Living in Penzance

Penzance is the last station. That fact shapes the town more than the palm trees. People arrive by train, the Isles of Scilly helicopter and ferry traffic pass through, and Newlyn, a separate fishing town, sits on the next quay. St Michael's Mount is across the bay, which the promenade makes you earn in a south-westerly.

The town has an art school history, a lido, a proper high street and neighbourhoods that are simply residential. It is less staged than St Ives and less inland than Helston. You can live here year round without feeling you are in a set.

The honest cost is exposure. Gardens burn in salt, some streets are tired, and anyone commuting east gives up hours. In return the light, the bay and the position at the end of the country are real.

Who it suits. People who want the west of Cornwall with a town still attached to the main line.

The catch. The weather is not a brochure. Wind and salt are part of the housing stock, and the London train is a long day.