Moving my family to Cardiff

[nicestkidsintown]

Hiya, I’ve been given an opportunity to move my family to Cardiff. I think it’ll be a fantastic opportunity and upon visiting I and the family absolutely loved it. The kids are 16 year old twins and I’m quite worried about this messing them up and is regretting it. I’d love to go but don’t want to be naive and have them regret it (I.e bullying for English accents and not integrating properly) x

[dildeewana]

I live a few miles from Cardiff. It's a wonderful city and very multicultural. There will be loads of stuff for your kids to get into and enjoy and I really doubt they'd be the only English in the village. I'm Welsh, my husband is English and we've settled in wonderfully. What area are you relocating to?

[BeyondMyWits]

My (English) daughter lives in Swansea and has said that the people (in the city certainly) are the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people she has ever lived amongst. Shouldn't think Cardiff would be any different.

[nicestkidsintown]

Thanks for the replies- we’re thinking Cyncoed, Roath Park or Llandaff... somewhere in the city

[nicestkidsintown]

I think the biggest issue for me is just how well they’d settle in, also slightly worried about the EU and funding that I’m aware has really boosted the city. A bit sceptical about the COVID situation as well as I don’t want them moving to a new area and not being able to make friends as they have to do online lessons for their a levels.

[nicestkidsintown]

Not necessarily online but may have to x

[Patch23042]

There are loads of English people in
Cardiff. I was one of them for a while. It’s a great city.

However, at 16 they may have concerns about moving anywhere.

[nicestkidsintown]

Hi, thanks!

They seem up for the move and are enthusiastic about it. They’re both quite sociable, one more than the other. One is a bit worried about being bullied for being English or just simply not fit in... any experiences? x

[gingerbeer2016]

Cardiff is a capital city. There are lots of English people here, including me and my wife, although our kids were all born here. We have been here 20 years.

They are not likely to be bullied for being English. But I would recommend anyone moving to Wales to learn a bit about Wales and it's history. There is a lot of pride in Welsh identity as distinct from English identity.

It's like moving to any other country really. You need to be respectful of cultures and traditions that are not yours and avoid anything that suggests you see Wales as an annex of England.

But Wales is an incredibly friendly and laid back place. I would probably personally recommend pontcanna/Canton right now over roath/cyncoed simply because it's easier to get into town for teenagers and you have access to green space that links to the city centre but that's fairly minor. However if state schools are an issue roath/cyncoed are Cardiff high catchment, pontcanna is more complex.