I spent the last day of the May half-term sitting against a Cornish harbour wall in the bright sunshine, scribbling notes for a feature in my notebook. The cloudless sky had turned the sea into the dazzling shade of turquoise that people assume is an Instagram filter until they see it for themselves.
My daughter was at the St Ives School of Painting nearby, making origami butterflies in a studio overlooking Porthmeor Beach. She was learning in a haunt beloved of artistic greats, including Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and my own personal favourite, Francis Bacon.
A casual observer would probably assume that I’m living the dream Cornish lifestyle after ditching my Folkestone to London commute a few years ago for a fixer-upper by the sea near St Mawes, on the Roseland Peninsula, with my then-fiancé and our young daughter.
But my big move to Cornwall hasn’t been as positive as this idyllic moment might suggest – and I hugely regret it.
I’m not the only one. Analysis by Rightmove found that house prices in all but two of Britain’s 10 most exclusive seaside locations, including parts of Cornwall, Devon and Hampshire, have fallen over the past year, in some cases by as much as seven per cent.
