After a year of living in London I was getting homesick, missing the sandy beaches of my home ,Durban, South Africa. I was tired of the big crowds and the race of the city, so I set about trying to find the best place to live in England..
Everyday was the same busy streets and crowded train stations. My daily routine revolved around going to work and back to my over-priced room in a shared flat.
My free time was spent with work colleagues having a drink after our shift in the local park before I spent a hour on a bus to get to another bus.
I was really missing beers on the beach, the smell of burning charcoal of a braai and surfing the ocean waves.
You can read more about my experience in London and what I found here:
Durban to London: What I Didn’t Expect to Find
I Needed to Leave
So there I was one evening after work, sitting in my room going through the trusty gov.uk job site looking for jobs far away from London. I was tired of the rat race and began to look for jobs somewhere quieter and near a beach.
Before long I found the perfect job in a hotel , with accommodation included, next to a beach and far away from the city, in a place called Cornwall.
From the pictures, Cornwall looked a little bit like home. Sandy beaches…check, waves for surfing…check. I felt compelled this was where I was meant to be.
The next day I got an interview with the manager and the same day I went to the cafe I had been working in the past year to resign. I booked my train ticket to Cornwall and began packing, it was time for the next chapter.
Cornwall…sort of
To get to the hotel I would be working in I had to take a 5 hour train from London, Paddington Station. ( I’m not sure why they named a train station after a cartoon bear). To a city called Plymouth. You don’t know how to pronounce Plymouth correctly, trust me.
The city of Plymouth is a port city, well known for its naval base and importance during the World Wars. Plymouth is 30 miles away from the border of Cornwall, so I was actually in a region called Devon, right on the outskirts of Cornwall.
Straight off the train I could smell the ocean air and hear the cries of seagulls. It was like I was back home only a lot colder.
Walking out the train station a scruffy homeless guy asked me for some ‘quiddies’. I felt right at home. All around me I could hear the cornish accent, so much more different than the London accent I had gotten used to up to then.
Now to get to the hotel I would be living and working in I had to take a bus that ran twice a week on a Friday, from a bus stop the other side of the city. With the right planning and careful study of time slots I arrived just in time for it.
The buses in Cornwall and Devon run a bit differently than in London. First, they were not red. Second, you don’t pay with an oyster card and thirdly you never know when they are going to arrive.
My Old Home
In South Africa our buses are even more different.
The most popular form of public transport is the kombi taxi. Basically a minivan that drivers can cram up to 15 people into. Everyone onboard pays a few rands, a fraction of the price of regular public transport, and the driver follows a set route to the next taxi rank.
It is extremely fast and effective as drivers of kombi taxis don’t adhere to traffic lights or regular road lanes. You get to where you are going fast , and the police don’t seem to mind.
My New Home
With a two hour bus ride behind me I made it to a small coastal village called Bigbury-on-Sea. A lot easier to say than Plymouth and a lot harder to find. I was definitly in the middle of know where.
It wasn’t hard to find the hotel I would be working for, The Burgh Island Hotel. Situated on it’s own island, with a tidal causeway connecting it to the mainland.
The hotel ,I learnt from the locals, was actually a big deal. Winston Churchill had hid out here during the war. An unknown author to me called Agatha Christie wrote her popular detective novels here. Her books were what movies like Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express are based off of. Pretty cool!
With the hotel’s history of popular English figures it maintained a 1930’s art deco theme and served guests in a classic ballroom, with a black tie dress code. I was not in a London cafe anymore.
Working here I learnt new skills , met new people and discovered more about Europe. My colleagues comprised of nationalities like Hungarian, Russian, German and an entirely new nation I had never heard of before, Slovakian.
I even got to meet some famous actors like Nicholas Cage ,Sir Ian Holm and Christopher Eccleston! I got more than a few autographs in my time there.
My New Lifestyle
After a year living in England I adopted a few English hobbies. A personal favourite of mine was ‘pints at the pub’. (Drinking drought beer with your mates until you spoke a new language).
It turned out my new colleagues had the same hobby and before long we were all bonding in the local pub after work and on days off.
Through the drunk Europeans that I now called my friends, I learnt what Communism was , what started World War 1 and 2, the Austro-Hungarian empire that became Czechoslovakia and now modern day Czechia and Slovakia. Also that aliens probably exist.
I learnt more about history in an English pub than I ever did in a South African classroom.
On the days I was not participating in ‘pints at the pub’ I was on the beach exploring the local nature. The weather was a lot warmer than London, so I did not get to see snow for my first time that winter but I got to enjoy being outside!
I even introduced the locals to some South African traditions aswell, like a classic braai and our national sausage, boerwors.
Conclusion , Cornwall is The Best Place to Live in England
I found the best place to live in England, in a small village working on an island in Devon. Ironically it felt nothing like England, with it’s friendly locals, warm climate and beautiful scenery.
From some new friends I learnt more about the rich history of Europe and what amazing cultures it holds. A passion in me was ignited to do more than hear about these far away countries and experience them for myself.
It was that curiosity that led me to meet someone who would change my life forever.
The skills and passions I developed living in Devon set me further down a path of discovering more about Europe and who I am. And that path led me to my next next destination.
