'I'm always surprised at level of empty homes': Life in a Cornish parish with 71% second homes
Residents of St Minver have been revealing what local life is really like
Last updated 29th Nov 2021
Standing in the holiday park in St Minver on a crisp, sunny November morning there is a distinct lack of life as it sits dormant in the off-season.
Fortunately the nearby village still has some life in it yet, despite the recent news that 71% of properties in this area are either second homes or holiday lets.
Walking past the crossroads at the centre of the village is Henry "Harry" Allen who has lived in St Minver since retiring here in the late 1980s.
Harry and his wife fell in love with Cornwall when they visited on their honeymoon and so it was an easy decision to come to St Minver to retire.
As he heads towards his home in the village Harry explains that while it hasn’t changed all that much in the time he has lived here there is one stark difference.
"I am always surprised to see so many homes empty", he says, as he laments the number of properties which have become holiday homes.
The revelation that St Minver Lowlands is 71% second homes and holiday lets and neighbouring St Minver Highlands a close 69% is not really a surprise to many who live here.
However most might have to refer to a map to see where these parishes are and, once you do, it becomes pretty clear why the density of primary residences is so low.
The parishes cover an area which incorporates the likes of Rock and Polzeath which have become well known as a "rich man’s playground" counting Gordon Ramsay and Princes William and Harry as familiar visitors.
But walking around the inland village of St Minver it is clear that even here the number of second homes and holiday lets has eaten away at the accommodation available to locals.
Maureen Rickard has lived in St Minver Lowlands since she was just three-years-old and earlier this year was rewarded for 50 years’ service with the Post Office.
Tucked away in her small Post Office at the village’s Perceval Institute she explains that a large number of homes here are now holiday properties.
Pointing in the direction of one of the roads off the main crossroads she says: "All the homes down that road are holiday homes now".
Then pointing in the opposite direction she explains: "But most of the ones in this road are lived in. It has changed but that’s what happens, people will sell up and they will be bought as second homes or holiday lets".
It might seem unusual that there is a Post Office in this small village but Maureen explained that it not only serves St Minver but all the surrounding areas as well.
"There is a Post Office in Polzeath but everyone comes here from the surrounding villages and from Rock and I do get some of the visitors in as well.
"Rock has a lot of second homes and holiday lets – when people think of the areas with the most that is where they think of, they don’t associate it with St Minver".
Maureen said that she knew there were a lot of people looking for homes in the area adding that "local people can’t afford it anyway".
Of course the issue with second homes and holiday lets is not a new one in this area, or indeed anywhere in Cornwall.
On a noticeboard in the entrance to St Minver Church there is a yellowed notice declaring "Land Wanted" – seeking low cost land which could be used for affordable housing.
Back in 2006 St Minver Community Land Trust was formed with an aim of helping local people build their own homes in response to rising house prices.
The late Bill Dingle, who was a local builder and parish councillor, led the group and helped to get the first scheme off the ground to create Dingle’s Way which was named after him.
A second scheme then followed and St Minver has been described as "one of the most successful CLTs" in the country.
St Minver also has a neighbourhood development plan in place to have some control over the development which takes place in the area.
This document, which was completed in 2016, quotes the 2011 Census which found that 52% of homes in the two parishes were second homes and holiday homes but said that local research that it could be as high as 80% in Polzeath and Trebetherick.
The plan suggested that an extra 150 homes would be needed in the parishes between 2010 and 2030 and it said there was a need to "maintain an appropriate balance between permanent residences and second residence/holiday homes".
It also included a policy that any additional homes should be "permanent residences only" and an aim that 50% should be "moderately priced residences or affordable residences" for local people.
The document highlights: "Available development land in the St Minver Parishes has previously commanded very high prices that have made the development of moderately priced Residences or affordable residences virtually impossible".
Back in St Minver village it is clear that there is a community here – the institute lists groups and events which meet there, the local cricket club appears to be thriving and there is the Fourways Inn and a garage operating in the village.
The quaint church lists forthcoming services and outside the churchyard has some 2metre pebbles to maintain social distancing whilst waiting to get in.
Behind the counter at the Post Office Maureen backs up this view: "There is a lovely community here, we all are in this parish, and we hope that will continue".