When guests visit Eugenie Harper and Elliot Walker’s “chintz-free” bed and breakfast in St Mawgan, north Cornwall, they are often surprised to learn the identity of the owners. B&Bs often seem to be run by locals in their twilight years; Harper and Walker, by contrast, are in their thirties and have moved from London.

The couple are among a growing number of young professionals who are quitting high-pressure jobs in the capital and other cities and moving to more relaxed parts of Britain to start businesses. Quite often, though, downshifting turns out to be much harder than anticipated.

Harper, 32, had been working as a nanny, and Walker, 34, as an editor for Virgin.net in London, but loved Devon and Cornwall and visited as often as they could so Walker could get his “surfing fix”. In their attempt to find a better quality of life, opening a B&B seemed the ideal solution.

The couple reckoned they would need a house with 8 to 10 bedrooms to generate enough income to support them both. But, in summer 2003, as Harper was waiting to receive the money from selling her half-share in a house she owned with her brother in Maida Vale, west London, Cornish property prices shot up, forcing the couple to lower their sights. That October, they bought Pendoric, a £285,000, five-bedroom, Edwardian house, a five-minute drive from Watergate Bay, north of Newquay.

The house “was covered in Artex”, recalls Harper. They spent £40,000 and five months bringing it up to scratch, doing most of the work themselves. They let out three bedrooms, charging £30 to £40 per person a night in high season, keeping the attic for themselves. They work a seven-day week and a large chunk of their profits is swallowed by bills.

“The house costs a fortune to run and living in the southwest is very expensive,” says Harper. “I thought it would be cheaper than London, but council tax is £1,500 a year and water rates £500.” To help make ends meet, Elliot took a job with the local newspaper, while Harper worked part-time in a nursery.

“My first summer was hectic,” she says. “I worked in the B&B all morning, left at 1pm to get to school, finished there at 6pm, and was back at the B&B ironing and cleaning until late at night. I was shattered. The second year was easier as the nursery let me take the summer off. But as the B&B stayed busy well into autumn, I was able to leave the nursery to work at home full-time.”

Pendoric is expected to start making a profit this year. “Last year we more than doubled the income of the first year,” she says. “This season looks like it is going to be even better.”

Since the couple bought Pendoric, property prices in Cornwall have continued to rise. Nationwide reports that in the past five years prices in the county have increased by 112%.

Not that this has stopped the influx. “Quality of life is something people have been searching for more and more,” says Jonathan Cunliffe, who runs the Truro office of Savills estate agency. “In the past five years many young families have been moving into the county. People come from all backgrounds, but there are lots of City bankers, barristers and media people.”

Cunliffe says a large house with income potential in a good area will cost upwards of £600,000. Hot spots include Padstow, St Ives, Rock, Polzeath, Fowey and St Mawes, although improved transport networks mean people are looking further west. The completion of the A30 dual carriageway linking Exeter and the M5 with Cornwall, due in the next 12 months, will fuel this trend. “Penzance could see the next big shift upwards,” predicts Cunliffe.

Dany and Dan Atkins, who lived in Putney, in south London, were also drawn to the southwest. Dany’s mother used to run a B&B at Tremearne, a six-bed farmhouse near Penzance, with six acres, two holiday cottages and a studio. After her death, Dany, 32, bought out her brother’s share of the property. She and Dan, 34, who runs a television production company, moved in February 2003 — trading a £360,000 mews house for the farm, valued at £600,000.

The birth of their son, Zac, now three, provided the impetus for the move. “I suddenly realised how polluted London is and knew I wanted Zac to grow up in Cornwall like I had,” says Dany. “I didn’t exactly give Dan a choice in the matter, but being a surfer he didn’t take much persuading.”

The couple moved into the farmhouse and renovated the cottages as self-catering holiday lets, doing them up in contemporary style, with locally sourced slate floors.

Some years they let them out for 30-40 weeks, others for just 16. At a weekly rent of £350 in summer, it is enough to pay the gardener and the bills, but not enough for them to live on. Dan continues to run his television business from there, commuting twice a week to London, while Dany, a marketing consultant, has set up a mail-order company showcasing local design.

“Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for,” she says. “It was our intention to downshift, but realistically we both need to work full-time. We still have a huge mortgage and the council tax here is about five times what we were paying in London. Plus the house is like the Forth Bridge: there is always something that needs fixing.”

Why not make more money by following the example of Dany’s mother and turning the place into a B&B? “I would rather pull my teeth out than run a B&B,” Dany says. “It’s a lot of effort for not much money. We have the capacity to earn more in our media roles.”

Not that Dany has any regrets about the move. “I absolutely love living down here,” she says. “Today we had lunch overlooking the Atlantic and every weekend we’re on the beach.”

Life change

Have you left the rat race to live out your downsizing dream? Tell us about it at property@sunday-times.co.uk

Pendoric, 01637 860 031, www.pendoric.co.uk; Savills, 01208 264 444, www.savills.co.uk; Tremearne Farm Cottages, 01736 366 566, www.tremearnefarm.co.uk

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