I’m a second-home owner in a UK beauty spot – two-faced locals hate me, they should be grateful for my cash
A SINGLE mum has hit back at Cornish residents who slam her for buying a second home.
Rebecca Tidy, 35, from London, invested in a holiday home near picturesque St Mawes during 2020.
But she claims since then she’s been targeted by hostile local residents who furiously accuse her of driving up house prices.
Now, Rebecca has told Fabulous: “Though this seaside town is gorgeous, I don’t ever stay at the cottage myself.
“I’m no beach person. Sand, sea and surf just don't appeal to me.
“Instead, I bought this rural bolthole as a long-term investment. Now I rent it to tourists as a holiday let. The profits help cover the big mortgage on my main home in London.
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“Second home ownership is a really controversial topic in Cornwall. I have been stunned by just how many local residents hate Londoners for buying holiday lets in the county.
“Tourism brings much needed income, so you’d think people would welcome second home owners with open arms. But that’s far from the case.”
“One awful man shouted at me in one shop after overhearing me asking for oat milk. He told me to ‘f**k off back to London’ if I wanted ‘that posh s**t’.
“He went on to say I was forcing up local house prices by renovating a place in the village.
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“I’ve lost count of the number of villagers who call me haughty.
"But really, my frosty attitude stems from the fact I’m sick to death of defending my actions to parochial locals who constantly whinge about ‘outsiders’ buying houses.
I’ve lost count of how many greedy boomers in the village are trying to sell their gardens to property developers, holding out for an eye-wateringly high price.
Rebecca Tidy, 35
“Too many Cornish residents jump to the conclusion that all second home owners are rich. Yet I’m no six-figure earner. I’m just a hard worker.
“Not only did I take a huge financial risk in buying a run-down, abandoned cottage, but I spent lockdown renovating the place and caring for a toddler.
“I plastered walls, repaired old wooden windows and even ripped out the ancient kitchen and bathroom myself. Probably while they were cosily baking banana bread and watching Netflix.
“Basically, I upgraded the house to an impossibly high standard, even though I have no money to renovate the property I live in with my child.
“Social media culture means that people think they’re entitled to the best of everything. They get angry if they can’t instantly have a gleaming new kitchen, a luxurious bathroom and a flash car.
“But you can’t have it all in life. You need to make sacrifices.
“Most of these moaners believe they’re too good to get their hands dirty. They criticise me, while overlooking the fact that they could’ve bought the property and fixed it up themselves.
“I totally understand why TV chef Gordan Ramsay says he ‘loves Cornwall, but can’t stand the Cornish’.
“It’s probably because half of them do nothing but complain.
“Many Cornish people are adamant their lives are much harder than everyone else's. Yet in reality, they’re always happy to profit from tourism themselves.
“Visitors to the county are viewed as a cash cow. Locals milk us for ridiculous amounts of money whether it’s overpriced building work or £19-a-portion fish and chips.
Frustratingly, these local residents don’t have a problem profiting from seaside property themselves
Rebecca Tidy, 35
“I was at the village pub and overheard an electrician boasting that he charges non-locals four times more than locals.
“Yet seconds later, he was ranting about second-home owners supposedly ruining the local area.”
“I furiously pointed out that it was profits from out-of-towners, like me, paying for £18 gin cocktails.
“Frustratingly, these local residents don’t have a problem profiting from seaside property themselves.
“I’ve lost count of how many greedy boomers in the village are trying to sell their gardens to property developers, holding out for an eye-wateringly high price.
“Not to mention homeowners in Mevagissey dividing up their old town houses into four flats before selling them, which has led to a massive car-parking problem.
“A few years ago, a man from St Agnes even tried to sell me a run-down apartment knowing full well it had mining restrictions and wasn’t mortgageable.
“Shockingly, he later confessed that he’d hoped I’d make a low cash offer once I’d forked out for the mining searches.
“But nobody wants to go on holiday above a tin mine.
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“Despite all the criticism of second home owners, I’ve never heard of anyone refusing to sell their house to an out-of-towner who wants to turn it into a holiday let. And that says it all really.”
Cornwall Council has been approached for a comment.
