Well, thank you for your kind words.

I know under Victor's rule the place was pretty quiet, but that was fine - turning it into a characterless stripped-pine showroom wasn't the way to go.
But, as I wrote before things change, even here. We just have to be brave about it, have a good moan in the local manner and get on with it. As with all the costal villages that don't have a water-based industry to keep people there (fishing, to be obvious, or the like) there's really very very little to stay for if you have any ambition above selling plaster piskies to tourists. So the young tend to move away, and the old to retire there and this poulation churn has always meant that the 'feeling' of the village is sort of handed on, rather than continued.
So what you describe is something in the architecture and the location, and reflected in the people, rather than in the poeple. Or so it seems to me.

Is it bad taste to witter on about one's own village instead of Tintagel here? Apologies if it is ...

dear 48 Crash,
thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.
I can see what you mean about the problems people face.A lady I know owns a cafein north cornwall and has four kids, two of wich have now left cornwall in order to find work.I find that heartbraking.Anyway,you were right:its a tintagel site...
Am glad I found this site.Hope everyone had a lovely xmas

You're welcome - and a happy New Year to you too!

I was much the same; I couldn't wait to move east, to find out if the streets of London were paved with gold (OK, I was a bit optimistic there). Now I earn money in the east but live - about 60% of the time - back west, which is an interesting balancing act but it stops me going up the wall. But not everyone can do that; I got lucky. Your friends children will move out to find work, and to grow, but wouldn't you want your kids to be ambitious anyway?
Anyway, all the best.