Moving to North Wales

[eggofmantumbi]

We're relocating to North Wales somewhere....

I'm a teacher and don't speak Welsh so need to be commutable to address further East/ England where there are more English medium schools. Also need to be English medium schools where we live.

Husband is going to be working at Bangor university. Needs to be a 30 minute or less train journey.

Budget is about 230k and we'd like 3-4 bedrooms.

Where should we be looking? Is Colwyn Bay nice? Conwy? Llandudno?

Bear in mind Llandudno etc are very touristy. So you go out on a Saturday to do your shopping and it's packed full of tourists.

I live in Colwyn Bay. The town centre can be a bit grotty but so can most places. I love it here for the beach and countryside and also the transport links.

We're from C'Bay originally, used to be lovely, not so anymore unless you live in Colwyn Heights where it's much nicer, up near the zoo.
There is a large private school in the bay, Rydal Penrhos, see of they have openings for English speaking teachers, they have nursery through 6th form.
A55 is a nightmare in summer, friday evening coming into Wales and Sunday evening going out can be stop and go traffic quite often. A55 has it's own facebook page.

Both Colwyn Bay and Llandudno have rough areas too!

There are many English-medium schools especially along the coast. Also Rydal Penrhos school does only token Welsh. Being able to speak Welsh is not essential for a teacher but it is an advantage.

The A55 is... erm... eventful so you might want to be somewhere where you have the train as a backup.

Do look at Llanfairfechan. From what I remember it's a small village with lots of lovely cottages and a good community. 10 mins on train to Bangor and right near the main road.

Yes, the A55 has its moments or more, like many main routes, but if going local there's other ways round.

Ooh Fatted , I think you live very near me. Are you near a retail park...?

I'm a non welsh speaking teacher living in Llandudno. PM me if you'd like

It can't be much worse than the M56 which is part of my current commute!

I'm excited to make the move, need to do a bit of being a tourist myself to figure things out.

Are there any places inland written looking at?

I'm so grateful for all of your insights.

Worth looking at *

There's nice bits in most places, Abergele, Colwyn Bay etc but to be commutable for both of you, you'll need to have good A55 access.

Generally Welsh language skills become desirable rather than essential from Colwyn Bay. So Denbighshire and Flintshire are not so focussed on first language Welsh. Are you aware of the curriculum differences in Wales? Could supply be an option?

Unless you go Gwynedd way don't worry it's not "too welsh" I live in Flintshire and although it's taught in schools, it very unusual to hear people speaking it!

We are really close to Chester/ Liverpool/ Manchester and the a55

Colwyn bay/ Llandudno are lovely.

Avoid Rhyl.

Definitely avoid Rhyl. I do like Prestatyn though (parts) and spent many happy summers there (I've been recently too).

@findingmywaytoday my grandad lives in a small village just outside of Prestatyn it's lovely!

Plus there's talacre beach there which is gorgeous!

I wouldn't live inland as the commutes would be difficult, tho Rhuddlan is pretty but that's too far to Bangor.

Bangor itself is interesting & obv a Uni town. Really depends on what you do as a job.

Abergele is lovely.

Llanddulas looks like a decent place to be. Right on the A55. Im a regular on the A55 and it is a bitch of a road if something goes wrong. Im further West though.

Somewhere on a train line might be good for your DH's commute, but it would have to be Rhyl westwards to be good time wise.

Colwyn Bay is fine. As others have said, the town isn't the best, but that's true of all seaside towns these days. Colwyn Heights is beautiful. Some amazing houses there.

Sadly my DH agrees with PPs about Rhyl. 🤔 I love it and it's my home town. Would love to move back.

Spend some time looking around North Wales at weekends.

@Fatted @CheshireSplat I think we are very close, lots of planes about!

@KathrynOfArrogance @Fatted @CheshireSplat I know I know! It's where I go shopping. Lots of belugas around.

I'm in Flintshire, not far from the border and Chester (a 20 min drive). I teach in Flintshire too. Not many Welsh language schools in the county. But a requirement to use Welsh incidentally in the teaching day (pretty easy to pick up a certain number of phrases) as well as needing to teach Welsh lessons too. Obviously, more Welsh is needed further up the school but if you changed to a job in Wales, there are usually courses available to improve your knowledge. I'm moving year group next week and am on 2 courses for my year group to improve my Welsh. :)

@stillnotTheDoctor aye and a lot of bloody traffic!

Llanddulas has a landfill with the occasional waft over the village. Cycle path there is great.

Colwyn Bay has the watersports centre & refurbed beach. Worth ducking under the railway line to look at. Some nice houses round Wynn Avenue, I think.

Actually the east end of Rhyl is very nice with some lovely houses and an excellent primary school!

I live in Kinmel Bay, just outside of Rhyl. Rhyl isn't all that bad anymore, it's undergoing a huge regeneration project and is ok, honestly.

We are from England, have been here three years. Kids all go to a English school but they do all speak a lot of welsh in the school - it's a big focus. I suspect teachers with experience in welsh language would be prioritised. Most Conwy council jobs seem
To specify welsh in the job description.

It takes us about 30 mins to get to Chester and the same to Bangor, but that's not factoring in rush hour.

Lolz council workers have to be bilingual. If they're speaking to the public they have to give people the choice of speaking to them in welsh or English. Same as all our bills come double sided which really winds me up because it's a waste of paper why not just ask what language you want your bills in