as you can fill boxes full of home grown stuff.
                 
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                • Kandy

                  Kandy Will be glad to see the sun again soon.....

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                  Grockles don’t take their caravans to supermarkets:scratch::snorky: Actually we find it is the slow cars(locals)tractors,horse boxes,cyclists that we get stuck behind when we are out in our caravan but to the cars behind us it always looks like we are the ones who are holding up the traffic but impatient car drivers always blame the caravans for holding up the traffic.:biggrin:

                  We take a lot of our home grown produce with us when we go away then we don’t have to keep trekking off to the supermarkets every five minutes and we often walk to the local shops if we do need anything :biggrin:
                   
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                  • Jiffy

                    Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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                    We have now increased our carbon footprint as it's now safer not to go for walks down our crountry lanes (single track roads) because not many drivers want to slow down to past people/horses etc (had to jump into ditches etc or get hit, so now we drive somewhere else where it's safer to walk,

                    I forgot the above they closed along time ago 10/15 years
                     
                  • Verdun

                    Verdun Passionate gardener

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                    I quite like the idea of parts of Cornwall "shutting down" over winter. The beaches are ours, the roads are ours and we can enjoy our spaces. :) We can walk for miles and hardly see a soul. Life slows down markedly over winter and thank goodness for it:)

                    Broadband speeds? We have some of the fastest speeds in the country.

                    The good old cornish pasty? Yep, Philps is great but there are now many superb pasty shops around here so visiting folk will never starve!!:)
                     
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                    • Scrungee

                      Scrungee Well known for it

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                      In my large motorhome conversion, travelling 'steadily' along the A39 near Porlock, we got nearly 20 cars like the one below stuck in a long tailback behind us, I think they were involved in time trails along the nearby private toll road and were on their way back to the start and also wanted to go fast on the public highway as they didn't appear to be enjoying the leisurely pace.

                      [​IMG]
                       
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