Falmouth

Falmouth reads like a place built around water and students in equal measure — narrow streets of terraced houses running down to the harbour, sailing gear in shop windows, and a steady flow of Falmouth University students keeping the cafés and galleries busy well outside the summer season. It's not a place that feels done up for visitors, though; the working docks are still working, and the housing behind the front is ordinary and lived-in rather than polished.

For a town this size, three stations on one branch line is a rare thing — Falmouth Town, Penmere and Falmouth Docks give you options depending which end of town you're at, which matters more here than in most places given how the town strings out along the water. Schools are a mixed picture rather than a headline: Marlborough School carries a Good rating, and Falmouth School, the main secondary, shows a slightly negative progress score — not alarming, but not a selling point either. The overall schools grade sits at the national average rather than above it, so this isn't a place people move to chasing a single outstanding institution; it's more that the schools are adequate and the town's other qualities do the work.

On housing, the terraced house on a freehold title is the default story here, and at a £330,000 median it actually runs above both the national and Cornwall-wide figures — about 16% above the county median — which tells you Falmouth commands a premium within its own region, likely for the water and the university rather than for transport links to anywhere bigger. Detached and semi-detached homes both sell for noticeably more than their national equivalents too. Rent sits just under the national median, which softens the ownership premium a little for anyone not buying outright. Green space is generous relative to the population — 87 hectares spread across the town — and the environment and nightlife grades both come out well above average, which matches the feel of a place where you can walk a headland path in the morning and find a decent choice of places to eat in the evening without much planning. Healthcare access reads as solidly average, neither a strength to lean on nor a concern to flag.