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.

Depends where you live but downsides can be. Lack of services, miles to a hospital, like a 70 mile round trip. Nothing like the services you get elsewhere. Have to travel miles to shops. No Dentists. Have to move away for decent jobs.

I moved to South Wales from South England 20 years ago and wouldn’t go back if you paid me!
I live in an urban area with Victorian housing. I can walk to amenities in a few moments but it is 15 minute walk, via two Victoria parks, to the beach. Numerous more glorious beaches are a short drive away. Half an hour in the car takes me to mountains. It really is stunning.
We have decent schools and some small theatres/ music venues plus all the usual amenities but shopping isn’t great and the town centre itself is run down.
It feels very safe - my 10 and 12 year old can zoom around our local area and parks alone.
I love the Welsh culture, the sense of pride and love people have for their country. I love the Welsh language and the musical heritage. Even the rugby is good fun even though I don’t understand the game! We have just had St David’s Day which is a big event in schools here; the children wear national dress or rugby shirts and give concerts and so on.

Of course, it is not perfect and like everywhere, there are rough areas and some awful poverty. The Welsh government make some good decisions and some questionable ones! But overall, my life is good and I am so glad that I made the move.

Oh wow, thank you all so much, this is really helping me form a mental picture!

"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!)"

Funnily enough I come from an Northern English small ex-mining community, and the impression I had growing up, probably from the miners strike, is that the Welsh were "a bit like us."

And I really relate to what @kljk78 said, as I also couldn't wait to leave!

Depends. Good and bad parts everywhere. South Wales much more accepting of non-Welsh people. North Wales, not so much. Many jobs insist on fluent Welsh (unless they are top jobs weirdly), many schools force children to only speak Welsh. Generally there's a dislike of non-Welsh people coming to the North to live because they 'take houses and jobs'. Wales (or the North) is strangely one of the only places I've been too when xenophobia is not only encouraged, it's defended.

That aside, NW is very green, great walking spaces but very little to do outside of 'nature' type activities. Few shops, maybe one small cinema every 40 miles, no bowling, few restaurants, not really an active nightlife.

SW is obviously different in that sense, plenty to do in Cardiff but not as green!

I adore Wales, it has everything. I'm planning to retire and live inland in Powys somewhere.

I agree that health care is apparently poor (although I have an excellent GP but the hospital covers an enormous area). And public transport is rubbish on the whole so most young people are learning to drive at 17 which isn’t great if this isn’t affordable.

Oh yeah and as a PP has said, hospitals are few and far between in the North and do not have very good reputations.

Welsh language wise: neither my partner (Welsh) or I are Welsh speaking and we both work for public services, it is not an issue. The children learn Welsh as a second language for school. My son is not happy it is a GCSE requirement and I would also prefer it was not compulsory after Y9 but it is. I love hearing the language spoken.

Judging by this you do not live very North. The Welsh Language Act brought about mandatory Welsh medium schools. It has been reported several times in the media that schools have taken it so seriously they punish children caught speaking English.

Anyone from Pembrokeshire? It looks really lovely there.

Also very curious about the fact you work in public services. It was my understanding that even the police officers who are recruited must speak Welsh now.

I live in the Brecon Beacons. The scenery really is beautiful. My town is pretty and safe for the kids, has a good community feel and decent schools. I think lots of people here have money and so I think that would be the same in an equivalent English town.
There are some towns here which are really on the bones of their arse in terms of poverty - a lot of our towns are very run down looking and badly resourced in terms of normal high street shops, tons of B&M and Greggs but not much else. Lots of business closures. This might be comparable to English town centres esp post covid. It's hard to get anywhere on public transport once you are out of the cities and satellite areas. It takes a while to drive to a beach or even to a cinema!

We do have free prescriptions, which is great, but hospitals are far apart geographically and have dire A&E services at present. I'm often very scared about what would happen if I needed emergency help at hospital, after being in A&E last year and watching people lying on floors and waiting 12+ hours.

DS lives in Cardiff. He often bumps into people from our home town while out and about, so it feels like a small city and still a community in some ways. But there are lots of druggies down and outs and is run down and manky in parts.

I do love the beauty of the countryside and beaches and the more chilled pace of life though.

My (English first language) children attend a school where they are encouraged to only speak Welsh, even on the playground with their English language friends. They are reminded to speak Welsh at every opportunity. I'm okay with it, although I know lots aren't.

The language is fiercely defended in my corner of Wales. It is under constant threat and is important, I get that

I like in rural wales and love it. Close to the sea, surrounded by hills. Rural living is not for everyone, we have poor public transport, my nearest shop is 20 minutes away. Health care is ok but like anywhere at the moment hospital care is not great and services at being sent further away. So it can be 1.5 hours to get to an hospital appointment. If you have dc you do lots of driving but they do loads of sport based on the sea and have a good school which is small. We have lots going on in our communities and loads to do. Work wise it is often seasonal and low paid but covid meant that homeworking became so much easier and i now work for an organisation based in England and can earn a good wage. The dc have thrived here but i do sometimes miss life, a trip to Cardiff every so often is great!

My morning run view today on the Gower, bliss

That's definitely not true. I think most public sector job adverts have Welsh speaker 'desirable' as they need a certain number to offer a service in Welsh, but have never seen it as essential unless it's in a very Welsh speaking part of the country or in a Welsh medium school or something.

Also Welsh medium schools are also not compulsory to go to! Although in some areas there may be not many English medium. I can't speak for whether they get punished for speaking English in a Welsh medium school. I think that's terrible if so. My kids go to English medium. They do have to take Welsh to GCSE. I also know they were looking at trying to get everyone taking 1st language Welsh GCSE not second language, which I am very much against, but it hasn't come in yet and I suspect it's not realistic.

I adore Wales, it has everything. I'm planning to retire and live inland in Powys somewhere.

There was a very interesting thread on MN with someone wanting to do this exact situation, it's worth trying to find, Powys is a popular place to retire to but my goodness it is not a good place to be as you age!!

How strange. The North Wales Police website current vacancies insist on an ability to speak Welsh. Maybe it's best you email them to tell them they have printed the advertisements incorrectly? Would you like me to get their email address for you?

Also, school is by catchment area. Hence why I said you must not be very North. I thought this was common knowledge but apparently not. You can't live in Llangefni and attend a school on the border of Chester.

@Autumndays123 you're being very confrontational! If all areas of Wales required fluent Welsh in all public services they wouldn't be able to staff themselves.

I'd personally be pretty worried the biggest priority is speaking Welsh and the quality of staff, in my corner of Wales Welsh simply isn't spoken.

I never said in all areas of Wales all public service jobs must speak fluent Welsh. Please do not engage with me if you're only interested in twisting my words to suit your narrative.

Like you say, it's a big place!
It's generally much more socially minded than England. We obviously have a Labour government and, whilst I don't agree with a lot of what Mark Drakeford does, I believe he's a man of conviction with a strong moral compass.
People are so friendly - in every part of Wales that I've visited. Even if they're slagging you off behind your back for being an incomer responsible for raising house prices, to your face, there's nothing but warmth!
People are, generally, much more family minded too.
The landscape in much of Wales is mind-blowingly beautiful 😍 But there's also a hell of a lot of social deprivation. There is, for instance, much more domestic violence here, and communities where noone has worked for 2 generations.
I'm in a market town in a beautiful county which is seen as a bit upmarket, and we're - rightly or wrongly - insulated from most of the negatives. There also isn't so much tension here about house prices, unlike the coastal areas. Also remember that in parts of Wales the first language is Welsh.
For me though, I absolutely LOVE living here - it's a dream come true.

@Autumndays123 chill out it's a thread on life in Wales on MN chat, not a flipping Oxbridge debate! "Please do not engage me" seriously 🙄

I’m from Bristol but bought a house in Merthyr Tydfil a year ago. You couldn’t pay me to move back, I love being here. A few years ago I drove along a street up here and thought to myself I’d love to live on this street. Fast forward and I have a partner from Merthyr and we bought a house on that very road. Yes Merthyr isn’t the prettiest and is a bit grim in areas, but it’s not all like that. I wake up to views of green hills. I’m ten minutes from the Brecon Beacons. I can be in Cardiff in half an hour. I don’t spend my life sat in traffic like I did in Bristol now either.

My friends and family all questioned at first why I’d want to live here, until I showed them the house I’d bought. The same 5 bed Edwardian house in Bristol would’ve cost upward of £650k. Here it was £290k. It’s crazy how cheap property is in these areas.

Im never leaving. I love Wales.

North wales is stunning! But scratch just a fraction beneath the veneer and it’s a Mecca for drugs and very minimal opportunities.

@SquashPenguin merthyr Tydfil is one of if not the poorest and most socially deprived area of the uk with the most unemployed and the highest amount of benefit claimants. Why on earth would you choose there?