Purely hypothetical, but my wife and I were playing the sad game of looking at rightmove and working out what sort of house we could live in if we moved from the SE! She preferred the idea of North Devon, but I was going for South wales, neither of us were looking at living in a large town or city!

I went for South wales for the mountains and mountain biking availability! Which one would you go for and why?

Wales. Easy. Devon would be pretty good but your money goes a lot further in Wales. Both a bit remote but in Wales you’d more likely be a bit closer to larger population centres when you need something.

My sister moved to North Devon 12 years ago and loves it, rolling countryside and beautiful coastline North and South plus the moors. South Wales is a bit of a mix, certainly has better biking but its also a mix of old industry / natural beauty. I would suggest North Devon is a bit wealthier than South Wales too.

What I would say in property prices in North Devon (Wales too probably) are still below the peak whereas SE is above, could be a good time to make such a move.

I love riding in S Wales but live in Devon near Launceston and wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else. Recently spoke to someone in Hertfordshire who was looking at spending 750k on a 3 bed bungalow, that gets you about 5 beds and as many acres in Devon.

Wales is probably slightly more remote and cheaper. Prices in north Devon anywhere close to the coast are cheaper than London but not exactly cheap. Depends on your jobs but neither area has quite the same pool of well paid jobs as the south east.

That said, I’ve lived in Notth Devon for 16 years and I wouldn’t move. It’s beautiful, great surfing, good road and mtb (Exmoor is fantastic) not too far to Get anywhere and really nice friendly communities. Crime is low and it’s a lovely place for kids to grow up but ideally great for the. To spread their wings elsewhere after school.

It’s a slower pace of life though with a lot less sophistication than the south east in a lot of cases. I wouldn’t move away.

We went through the same process 5 years ago. Cornwall rather than Devon.

We ended up in Wales, near Brechfa. Very happy…

I live in the Swansea Valley, and very happy here, and work in Brecon. Depends on what you do for work, if you need to be in Cardiff then their are some nice places in the Vale of Glamorgan. One of these days I plan to move to Cilycwm which is my idea of paradise.

I am a science teacher, and my wife is a nursery nurse, so jobs are ok as long as there are children around, I have a job 🙂 it is a hypothetical question though………………. Although we are both feeling tempted, maybe in two years time, I would need that long to plan to my normal OCD levels!

normal OCD levels!

🙂

When you say South Wales you might want to look all the way to Pembrokeshire.

I love riding in S Wales but live in Devon near Launceston and wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.

At least your on the right side of the tamar…

Just in the process of doing a similar thing, going from Essex to west Somerset. Start a job in Taunton on December 1st. Went for Somerset as we loved the Quantocks and Exmoor for riding, and have bought a place roughly in between the two. I like South Wales, but Somerset feels less like there is perhaps more opportunity there, and with Afan, Crickhowell and Bike Park Wales 90 mins to 2 hours away, I figured I could always do day trips if I fancied a change.

South Wales felt a bit daunting, whereas the Quantocks felt really accessible. We’ve got two young boys too, so that is important, and the Quantocks seem perfect in that respect.

I work in local government, so can pretty much go anywhere but wife is more specialised which made Somerset a good option as trains to Bristol and Exeter are 45 mins direct. Lots of little villages 15 mins from Taunton.

If you like road biking as well, there are lovely routes south of Taunton through the Blackdown Hills.

I reckon house prices are about 25% cheaper from our experience.

It could all end in tears of course, but we’re very excited at the moment! 🙂

Even with the cheaper prices of North Devon compared to Surrey the wages were so low I couldn’t afford to move there.
I’d still move to Devon if I could over Wales. Shall never forget the pleading face of a local as I drove through a Welsh village. ” I don’t know where you are going but please take me with you”

I am fortunate enough to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the Brecon Beacons. If I had to live anywhere else then North Devon would be top of the list. Easily above the rest of south Wales

I’ve lived in North Devon for about 11 years. Moved down from the South East via a short stay in South Wales. I never want to have to live anywhere other than North Devon.

That said, the job opportunities are a bit rubbish. You may need to either lower your expectations work wise or commute for a decent paying job. It will be worth it however.

I lived in North Devon for a few years. It’s a nice place but you need money to live somewhere nice. There’s a massive disparity between those that have, and those that don’t. Living there is not the same as being on holiday and there’s (rightly or wrongly) resentment across the Westcountry towards people moving there with money from their South East house sale.

I would mention that the doorstep mountain biking is very poor. Exmoor only really gets fun when you get into Somerset, which is quite a hike. Good road riding though.

South Wales is a pretty varied place. Even the Valleys have some nice bits. For me the problem with the Valleys is not the scruffiness, its the lack of nice nuclear towns.

Depending on your budget, SE money can get you some seriously nice places. We were looking at Abergavenny because of transport links, but would prefer Brecon.

I love my wide open space and remoteness, grew up in the Brecon Beacons but now live in Cardiff. Would choose mid/north Wales or Devon/Cornwall over South Wales! We’re approaching full here rapidly, the Valleys are a nightmare to travel around and if you need to be the other side of the Brynglas tunnels any time between 7-9.30 and 1600-1900 you might as well get used to sitting in long traffic jams. Even as far up as Abergavenny is getting full, loads of new housing estates going in currently. The areas of the Gower and Pembrokeshire get gridlocked in the summer (or any reasonably nice day TBH!) so keep that in mind.

I’ll be making a similar decision to you as in leaving the bustle behind in the next few years, would do it now but not in the right financial position yet. Mid Wales or Snowdonia are on my list.

I wouldn’t paint the whole area as bad as that. As I said, it quite varied. Need more info on what the OP needs.

Not much really! I have two young children (7 and 3) who are both into biking and a dog that loves running through our local woods (which they are chopping down currently!). I hadn’t thought of Somerset!

We both want to get away from the frankly hectic pace of life and overcrowding of the SE and find somewhere with a more relaxed pace of life! I am not after promotions, and neither is my wife, so simply a local comp job would make me happy!

As i said, I reckon on at least 2 years worth of planning and procrastinating before I could do anything like this!

From that I don’t think you need to move quite as far out the way. Not saying you shouldn’t but the west country or Welsh borders will offer that even in some of the less remote bits. Its noticeably less hectic and a slower pace of life. As for the procrastination, get on with it! The first thing you’ll say after moving is “I wish we’d done this sooner”. Life is what happens while you are busy making plans and other such platitudes

As is the case everywhere , they are chucking up horrible housing estates and out of town shopping centres in North Devon.t
I would live as close to Exmoor as is practical.

Brecon then.

A positive story though…2 years back our friends moved to Crantock (Cornwall ) from Byfleet Surrey.
Their son was a typical teenager, head in his tablet or walking around with his mates “being bored”.
When we last visited he had turned into a talkative 15 year old, doing his D.O.E and joined the police cadets.
As we were leaving it was pissing down with rain . We then saw the son walking down the road with his mates in their wetsuits and off for a surf. They were all laughing and not caring one jot about the rain.
That can be all the reason you need to move. His spark was always there it just needed room for it to grow.
Ps Crantock 30 minutes from Newquay airport. In July a return flight from gatwick was £80 and took 45 minutes . There was no messing around with passport control at gatwick and the bags were on the carousel when we got there.

I’d go for North Devon, but I was born there so I was always going to say that. 😛

We’ve recently done similar. Packed in our jobs ,sold our house and have moved to west Somerset on the edge of exmoor (the park boundaries at the end of the lane ). Will soon be starting a business soon just over the border on north Devon. Lovely place to live with great mtbing and road riding and walking too if that’s your thing. We both do all of that.

I work in Brecon and quite frankly its an odd place and wild horses wouldn’t make me live here – some of the villages out and about are nice and there are some real gems in some of the villages up toward the Eppynt which are very tucked away. The top of the Swansea Valley is quite nice and has cheaper housing.

I went to bid on a very nice hill farm, not far from Brecon, recently(250 plus acres) for a client at auction with a guide price of £1.2m and I just exchanged on a smallish terrace in Brixton last week for another client at £1.3m……… I know where I’d sooner be.

I have lived in big cities and I find them massively claustrophobic! I love living in NE Hampshire, but I do miss big hills!

Wild horses would not get me to live in London! I can manage a day or two visiting friends then I need to escape!

There’s big cities, then there’s London.

Drive down Edgeware Rd in rush hour and it’s hell. Slip into a little old pub all mahogany and brass on the corner of a brick terrace; stroll down a street in Marylebone; sit by the river in the summertime.. so many fantastic things to find.

I don’t like Birmingham, Manchester, places like that.. but London’s something else entirely. Unique in Britain, possibly the world.

If you don’t need to work in one of the cities the world is your Lobster in Wales.

Brechfa and that whole area off the A48 by the Botanical Gardens is lovely, or at least looks lovely to drive through and there are supermarkets and whatnot within a short drive. Personally I’d check availability of fibre too, because non-fibre internet can be appalling in remote parts. It’s not too far off the end of the M4 too, so visiting the SE isn’t too tricky.

Good train links across S Wales too.

I live in Surrey and just don’t get the house prices.
I know it’s a nice place with good job availability and some great biking too, but when you look at what the same money would get you in North Devon it’s astounding.
As I’ve said before, I’d move there in a shot, but there’s a certain person I’d have to convince first.

Good train links across S Wales too.

Not this month 🙁

True.. but next year it’ll be getting better. Can’t wait for those new trains…

Will the new ones get me to Paddington any faster?

Yes, apparently. 20-odd minutes off Bristol to London which is currently 90 mins.

That sounds promising.