Moving to Wales

I think the ship might have sailed on Llandod. Was there last month, chatting to a lady who had bought a 5 bed house with shop and basement for about £80K three or four years ago, reckoned the same sort of thing has been going for 250K this year!

That’s still cheap. I was looking idly the other day and there was a £350k ‘house’ converted into 5 flats from a Victorian hotel. It had 23 rooms!

Ha!

I remember thinking there were a couple of cracking Grand Designs opportunities if you had serious cash. The big art-deco/ glass space above the cycle museum, or the former Bradley’s, now closed. Stunning building, and probably available for about 3 and 6:

1 Middleton St
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oUFZ6cuVKR3ffUv56

The Welsh don’t have the monopoly on hard to pronounce names:

Leicester
Bicester
Towcester
Slough

This is the one I saw:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108745352

There are 8 public schools in total (read into that what you will)

Are you sure? I’ve got 2 within a mile of my house. (And that’s a good example of what we were saying earlier about nice areas being almost on top of crappy areas. To get to either I’d have to go down streets where I wouldn’t leave my car unattended for any length of time.)

I think the ship might have sailed on Llandod.

About 20 years there were significantly more women living there than men. I can’t remember why, or even where I found that fantastic piece of trivia, or whether the balance has been corrected. 😀

The Welsh don’t have the monopoly on hard to pronounce names:

There’s loads even just around Huddersfield, Slaithwaite being the classic.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/ten-place-names-around-huddersfield-15494268

There’s loads even just around Huddersfield, Slaithwaite being the classic.

They’re not hard to pronounce, you just need to put on your broadest Yorkshire accent when you do so.

When I was in the military I used to spend a lot of time down in St Athan, I’d like to say that’s the only place where I’ve been offered a fight, unfortunately it’s not! I’m Welsh but lived in England most of my life, was once offered a fight whilst wearing my Wales Rugby shirt when shopping with my mum in Liverpool. That one was a bit bizarre. I was once mugged in Manchester and in Jersey of all places (but I was so drunk I may have actually gave my watch to a homeless man rather than he mugged me, the memory of that one is a bit hazy!)
RAF Valley was a bit rough and the locals didn’t like the English (or anyone for that matter including Scottish). I didn’t stay there for long, but my memory of Anglesey wasn’t great (been back hundreds of times since and it’s awesome, but when in my early 20s I really didn’t like it)
Anyway I digress, I still go back to South Wales a fair bit, I’d love to retire there, unfortunately it’s not going to happen, wife’s family are all Midlands based and she is very close to them. Laugharne would be my ideal place to settle. Pretty coastal area, nice pubs, just the right level of not being a sleepy little village but not being too busy.
We still go to North Wales, Snowdonia, just so I can ride, love the road riding around there. But wouldn’t be my place to retire.
Good luck OP, but I’d definitely be spending a fair amount of time there before deciding.
Idlejon, not sure if that trivia is tourist bait or something, but around St Athan it certainly didn’t feel like that. Or there may have been significantly more women, but they never went out!
My dad was Welsh and didn’t speak a word of it, nor his brothers.

Idlejon, not sure if that trivia is tourist bait or something, but around St Athan it certainly didn’t feel like that. Or there may have been significantly more women, but they never went out!

I meant that Llandod (Llandrindod) had more women than men. I know little about St Athan, apart from my sitting in an ATC control room there for a day..

The Welsh don’t have the monopoly on hard to pronounce names:

Yep even Reading. Which is also a challenge for Googling.

I live outside Llandod and moved here 18 years ago. Sure each area has its issues, common theme is that everyone who has lived around here since birth seems to know everyone else and their business, (I have found that it pays to keep opinions and social media posts fairly neutral, same goes for revealing your own business and not be too open with it etc for this very reason). I think that when you choose your area to live do so with an open mind and leave the pre-conceived ideas behind, like a lot of the comments already, the same problems in South Wales exist elsewhere in the UK.

I have found that if YOU make the effort to get to know folk and want to fit it, (which you’ve done already) then you shouldn’t have a problem. One of my best friends now is a Welsh speaker who enjoys slagging the English off over a pint (in Welsh of course) but I trust implicitly. (Could be said he didnt have any friends before I showed up?)

As for the biking here in mid Wales, sure it doesn’t have the density of trail centres, (great if you like those) but rides from my front door can take in umpteen miles, see no one and the natural trails and isolated feeling can be second too none.

That said will be at Nant in the next few days, between conf calls! 🙂

As for the biking here in mid Wales, sure it doesn’t have the density of trail centres, (great if you like those) but rides from my front door can take in umpteen miles, see no one and the natural trails and isolated feeling can be second too none.

Don’t forget that it’s not just trail centres here in south Wales. Because there are so many MTBers, there are huge amounts of unofficial trails which vary in quality but tend to the very gnarly end. I think that once you go west past Llanelli, or north of the A465 this starts to peter out (simply because of the population numbers), but really you can’t go ten miles around here without finding a new trail network.

or north of the A465 this starts to peter out (simply because of the population numbers),

Peter out maybe, but if you know where to look they are still there. In fact I will be riding some tonight 🙂

@Idlejon, it may have gone up, but there aren’t many https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/wales/ (compared to England, anyway).
Llandod used to have a bad Heroin problem 20 yrs ago, not sure about it now.
Basically, everyone lives North and South, with a load of sheep in the middle!

The only time I’ve ever had a fight was in Wales.

I was 9. It was with Kevin, my best mate at the time.

(I grew up in Mid Wales. Lots of farmers, old hippies and magic mushrooms. And plenty of mountain biking)

@IdleJon,noted about the volume of trails etc in the south, ridden a few over the past few years, you are right though about the number of riders which I guess could be viewed as a curse in itself, all depends what your riding preferences are: bike park/centre, unofficial trails (thats a whole discussion topic on its own!!).

@finephilly, Llandod still has its choice selection of users, a very small minority! But is no different to any other part of the UK now with similar social and behavioural issues.

For the most part its great here, fantastic scenery, great riding and nice people (mostly!)

@boredmarriedwithkids
I’ve literally just bought a house near llandod (llanbister) so great to hear your positive experiences of the area! Moving hopefully in January….Slightly apprehensive because of the language and (these) stories of anti-English feeling but plan to just be positive and throw ourselves into the local community. At the very least the riding/countryside will be good!

Slightly apprehensive because of the language and (these) stories of anti-English feeling but plan to just be positive and throw ourselves into the local community.

My stepmother is English, my sister in law is English. I’m in the office at the moment with about 10 other people around – 3 of them are English, with obvious English accents and all live around here (Swansea). There is genuinely nothing to worry about.

To back up IdleJon, its about attitude not accent. As long as you dont treat the area as if it was put there for your own leisure use, or treat the locals and the local culture as an inconvenience, you will be absolutely fine. We’re only people, same as everywhere else in UK.

Yes and I’d add to that: Don’t make jokes about the placenames or language; and don’t talk about ‘Wales’ like it’s one place!

lightly apprehensive because of the language and (these) stories of anti-English feeling

don’t be. the whole anti English thing is a tired trope that people like to trot out. i’m not saying there aren’t isolated incidents of people with chip on their shoulder (in the same where there may be in England against the welsh), but that’s chippy individuals, not a regional or national trait.

as with most places, act like a dick, get treated like a dick. don’t act like a dick try and integrate into the local community (if you want to) and you’ll be fine

my dads side of the family are welsh, my mums side are English, i’m welsh but grew up on either side of the border at various times and for some reason have a southern UK lilt to my non-welsh accent (no idea why) – i can’t remember any incidents of overt anti english sentiment directed at individuals at any point, even in the 70’s in very isolated and insular north walian communities.

you do sometimes comes across a bit of resentment about the way the country has been treated historically in terms of exploitation of resources, dismantling of the countries industrial base etc, but that’s more dissatisfaction with the industrialists or governments of the day, not the “english” per se – no different to how pockets of the north of England feel about the south historically

depending on where you settle you may also come across feelings of resentment on second home / holiday home ownership, with prices in many areas being driven up by those outside of the local market to the point where those living in the local market can’t afford to buy – but that not a unique to wales – see lakes, Cornwall & Devon or any tourist area or rural areas in general these days. although Meibion Glyndw took it a little far!

oh, and i’d be tempted by mid-wales

Yup I’d heard tales about anti-English sentiment in Scotland but never experienced it in real life except once very mildly many years ago when I accidentally referred to England when I meant to say Britain, so kinda fair enough.

Lived in Glasgow for a few years and had not even a hint of unpleasantness – was mildly apprehensive about going to watch Celtic and going in certain pubs but also totally fine. People generally treat you as you treat them.

Cornwall

A very good point – my brother moved there and lasted about 5 years before giving up and moving back to Yorkshire. He is the friendliest, nicest, most smily and personable person in the world ever yet he encountered countless incidents of anti-English sentiment. He moved there with his job as they were short-staffed for field engineers in the region yet he was regularly accused of ‘stealing jobs from locals’ even by people working in the places he visited (mainly banks and shops – he fixes cashpoint machines and electronic tills). He was devastated to come home but couldn’t cope with it.

I live in a village called Llanmaes about 6 miles from Barry. Work in Cardiff and cycle there every day. I moved from Newcastle Under Lyme about 15 years ago. Took a chance on uprooting everything for a new life. Never looked back. I love living down here. I can chose what type of riding I do. I couldn’t drive until about 2 years ago so was mainly restricted to the road and my MTB’s never got used and eventually sold for the skinny tyres. Now I’ve got a license and a car I can get to places like Afan/Glyncorrwg/Smilog and so on. Or I get on my road bike and can ride from Coast to mountains in an hour or two.
As long as you do the research into where to live it should be fine. Rhoose is nice. So are parts of Barry if you stay close to Porthkerry Park/The Knap. If you go up into the Valleys property is cheaper but I’ve never felt intimidated by anyone. Most of them are friendly enough even with my clearly English accent.