What's life like in Wales?

[MadameSzyszkoBohusz]

Yes, I know it's a whole country and the answer will vary depending on whereabouts you are, but if you are Welsh or live in Wales, would you mind indulging my curiosity?

I'm asking because the current thread what do you wish you had within walking distance of you, and the most popular answer being "a beach/the sea" had me googling places to live on the coast, and noticing how stunning the Welsh coast seems.

I've never been to Wales, and now I'm wondering what life is like there. I've no plans to move, btw, we're very settled where we are, but I'm just interested to know.

Very good. Would recommend. I don't live within walking distance of the coast though as I'm in the South Wales valleys.

Well it's not another planet it's part of the UK so life in general is pretty much the same as elsewhere in the UK. Are you asking specifically what life is like in rural Mid Wales? Or in Cardiff? I can confirm that life in the city is just like life in any city tbh.

What's that like? Are you very rural, or in a town?

I'm really curious to know, I've realised that beyond a vague impression of it being very beautiful but with some areas of deprivation the whole place is a mystery to me, in a way that England and Scotland are not. I've even got a stronger impression of Northern Ireland, despite having never been there either, I suppose because it seems to appear in the media more.

It's pretty good in Snowdonia. I swim in a waterfall year round (2 min walk), amazing walks in the mountains from my door, short drive to stunning beaches, a strong sense of community and lovely friends and neighbours.

Cons: weather, rains a lot. Job prospects are as you'd expect in a rural area, and lack of Welsh can hold you back. House prices seem to going crazy relative to local wages but are still very cheap compared to other parts of the country so get snapped up by second home owners. You need a car to live here happily in reality.

I love it here and feel lucky every time I walk out my front door

It shouldn't be such a mystery, come visit! My part of Wales is heaving with tourists in the spring and summer so come check it out!

I'd love to live in Wales, I ashamed to say that up until last year I'd never been .... but we've got really into home holidays after years of long haul holidays. Anyway we visited Wales 5 times last year 😁😂

My friend lives in Anglesey and really loves it. I think it would be similar to much of the UK. Areas of real deprivation, other more affluent areas, rural areas, urban areas, some absolutely stunning scenery.

Yes that makes sense. I suppose I'm trying to get a sense of the general "vibe", if that makes sense.

Like, I've lived in Devon and Newcastle and Devon had a much slower pace of life and was much less "buzzy." And I found Edinburgh had more of a sense of grandeur and history than London, despite them both being capital cities - obviously London has loads of incredible history, but Edinburgh "felt" more ancient, like it was steeped in its very stones.

Am I making any sense?!

@SnowyGiveAway , your home sounds pretty perfect to me .... very jealous!

I live fairly rurally, hop and skip away from the coast, and it's heaven. I really love it. It's beautiful and peaceful where we are, the locals in the village are all lovely. Everything seems a little slower, a little more laid back, a little bit old fashioned, but that's probably true of living rurally anywhere.

Can walk the dogs on the beach in the morning, up a mountain at lunchtime, through the woods past a castle in the evening, it does feel a bit fairytale sometimes.

We are all booked up for this summer, but quite possibly next year, I do have quite a burning curiosity about the place now!

My dsis lives in a coastal village south of Holyhead. It's absolutely beautiful. I would move there in a heartbeat. In fact, I will one day. I spend a lot of time there.
I live in a big city and I actually have everything on my doorstep, including gorgeous parks and forest areas, but no beach !
I visit on my own, with friends, with my dh and with my dog. But my favourite visit is when I go on my own for 5 or so days. No matter what the weather, I'm up, walking boots on and off I go. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful - i could look at it all day.
My dsis says I'm no trouble!

I'm in a town but have a lovely view of the Brecon beacons from my house.

There are factors of deprivation but similar to post industrial towns in England.

Definitely come visit though. I'm on al mission to discover more of the UK at the moment and will be taking my summer holiday in Northern Ireland as I've never been before.

Oh wow, that really does sound idyllic!

If I was planning a move, I think I'd want this house: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132027536#/?channel=RES_BUY

I am very jealous of @SnowyGiveAway's waterfall swimming, even if in reality I'm way too much of a wuss to give it a go!

Fabulous! Where I live, anyway: rural and on the coast.
I'm never going to leave!

I've lived in a few places in Wales. I grew up in West Wales but in a very rural area. Its incredibly beautiful but being a teenager miles away from another house - wasn't so great!

There are lots of lovely coastal town and villages and woodland/mountains in mid/North Wales.

Cardiff was really lovely to live in, I was lucky to live in a great village approx 2 miles from the city centre. Felt safe, everything on my doorstep, great neighbours plus the beach or mountains were just a short drive away. It has been my favourite place to live.

I've travelled quite a lot in my youth but I really do not think you can beat the beauty of a hike up Snowdon on a clear day.

It's perfect for me. I was born and raised in a capital city and my life now suits me much better. It does mean though that my kids are being raised in a fairly monocultural environment without easy access to a lot of job prospects though, but that's a rural 'thing' rather than a Welsh thing. I do love where we live

Someone I know retired early and fulfilled a lifetime's ambition of moving to Wales. Beautiful house, beautiful location, but they never settled so are selling up and moving back to the area of England they're from. I do think it depends very much on how you will integrate, whether it's a village or town rather than rural. Also I don't think the pandemic hitting barely 18 months after they moved helped.

The most beautiful bits are a hell of a long way from anywhere else/central, if you are moving there/here. I speak as someone trying to go home, but finding I can't go as far in as I'd like because I want to be within an easy drive of some family. The roads go around the edges, not through the middle, and are smaller than they look on the map.

Also, if you're English you might find the double language frustrating. Road signage and leaflets, supermarket announcements are all in both languages. DM and DF who have lived there all their lives without learning a word of Welsh get cross about it!

It's great culturally, and I think there's more money in the pot for services, due to devolved government top ups. Things like access to laptops for children with dyslexia always seems more accessible there, free prescriptions and so on. That could be a 'grass looks greener' though.

I find some bits feel a bit oppressive- old fashioned, deprived, and tucked in against the mountains so potentially dark and densely populated. Obviously that's an impression of certain areas, not a blanket truth. I'm looking for somewhere to live with a big garden and space away from neighbours. Some areas have no houses like that at all. It's villages perched on the edge of steep hills, small winding roads, packed in close. Other bits are beautiful- open, panoramic, but no houses.

Some areas are not at all culturally diverse. It feels like my sister lives 30 years behind me, sometimes. I think all the diversity goes to Cardiff- very diverse- leaving everywhere else a bit behind in that respect.

And it's hilly, so bike riding is a bit more challenging!

Sheep, rather than cows.

I'm writing from the perspective of living in an English city for 30 odd years, but in close contact with family and doing lots of visits and holidays and trying to go back home! So possibly an out of date impression!

There isn't really a 'general vibe' to wales as a whole, because it's so varied. We live on the outskirts of Cardiff, which is day is pretty similar to my friends who live in the outskirts of say Bristol, but with slightly better access to nice beaches and mountains - still a drive away though. Someone in mid wales is nowhere near beaches, but I suppose on the whole a higher proportion of the population is within an hour of a beach, or a mountain, than England.

The north is quite different culturally from the south, rural areas very different from urban, just like England. Small valleys ex mining towns probably feel different to the cities, but might have something in common with northern England similar towns (maybe, not didn't much time in north of England so that's a stereotype from the TV really!)

The only thing which would really give away you are in a different country is Welsh being spoken / on signs, but the extent of that out I'll vary massively depending where you are. In the south east Welsh speakers are in the minority, and in some urban areas you are more likely to hear Arabic spoken that Welsh, but in some parts of north and west Wales you may feel more out of place if you don't speak it.

One of the many reasons I'm not a Welsh nationalist is I feel I probably have more in common with someone in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester then someone on rural mid or north Wales (and the Brexit votes would bear that out politically!), So I don't have that sense that Wales is very different from England.

There are very many beautiful places though so I would definitely recommend visiting! I have a particular fondness for Pembrokeshire. And Cardiff is lovely for a little city break. Or camping in the Gower!

What I didn't like growing up in Wales; having to learn Welsh until I was 16 (only did a useful language for 3 years as didn't want to do 2 at GCSE), healthcare was abysmal where I was, had to drive for over an hour to get to civilisation, failing education system (where I was) extremely poor transport links Wales is terribly connected internally. It might be better for these things in the south (I know nothing of the north, as I say, bloody difficult to get to!) but the traffic is a bloody nightmare and the decongestion speed limits do my head in.

It is beautiful, and I know it's not all like the above, but honestly I couldn't wait to get out. Like going back to visit.

Oh and yes, I should say I've hardly spent any time in north Wales and it seems more like another country to me than much of England, as it take so long to get there from south Wales! No motorway up the middle of anything. I think wales can feel bigger than it is for that reason.

Very much like any other deprived northern area, but with worse transport links and lots of hmos. The Wales you may be thinking of is a good hour's drive further in. I'm Welsh going back generations but feel I have more in common with my neighbours over the border than the South. I live on the edge of n Wales. It's like an overspill for Chester/wirral/Liverpool.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132035372#/?channel=RES_BUY would be my dream home in Wales. That balcony with a good book 🥰

It would be a long commute to the East Midlands sadly but I would move to Wales in a heartbeat. I grew up on the Welsh border though so I am biased.