relocating to south wales

[Butcherf1988]

Hi,
I am currently living in an affluent area in poverty and totally isolated. I am never able to afford to take my children to clubs, and have been dependent on benefits for 4 years (although im slowly starting a business). I'm living in a house i was badly abused in. It is terrible for my mental health :( My ex abusive partner is refusing to sell the home, yet he does nothing with the children either. I grew up socially in a non affluent area. In south wales i can afford a home, afford to learn to drive, and my self-employed business is getting going. All my money is tied up in this house. It's making me depressed. Ive seen that over in south wales, i can not only afford to buy a house, but can afford to learn to drive, transport is more accessible, and id be able to afford to take my children to do out-of-school clubs/activites, which theyre not accessing at all here. We do love the outdoors, and see that over in wales there is Brecon and the mountians nearby. I was wondering what other people's views are on making the move. Evidently this style of living is not doing my health any good, and im unable to take the children to any out of school activites due to lack of money and lack of mobility. We're growing up poor in an aflfuent area where friends go to all sorts of out of school aciviteis, and we do nothing. Yet, over in south wales, with my money freed up from the proerty, i'll be able to afford a home, secure financial security, remove debts, be self-employed, and learn to drive, and do activities with the girls. I was wondering what areas of south wales are best? Best wishes, Fliss

We made the move from london, took as massive payout and our lifestyle improved dramatically. Where were you thinking? You can buy a house in Blaenavon for 70k but it is a bit bleak!

Depends on your budget.

Radyr
Cowbridge
Efail esaf
Graigwen
Pentyrch
Thorn hill
Whitchurch
St martins
Machen

Are a few

In fact, as i write, my eldest daughter who is nearly 11 is saying she is bored being at home. There are no clubs in this village, and the last bus home from the nearest town is 6.30pm. It's simply not good or conducive to a tenenager.

Is Blaenavon got quite a lot of historical background.? We like history as well and visitng old sites.

So can you afford to buy in South Wales even if your current home is unsold, or will you be relying on the house sale to fund the new house?

We live in North Cardiff which is lovely but not cheap and relatively affluent if that bothers you. Same for Penarth or Cowbridge. Good access to city, country or coast. If you went up the valleys a bit- pontypridd, caerphilly, cwmbran etc it would be slightly cheaper but still close to cardiff, and people I know seem to like living there. Further north would be cheaper again but might not be as quick to get around for your teen. Or some areas of Cardiff would be a bit cheaper. St Mellons was quite nice when we lived there but less keen on the school catchments. Barry, Newport or Bridgend would be worth a look but I'm less familiar with which are the better areas.

Cheap areas will be the valley areas. Pontypridd/taffs Well/hawthorn etc. further up the valley transport gets a bit tricky. Also good is Caerphilly. Try to stay away from Cardiff and surrounding areas purely due to prices.

South Wales born and bred. Spent 7 years in London, now back in Wales.

Some areas are extremely expensive. Public transport is horrendous everywhere - could walk to my office faster than I could travel by bus or train. Took colleagues 2 hours to travel 18 miles into Cardiff at the weekend.

Waiting lists on the NHS are years. I gave up trying to get them to fix my botched episiotomy after 8 years. My GP now limits the number of e-consults they do so by 8:30am you’ve no hope of an appt of any sort.

But yes. We have the Brecons.

@FTEngineerM

Depends on your budget.

Radyr
Cowbridge
Efail esaf
Graigwen
Pentyrch
Thorn hill
Whitchurch
St martins
Machen

Are a few

That’s

Efail Isaf
Thornhill

Do you mean St Mellons?

Blaenavon is the home of Big Pit. It's an old coal mining community.

What's your budget?

Thank you @NavigatingAdolescence.
No St Martins in Caerphilly. Just a stones throw from the town centre. Verrrrrry nice houses on/just off that road and convenient location.

There are some parts of South Wales where there would not be many opportunities for young people and they would be further away from Cardiff/public transport/amenities/jobs.

The house needs to be sold before I can afford to cash buy. My ex abusive husband is refusing sale. Without sale, I have no capital. I need it to be freed up in order to be able to have the money to learn to drive as well. My life is completely on hold. I didnt choose to move to the remote vilaage in the first place. :( He has completely isolated me. The relationship was very abusive, and i went to refuge for 3 months with the girls :(

Think about options for your children when they look for work. We live in a different area but the career type opportunities are few and far between, both children have had to move away for opportunities.

South Wales is pretty varied in opportunity and budgets. Did you have a location in mind?

Caerphilly is great @Butcherf1988 - I used to live there before moving to Cardiff and you get a lot for your money. Parts are a bit dodgy but there's a great community feel and the castle is stunning. I hope your situation improves soon

We made the move to Newport and I’d consider it. Nice it is not but it does have ok public transport and good links to Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea so great for teens to go out on their own and access actvities. The lack of desirability of a lot of Newport keeps prices down.

I however would agree that the healthcare system here is beyond poor and must result in excess mortality. I discovered the other day it takes 15 minutes for 999 to so much as answer a call and GPs are not great and NHS dentists barely exist. On the other hand care in the hospital is of a good standard and out of hours GP service has always been good although it will take at least an hour for 111 to answer in order to arrange an appointment

South Wales Valleys have fine transport links to Cardiff - best if you go no further out than Pontypridd / Caerphilly. Both fine in themselves and easy for teenagers to get themselves to Cardiff on public transport - 20 to 30 minutes to centre. You can get a solid Victorian 3 bed below 100 000 in the right parts of either town. Both high streets on the up.

Newport, Bridgend, Barry all cheap and close to Cardiff but with own nightlife. What's your price range and what are your housing needs?

Never waited long for anything on NHS in RCT myself. Cardiff experience was mixed. Get GP appointments on the day, consultants in standard NhS waiting times. Must be various experiences out there. I agree - you can have a good life cheap here. Just don't go too remote, and choose carefully if you don't drive.

Also plenty of career / education opportunities in Cardiff. It's worth thinking of south Wales Valleys as Cardiff suburbs to some extent - not culturally! But in terms of access to the city. The valleys geography means communities scattered on the route to Cardiff instead of urban sprawl.

You get good features of urban and rural life all in one package here. You can make a life without being a mortgage slave.

I don’t know about the valleys particularly but house prices in Wales have gone up more than the rest of the U.K. (11% in the last year.)

If you go right to the west the well known places - St Davids, Tenby, Saundersfoot - are a lot more expensive.

Public transport beyond the main towns is poor - for me to travel an 8 mile journey by road would take 2 hours by bus.

Your children will have to learn Welsh in school, even in the more English areas such as South Pembrokeshire.

That's the downside but away from the coast in the towns such as Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen, Narberth - the towns have most things you could need and a real community spirit.

They've gone up a bit - but from a low base. Here's what's listed currently on Rightmove for 100 000 and below within 3 miles of Pontypridd. So you'd be about 15 miles from Cardiff, 30-40 minutes on the train - rail links are okay to great (okay North of Pontypridd). Lots of people commute.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E1078&minBedrooms=3&maxPrice=100000&radius=3.0&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

I'd shop carefully in that price range, but you'll find something good in time. And if you've much over 100,000 you'll be spoiled for choice.

@IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere

If you go right to the west the well known places - St Davids, Tenby, Saundersfoot - are a lot more expensive.

Public transport beyond the main towns is poor - for me to travel an 8 mile journey by road would take 2 hours by bus.

Your children will have to learn Welsh in school, even in the more English areas such as South Pembrokeshire.

That's the downside but away from the coast in the towns such as Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen, Narberth - the towns have most things you could need and a real community spirit.

Op said South Wales, not West Wales

When we relocated, we struggled to find school places in and around Cardiff so that's also something to bear in mind

@IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere

If you go right to the west the well known places - St Davids, Tenby, Saundersfoot - are a lot more expensive.

Public transport beyond the main towns is poor - for me to travel an 8 mile journey by road would take 2 hours by bus.

Your children will have to learn Welsh in school, even in the more English areas such as South Pembrokeshire.

That's the downside but away from the coast in the towns such as Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen, Narberth - the towns have most things you could need and a real community spirit.

What’s wrong with learning Welsh?!