Moving to Cardiff (area) - ideas and suggestions

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Currently me and the missus live in the Midlands but due to SWMBO landing a job at Cardiff University it looks like a move is on the cards.

We would very much appreciate advice on places around Cardiff to live and to avoid.

Ideally would like a place with easy access to the Uni campus but definitley as out of town as possible and a large garage is an absolute must.

I thought I'd found the idea;l house at Wentloog and then we drove past it. Oh dear!

Oh, and I could do with a job!

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Sorry,

Fairly flexible and up to about £350K.

A decent size garage is an absolute must but 2 bedrooms would suffice - Need to get our priorities right.

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From the properties I've looked at on the net £350K doesn't seem to get much better than a 4 bed boring house with a fag paper between the neighbours.

The suggested areas (appreciated BTW) are suburbia

I was thinking something a little more rural. Maybe village or even more remote. As I get older I like dogs more and people less.

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How are Dinas Powys and Llandough as areas and as placed to communte into Cardiff Uni?

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covmutley said:

I meant to type wales, not cardiff! Cardiff is relatively expensive and moving out of Cardiff sees you get a lot more for your money.

The Vale (west of cardiff) is all pretty nice (excluding Barry) but fairly expensive too

Damn you for getting my hopes up

Just out of interest, waht's up with Barry? Chavvy?

How are Landough and Dinas Powys?

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SwissJonese said:

Thornhill/Lisvane, Radyr/Morganstown or Marshfield? But again maybe a little too suburbs for you?

Vale of Glamorgan & the little village of Cowbridge is lovely (but very pricey these day) and also might be a bit of a trek to work.

Thanks. I'll have a bit of a sniff around those on the net.

I can see this is going to be difficult as it looks like the budget is on the cusp of "Meh" and "Oooh, nice"

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We did have a quick look at Wenvoe (after abandoning Sully) but we were only filling in time between appointments (interview for SWMBO and me metting job agency plus meeting with a relly who lives near Cardiff but doesn't know the area well, or so he says) so was difficult to get a feel for the place.

Looks like we will need to speand a weekend down there looking around ASAP but now we have soooo much to do in a short time.

Is there much PH meet activity in the Cardiff area?

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Thank you all.

Yes, I know its going to take more than a weekend but it will help a lot if we can narrow the search a bit and weed out the not so good bits and identify the preferred areas.

Apparently Mrs will be based at The Heath (Hospital) as she will be teaching medical stuff.

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Once again, good advice and thank you.

I think we (me & Mrs) need to sit down and decide upon whether she is happy to commute and what time/distance. By the look of it we would be best to stay North of the City in any case.

Big issue is as I don't have a job lined up and the ocation of job would affect desired location.

So much to consider but I really must look after my P5B and Chim. Or do I sell them for now and buy something else when settled? Decisons decisions!

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hornetrider said:

We've just bought into the area (or will do shortly) so have been doing the whole househunting thing. Do you need to consider schools? Also, how about life in the immediate vicinity. Liked Cowbridge but ridiculously pricey. Same goes for Penarth. We ruled out Radyr/Morganstown as there's virtually no pubs or life outside the developments. Whitchurch looks pretty good, the high street is bustling and there's a few nice streets in the area.

Rhiwbina/Heath seems to be popular with good quality housing and I've heard talk of 'cafe culture' but for the life of me I never found anywhere around there like Whitchurch High St.

So in the end we went for the Pontyclun area as it has a nice little High St, a few pubs, plenty of shops on the doorstep and a 12 minute train into Cardiff from the station.

Have you considered the east side of town, Marshfield etc?

Thanks for that.

No worries over schools. No wee ones and now more than unlikely unless we can reverse the ageing process.

We're not really pub people but I suppose it might be a good way of getting to know peoaple in the area.

I'll have a look at Pontyclun

ETA: Any additional info on your experiences on moving to the area would be helpful. PM me if you prefer. Wher did you move from?

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Blayney said:

Re - you're job. What's your trade, if you don't mind me asking. I'm sure there'll be someone on here who could point you in the direction of something?

Erm, I don't have a trade. I have worked in or around the Credit industry for over 30 years (hell that's scary). From Barclaycard collections clerk to Repossessions Manager for part of Citibank to National Collection Manager for Snap-on Tools and lately Legal Manager (not legally trained) for a small business transfer agent.

There are lots of finance houses in Cardiff so hopefully something will come up. Already registered with one agency but it doesn't inspire you when they say if you haven't heard from us in a couple of weeks give us a call.

Thanks Hornetrider - might just do that

Cheers Swanjack

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Wow guys, really appreciate the time you are taking to help out here.

One of the things we have decided on, based on past experience, is we won't go back to a semi detached or terraced as we had a bad experience with neighbour noise 2 houses ago. Detached or bust and preferably with a bit of space around it.

Neither of us are really gardeners but grass cutting isn't too much of an issue - especially if I can justify buying a ride on mower.

SWMBO will be happy to commute by train if she can. She has driven in and out of Leicester and Liverpool for the last 23 years so train would be a good change for her. If I commute in I would prefer to drive but the job will determine that. (if/when I find one).

Can anyone advise on the area around Llandough Hill?

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Indeed we had a quick look while we were in that area.

The new busilds are unlikely to have the garage or space for one that I am hoping to find but thank you for the thought.

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I had ruled out Rhoose as close to the airport.

Latest reports suggest traffic will increase: http://www.cardiff-airport.com/news/2014/02/12/car...

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hornetrider said:

You do realise that article refers to three flights. Three actual flights. Not three a day or three a week. But three flights.

It might give you some idea how 'busy' the airport is!

No I hadn't realised that

There seems to be a couple of flights an hour in/out so not exactly Heathrow but not sure how noisy/disruptive that would be.

It definitley gets you more house for the money though.

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Thanks TPP. Does that mean a huge housing development coming to the area soon?

Or another racetrack?

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We will have a look at the vilages you suggested although I think SWMBO would like to avoid communting too long/far (more the long than the far IYSWIM)

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No issues whatever with you spending my budget as ong as you don't spend my actual money!

I really appreciate the suggestions.

That property really shows how expensive peoperty is in that area. You really don't get much for your money do you?

Buying a house is always a compromise and I think we are still in discussion about what we want/will suit us etc.

We bought our current house 18 years ago because we liked the facts that it is
Detatched
Only got neighbours one side
On an older established development
In a close therfore minimal traffic
The majority of residents were retired (ergo no young children/teenagers playing football in the road)
It was right on the edge of a small market Town (so left out of road and 1/4 mile into town - turn right and 200yds into country roads)
In our price range (albeit needed work)
Almost equidistant between mine and wife's workplace.

We bought it despite the fact:
It had a very large garden (we are not gardeners)
It had a tiny single garage (but I didn't have 2 hobby cars then)
It needed work
It wasn't in a village (which we thought we would have preferred)

I would prefer not to be in the city but it is SWMBO who will have to commute so a joint decision is needed. Where I will be working (or not ) remains to be seen.

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Still not had any feedback on the idea of the area around LLandough Hill. Anyone? Please.

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We have received confirmation of SWMBO's start date of 1st Feb ( A Sunday?).

13 weeks and 4 days

This is starting to feel decidedly real.