Does anyone live in/near Monmouth or Ledbury/Malvern ?

We are looking to move to somewhere with better walking and biking than Essex.

Ideally like a smallish town but ideally with things like a tennis club, leisure centre, good pubs and (most importantly) with good walks from the doorstep.

An added bonus would be if there were water sports nearby (I used to row and we can both sail and windsurf). The places mentioned in the thread title seem to tick a lot of boxes but wondered if anyone on here had any first hand experiences of these areas ? Ideally, the warts and all version please !

Thanks

No sailing  or windsurfing in Monmouth although I guess you could but Llangorse lake isn’t that far away. Ticks the boxes otherwise. Got a rowing club .

Budget ?

Barnt Green worcestershire has a tennis club, a sailing club and is on the edge of the lickey hills/waseley hills/clent hills.

Good transport links to M5/6/50

Monmouth has a tennis club, rowing club and leisure centre. Canoeing and kayaking on the wye too. I’m 10 mins drive away onthe edge of coleford and the riding and walking from the door is excellent. Not many employment opportunities in the immediate area, but plenty of options an hour away in Bristol, Worcester,  Gloucester, Cheltenham.  Loads more top notch riding wihin an hours drive west into the south wales valleys too.

Downsides of Monmouth – a lot of it floods or is at risk of flooding. Houses are more expensive than up the road in the forest of dean. The town centre is slowly dying but is still pretty decent compared to most, especially the towns in the forest of dean which are all dead, apart from Coleford which is just about hanging on with a couple of good pubs and a few independent shops.

I’d say Malern and Ledbury are better towns by some margin, but the riding isn’t as good or plentiful.

Barnt Green worcestershire has a tennis club, a sailing club and is on the edge of the lickey hills/waseley hills/clent hills.

yeah but Barnt Green =

But has a Birmingham post code. Kippers and curtains

Grew up in Newent, so sort of in-between your choices. Wouldn’t move back though plenty of people seem to like Ross, which is a nice market town. Walking, riding etc. Not far from South Wales.

Ideally like a smallish town but ideally with things like a tennis club, leisure centre, good pubs and (most importantly) with good walks from the doorstep.

An added bonus would be if there were water sports nearby (I used to row and we can both sail and windsurf).

I lived in Malvern in the late 90s.  I don’t recall there being anywhere close for watersports although there was rowing in Worcester.   There is a tennis club, and leisure centre.

You say most importantly good walks from the doorstep.  It depends what you want – are you looking for an evening stroll or a full on hike?  Are you looking for variety?  Depending where in the town you end up all the walks might seem like they are uphill – if that bothers you!

I went back recently and expected to be nostalgic.  Can’t say I was – it seemed busier than I remembered it and perhaps a bit more run down.

I have a former colleague who is in Hereford might be another option to consider, although obviously depends where you need to be for work etc?

Paging @alex

Malvern’s long on hills (walks) and short on water stuff.

Closest of the three to anything with employment.

We live between Ledbury and Ross. Moved 17 years ago, still not considered a local 🙂

Ledbury is a ‘nicer’ town. Has about 5 deli’s to Ross’s one which pretty much sums up where the money is! It definitely had a tennis club. Still need to drive/cycle out to the Malverns although there are some quite nice walks by the river in town. Thriving Rugby and football clubs. Quite a lot of development/new housing (see also Ross) going/gone in these last few years. Don’t live near cheese factory – that stinks! See a lot of road cyclists as some good/challenging routes from Ledbury. Good pubs and quite a few restaurants. There is a pool (I think it’s still open not sure about gym etc)

Ross has better riding for sure. You can ride out to the FoD/Yat (which we do most of the year – takes about 45 mins) and there is great riding in Penyard/chase above the town that’s been heavily developed over the last few years. I prefer the riding to Malvern as it’s way more extensive, not as busy, not as contentious (google Malvern Conservators for more 🙂 ) and just a bit less winch and plummet (although there is that). The Forest is not one location riding wise – lots of different terrain/difficulty – most of it on trailforks. The two marked trails from Pedalabikeaway are fine (blue and red) and are pretty well maintained. There’s loads better natural stuff tho. Monmouth / Staunton side lots of challenging riding including the Kymin which is a lot of fun and properly steep for round here.

PAB is lively – especially in the summer and other than having the worlds most inefficient food service, is a good place to start/end. They even have their own beer! They also organise lots of group rides/races esp in the summer and mini DH.

Towns in the Forest as a poster ^^ says are pretty Grim. Ross feels more run down than Ledbury. Don’t go to Monmouth that much but always feels a lot livelier than Ross! We also will drive to Abergavenny a few times a year as we really like that town – and some awesome walking up the three hills from there. Ross does have a popular leisure centre (halo) that has lots of classes/kit but gets booked up quickly.

Overall it’s a stunning area in terms of landscape and scenery. The Wye tho is – I think – the most polluted river in the UK (chicken poo/nitrates etc) so don’t fall out of a kayak!

Anyway that’s enough of a ramble… other than to say I can’t see us ever moving far from here. It’s not the most exciting place to live if you’re coming from a big city, but it’s a very good place if you want to walk/hike/ride etc.

I live kind of in the Monmouth area. It’s a nice town, as above, High Street doing OK, some nice shops and eateries etc.

Also, have a look at Abergavenny – not much further away for you and has a great (well deserved) foodie reputation as well as brilliant hill walks all around. Leisure centre and sports facilities very good as well, and a good uplift place not far away…

There’s Upton Warren Sailing club south of Bromsgrove – probably the closest from the Malvern end of your search.

Malvern here – the hills have a certain style of riding, you’ll need to have experienced it…  The hills are busy on nice weekends and bank holidays.

There is a minority of people that hate bikes on the hill including in the Conservators (land management that locals have to pay a levy to in council tax) that would prefer not to have anyone on the hills at all.

Watersports at least a 20 minute drive to any of the lakes or rivers though there are a few rowing and sailing clubs about.

We’re about 15 minutes from Monmouth & echo what others have said about the local area. If you are more in to the FoD it’s definitely not an affluent area (there are pockets of it) but there is quite a few nice little hamlets (which compared to Winchester prices) are still very affordable. The locals are a friendly bunch if you make an effort to be part of the community although, having been here for 5 years we will never be considered locals ?

There isn’t a lot work wise in the area, but we are both remote, so not a concern. The walking & biking is great, but be prepared, the FoD in winter is genuinely one of the sh*ttiest/most slippery places I have ever ridden & the winters can feel like a long time here. The riding in general is great though – you can do 100’s of km of gravel, to some fairly committed off piste death & everything in between.

I’d be happy living in Monmouth, buy I wound’s be going in the Wye, due to the aforementioned pollution. I’d still struggle to find anything else that would give us the range of outdoor life whilst being a practical distance from our offices, and Heathrow for me as I travel a reasonable amount for work, along with being able to get to a big city like Bristol in 40 minutes.

Worcesterite here….

Mountain biking: Usual ‘urban’ stuff of woodlands and waste ground with interesting stuff, Malverns (20 mins by car), Wyre Forest (40mins by car), Flyup 417 (35 mins by car), FoD (1 hr by car), Cannock Chase (1 hr by car), BPW (1hr40 by car) etc.

Road riding: Vale of Evesham to the East, Cotswolds to the South East, Hills and country lanes to the North and West. The council have installed a number of cycling routes which include bridges over the busy 60/70mph bypass roads, making getting out of town on relatively traffic-free routes very easy. Once out of town, the lanes are pretty quiet.

Sailing: I sail at Trimpley (in the Severn Valley just West of Bewdley – 40 mins by car) and Bartley (just south of Birmingham – 25 mins on M5). There are other options at Top Barn (small gravel pit – not really worth it IMO) Upton Warren (shallow gravel pit), Arden (narrow bit of the river Avon near Upton), Midland (Edgbaston) and Barnt Green. There are many more to the North/West of Birmingham if you’re willing to travel, Cotswold Water Park and I think there’s a watersports place over at Evesham.

Windsurfing: Catered for at Bartley. Not sure about anywhere else. I had mates who used to head to the Gower for windsurfing, but that’s a bit of a drive (shorter than from Essex of course!)

Rowing: There’s a rowing club on the Severn, and at Bewdley (on the Severn). Not dabbled in that scene so can’t comment further.

Worcester is a small city – more of a town really, but it’s fairly buoyant high-street and social life wise. Partly due to the university, and partly as it’s a county town and surrounded by villages (where all the wealth is). There are direct train services to Birmingham, London, Cardiff and (sometimes) Manchester and points in between(depending on which of the 3 stations you depart from!) Having the M5 run past is a blessing and a curse – most of the time it means quick and easy access to most of the midlands and the South West, but it can get very slow on summer Saturdays with all the folks heading off for their hols. The council have been addressing the traffic issues over the past few years (that was majorly chaotic) and so now most of the traffic hotspots have been sorted. The hospital gets an absolute slating all the time though.

Hope that helps.

There is sailing on the Avon just north of Tewksbury, although it is river sailing rather than coastal or reservoir so something such as a Solo or Laser or smaller two person dinghy’s are preferable. As stated above the Malvern hills are a style of riding that doesn’t suit everyone although there is plenty of opportunity to get off the (well worn) beaten tracks on the ridge. Also FOD is less than an hour away. Ledbury is a much more interesting and vibrant place than Malvern these days but there is a wider range of housing in Malvern as it is a lot bigger.

I lived in Monmouth from 2007 to 2017.  Now between Monmouth and Coleford, so right on the doorstep of great riding.  I might consider retiring to the beach, but otherwise I’m here for life.  River, forest walks, great riding, close enough to big cities if that’s your thing, great rugby club (especially for the kids), pubs around and about, decent road connections – ticks the boxes OP wants.