Living in Wales - what is it like?
Discussion
The country to the west of us all, out there over the bridges, is not a place I am familiar with.
However, I know what I like. I like quiet. I like less crowds. I like lighter traffic on roads. I like good roads. I love the countryside and I am not keen on cities.
In the internet age, we can more easily live anywhere we want to.
I notice that Chris Harris on this very site lives in Wales.
I have been looking at the property websites, and a couple of regions look very tempting, with cheaper property than the South East of England where I am now and a lot more space.
Tenby and Pembrokeshire look interesting. Inland there are some great looking places for not much money compared to the rest of the UK. Also tempting is the area from Chepstow up to Monmouth and the Gloucestershire borders, then up toward Herefordshire. I have already figured out that some of the larger towns and cities are not the nicest places to live, but other places look rather nice.
So, let me ask the PH massive, what is it like out there?
However, I know what I like. I like quiet. I like less crowds. I like lighter traffic on roads. I like good roads. I love the countryside and I am not keen on cities.
In the internet age, we can more easily live anywhere we want to.
I notice that Chris Harris on this very site lives in Wales.
I have been looking at the property websites, and a couple of regions look very tempting, with cheaper property than the South East of England where I am now and a lot more space.
Tenby and Pembrokeshire look interesting. Inland there are some great looking places for not much money compared to the rest of the UK. Also tempting is the area from Chepstow up to Monmouth and the Gloucestershire borders, then up toward Herefordshire. I have already figured out that some of the larger towns and cities are not the nicest places to live, but other places look rather nice.
So, let me ask the PH massive, what is it like out there?
Wales is beautiful.
I was thinking of doing this about 20 years ago up in the North.
I got warned off by the locals in the village I was staying in.
Partly a 'not welcome' thing and partly 'your family would need to learn Welsh'. Certainly not against that but I didnt want it to interfere with the kids schooling.
Its now back on the 'want to do' list.
I was thinking of doing this about 20 years ago up in the North.
I got warned off by the locals in the village I was staying in.
Partly a 'not welcome' thing and partly 'your family would need to learn Welsh'. Certainly not against that but I didnt want it to interfere with the kids schooling.
Its now back on the 'want to do' list.
so called said:
Wales is beautiful.
I was thinking of doing this about 20 years ago up in the North.
I got warned off by the locals in the village I was staying in.
Partly a 'not welcome' thing and partly 'your family would need to learn Welsh'. Certainly not against that but I didnt want it to interfere with the kids schooling.
Its now back on the 'want to do' list.
A lot has changed in 20 years, though one or two or the really rural areas can still be a bit "Off" to outsiders.I was thinking of doing this about 20 years ago up in the North.
I got warned off by the locals in the village I was staying in.
Partly a 'not welcome' thing and partly 'your family would need to learn Welsh'. Certainly not against that but I didnt want it to interfere with the kids schooling.
Its now back on the 'want to do' list.
I work in Tenby, and live a few miles north.
It is pleasant. It's a beautiful town (although not immune to the recession) and the people are friendly. You cannot walk down the road without people making eye contact and saying hello, even if they may not know you. That might scare the crap outta a Londoner but I quite like it!
Pembrokeshire, and Tenby in particular is nicknames 'little England'. The first language is most definitely English. I suppose partly due to the Tourism sector, and partly due to the number of English who settled there. Only a few miles away, like Narberth or definitely Whitland you will hear alot more Welsh, but the anti England venom is not as strong as North Wales.
Traffic wise... I wouldn't describe it as quiet, it is populated enough that you are often following someone but, and it is a big but, you are never really in the stationery traffic queue. I travel 12ish miles, about 4-5 of which are through 30 and 40 limits, and it still only takes 20 mins. Save for the farmers are taking their cows/tractors for a quick stroll, the real suburban 5mph crawl just doesn't happen.
I am a totally anti social bugger, I spend most weekends elsewhere in the country at other friends, so cannot comment on the social life. I can make a safe assumption though, enjoy rugby, join the local club and you'd be laughing!
It is pleasant. It's a beautiful town (although not immune to the recession) and the people are friendly. You cannot walk down the road without people making eye contact and saying hello, even if they may not know you. That might scare the crap outta a Londoner but I quite like it!
Pembrokeshire, and Tenby in particular is nicknames 'little England'. The first language is most definitely English. I suppose partly due to the Tourism sector, and partly due to the number of English who settled there. Only a few miles away, like Narberth or definitely Whitland you will hear alot more Welsh, but the anti England venom is not as strong as North Wales.
Traffic wise... I wouldn't describe it as quiet, it is populated enough that you are often following someone but, and it is a big but, you are never really in the stationery traffic queue. I travel 12ish miles, about 4-5 of which are through 30 and 40 limits, and it still only takes 20 mins. Save for the farmers are taking their cows/tractors for a quick stroll, the real suburban 5mph crawl just doesn't happen.
I am a totally anti social bugger, I spend most weekends elsewhere in the country at other friends, so cannot comment on the social life. I can make a safe assumption though, enjoy rugby, join the local club and you'd be laughing!
Edited by Dimski on Friday 30th March 15:14
We moved from Chobham in Surrey to just north of Welshpool 10 years ago, swapped a scruffy 3 bed detached 1946 house for a Victorian Farmhouse (5 bed) with 10 acres (same money!!!!). Absolutely love it, would never go back to the South East, I have 20 mile views to the north and 10 mile views to the south.
A few points to note, The further you go into Wales the more resistant the locals may be towards you, though this appears to be more of a generation thing, the younger you (and they are) the more accepting, my Mother-In-Law moved near us, about 6 miles further into Wales, and found it harder at that age. Close to the border, they think of themselves as border people and are much more accepting.
We are about 10 miles over the border and 50% of our nearby residents are incomers, so where we are its just not a problem, but it certainly helps to join in!
Be prepared for an income drop if you work locally, though a lot of goods and services are cheaper to help offset this. Shops are not very cosmopolitan, and the range of goods can be quite limited, deli's with a large choice of foods are rare!
Unless you are near the M4, don't except to go anywhere fast, the cross country roads can be quite slow (obviously they are exceptions) but to average 40mph across Wales on an A or B road and you're doing quite well.
The scenery is fantastic, I still just stop sometimes in the garden and look about, it is beautiful, and I feel very fortunate to live where I do. My children can't remember anything of the South East, they were very young when we moved here, and have turned into real country folk!
Hope that helps
A few points to note, The further you go into Wales the more resistant the locals may be towards you, though this appears to be more of a generation thing, the younger you (and they are) the more accepting, my Mother-In-Law moved near us, about 6 miles further into Wales, and found it harder at that age. Close to the border, they think of themselves as border people and are much more accepting.
We are about 10 miles over the border and 50% of our nearby residents are incomers, so where we are its just not a problem, but it certainly helps to join in!
Be prepared for an income drop if you work locally, though a lot of goods and services are cheaper to help offset this. Shops are not very cosmopolitan, and the range of goods can be quite limited, deli's with a large choice of foods are rare!
Unless you are near the M4, don't except to go anywhere fast, the cross country roads can be quite slow (obviously they are exceptions) but to average 40mph across Wales on an A or B road and you're doing quite well.
The scenery is fantastic, I still just stop sometimes in the garden and look about, it is beautiful, and I feel very fortunate to live where I do. My children can't remember anything of the South East, they were very young when we moved here, and have turned into real country folk!
Hope that helps
You won't get any issues around the Chepstow/Monmouth area with regards to being outsiders. It's a lovely area with good road links.
We have some fantastic roads around Wales. I often used to do a run from Cardiff out by Brecon, Llandovery, Knighton, Abergavenny. All great fun with some nice pubs along the way.
Newport is a s**t hole so I would advise avoiding that particular part of Wales!
We have some fantastic roads around Wales. I often used to do a run from Cardiff out by Brecon, Llandovery, Knighton, Abergavenny. All great fun with some nice pubs along the way.
Newport is a s**t hole so I would advise avoiding that particular part of Wales!
I spent a good few years in South Wales so I've got a good handle on the place. I'd stick with the Monmouthshire side as it's fairly affluent as Wales goes and there's nice scenery, pubs, villages etc and the border areas alongside Herefordshire are a pleasant part of the world. Forget about about the Valleys, they are Hell-holes. The Vale of Glamorgan has some nice places to live, especially along the coast (apart from Barry!) and some lovely villages inland. Swansea is nasty, but once you get beyond the Mumbles and up out towards Pembrokeshire things improve although you're a LONG way from civilisation.
bennyboydurham said:
I spent a good few years in South Wales so I've got a good handle on the place. I'd stick with the Monmouthshire side as it's fairly affluent as Wales goes and there's nice scenery, pubs, villages etc and the border areas alongside Herefordshire are a pleasant part of the world. Forget about about the Valleys, they are Hell-holes. The Vale of Glamorgan has some nice places to live, especially along the coast (apart from Barry!) and some lovely villages inland. Swansea is nasty, but once you get beyond the Mumbles and up out towards Pembrokeshire things improve although you're a LONG way from civilisation.
Swansea along the bay, langland and mumbles are quite pleasant, and the Gower is fantastic but Swansea is not quiet countryside.If you're going to live in Pembs, North Pembs around Newport is particularly beautiful, as is St.Davids etc (and Cardigan/Aberporth/Newquay is also pretty) but if you crave theatre etc, you will be 2 hours from cardiff, where most of the best productions are (although Swansea has some good stuff from time to time and Aberystwyth often gets previews of new West End productions since they know it is too far for any snarky London critics to make the journey to snipe at a new play).
It depends if you like sea or mountains - if sea - you need to go as far west as Swansea before you get decent beaches, marinas, harbours etc; if you like mountains - Monmouthshire, Abergavenny etc is close enough to the Beacons and Black mountains.
not sure what Bennyboy means about civilisation - can't get much further from that than Durham!
I'm Welsh, and live in Cardiff, I've travelled the world and really couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
Just like England it varies greatly from place to place, as far as political power and the press the South is where it's at, anything North of Caerphilly is page 7 news at best - just like England then ha ha.
South West Wales is simply stunning, if you like the countryside and long windswept walks along the beach. Cardiff is a great city, not too big, not too small, the people actually acknowledge other people exist (I'm looking at you Londoners!) all the shopping you'd ever want if that's your thing and most of the suburbs are nice places, very middle class 30 mins to the city centre, 30 mins to the country, 30 mins to the coast. It's the bloody Wild West on a Friday or Saturday night though.
Swansea has probably got more than its fair share of rough parts, but there are some very nice places to live there, Newport is pretty bad and frankly seems to be getting worse - but has some nice parts surrounding it in Gwent - Celtic Manor is in Newport for example.
Aberystwyth is lovely, but it might as well be in middle earth because it hasn't got a motorway to connect with anywhere else.
North Wales is very, very pretty and I’ve always had a warm welcome there, if there was the type of person who treats the English with contempt and speaks in hush Welsh tones around them, they'd probably live in some tiny place up north, and they’d hate a South Welsh English speak like me even more.
In short, stay out of the South Wales valley s
t holes and the inner city suburbs of Swansea, Cardiff and Newport and you'll be fine.Firefoot said:
You won't get any issues around the Chepstow/Monmouth area with regards to being outsiders. It's a lovely area with good road links.
We have some fantastic roads around Wales. I often used to do a run from Cardiff out by Brecon, Llandovery, Knighton, Abergavenny. All great fun with some nice pubs along the way.
Newport is a s**t hole so I would advise avoiding that particular part of Wales!
Absolutely. My idea of a perfect retirement is a small country town in that part of Wales.We have some fantastic roads around Wales. I often used to do a run from Cardiff out by Brecon, Llandovery, Knighton, Abergavenny. All great fun with some nice pubs along the way.
Newport is a s**t hole so I would advise avoiding that particular part of Wales!
Bluebarge said:
not sure what Bennyboy means about civilisation - can't get much further from that than Durham!
Chortle, chortle. Civilisation to me is being near a John Lewis, or a deli, or a theatre, cinema, having some good restaurants or gastropubs nearby etc. All of that is within 15 minutes of my house in the countryside in Durham. Not much of that around last time I was in Lampeter! I'm English born and bred, but my older brother and his family live in North Wales (Bethesda, near Bangor) and my parents are in Pembrokeshire close to Milford Haven. There is a stark contrast between the North and South.
In the North, the area around Betws-y-Coed and Snowdonia is truly beautiful countryside with some brilliant roads, but in places you'll be made to feel about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit as an Englishman and non-welsh speaker. Was there a couple of weeks ago and I always get the distinct feeling of being an 'outsider' - my brother says the same, despite being married to a Welshie and having lived there for a long time now. There are only a few local pubs he can and drink in without being discriminated against for being English.
Pembrokeshire on the other hand couldn't be more friendly if it tried. Some really great beaches, seafront pubs, laid back lifestyle and far fewer scally types around. Sort of place I'd love to retire to one day. Roads aren't anywhere near as good as they are in the North though.
As for the bit in the middle, I have no idea.
In the North, the area around Betws-y-Coed and Snowdonia is truly beautiful countryside with some brilliant roads, but in places you'll be made to feel about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit as an Englishman and non-welsh speaker. Was there a couple of weeks ago and I always get the distinct feeling of being an 'outsider' - my brother says the same, despite being married to a Welshie and having lived there for a long time now. There are only a few local pubs he can and drink in without being discriminated against for being English.
Pembrokeshire on the other hand couldn't be more friendly if it tried. Some really great beaches, seafront pubs, laid back lifestyle and far fewer scally types around. Sort of place I'd love to retire to one day. Roads aren't anywhere near as good as they are in the North though.
As for the bit in the middle, I have no idea.
so called said:
I was looking at darkest Anglesey 
From my experience of three years in Bangor (uni) attitudes have generally improved but there are still areas that are quite openly hostile.Beautiful part of the country though, you have some beautiful beaches like Newborough on your door step and Snowdownia not more than an hour away.
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