Swapping the capital for the coast was our right move
āWhen Liz got the call to say she got the new job I said: āWell, weāre moving then!āā explains Theo, casually. āIt was as simple as that.ā Three weeks later the couple left London to move to Cornwall, and havenāt looked back since.
Now, two years on, theyāve found a whole new community and moved even further away from London, to the tiny village Newlyn in Cornwall.
āWhen we moved, we didnāt know anything about Cornwall,ā says Theo. āNeither of us had even been on holiday here before. I thought, āThereāll probably be more cows and Iāll be able to see the sea!ā he laughs.
āYeah, I think a lot of family and friends were really surprised that we did it,ā says Liz. āThey thought weād be back in a few months, but weāve found something more down here. More than just my new job. Weāve completely adapted to village life and weāre able to have more freedom, less financial stress and more time to explore things weāre passionate about.ā
It was for these reasons the couple decided to look outside London in the first place. Having been in the arts industry for years, Liz was growing tired of the relentless pace and stress of freelancing and was struggling to find enough work to pay rent. While Theo had moved from the music PR industry into the art world himself, he too was finding it difficult to afford a studio space to create his art, whilst holding down several retail jobs.
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āIt was Theo who encouraged me to look outside London for work,ā Liz continues. āI think for ages we were so London-centric, especially since we were both born here and lots of our friends are here. But when I made the decision, it was exciting. I applied to loads of places and got an interview for a job at a gallery down in St Ives.ā It was on the long train journey home the next day that she got the call to say the job was hers.
āThe only snag was that it started within a month,ā laughs Theo. āI suppose we were lucky that we were living at my mumās house at the time so we didnāt have any contract to finish up and could just get up and go.ā
Both saw this as an exciting adventure, a challenge and a way they could finally move in alone together and rent a flat ā something they were finding difficult to achieve in London. When the pair decided to move, Theo had moved back home to live with his mum, and Liz followed him soon after.
āNo matter how fantastic your parents are, itās difficult to be fully independent when youāre living with them,ā Theo explains. āItās so much more affordable down in Cornwall compared to London ā we can finally rent a place and make it our own.ā
Now, the couple rent a one-bedroom flat on the ground floor of a converted pilchard factory, just a short walk from the sea. They know their neighbours, Liz teaches yoga in the local village hall and Theo can afford to rent a separate art studio down the road, having already exhibited a number of times in galleries around Cornwall. Itās the kind of countryside idyll they could never have dreamed about when living in London, but itās something theyāve grown to love.
āItās refreshing to have a sense of community here. They knock on the door, everyone meets up for these local events, people remember your name and we speak to all of our neighbours. I think we were both missing that connection in London and weāve honestly found so much of it here,ā tells Liz.
āApart from the lack of financial burden because the rent is so much cheaper, weāve just got so much more freedom to experiment and try things out,ā agrees Theo. āLoads of people thought weād be back within two months, but itās almost been two years and weāre not going anywhere soon. Weāll just have to get them used to that eight-hour train journey!ā
To find out more about Liz and Theoās Cornish home,Ā read our article here.