to be freaking out about moving from London to Wales?

[AutoFillUsername]

Long story short: lived in London for twenty years, married a Londoner, have Londerner kids, love London, have great London friends. Now DH has been offered a job in Cardiff and its a great job. So we have to move. But Gosh I’m scared.

I know nothing of Wales. I went to Cardiff once with work and I didn’t love it. I’m thinking if we have to move maybe we should go the whole hog and live in the countryside but I can’t even work out what is commutable to Cardiff.

Are we going to hate it? Is it ever right to leave a place you love just for career reasons?

And if you are Welsh where would you live that is commutable to Cardiff and lovely and friendly and beautiful? We will also need good schools, maybe private but I’m open minded to state as well.

I’m shamefully placemarking as we could be away to be in a not too dissimilar scenario

Hi All, thanks for asking how it went. We spent 24 hours down there and saw some nice houses and talked to some potential new colleagues of DH. I won’t pretend I immediately fell in love with the city but I didn’t dislike it either.

It was hard to imagine living there. We stopped in Chepstow on the way back and although that’s obviously even less like London I could imagine living there more easily.

We are going to stay in Bristol with friends this weekend to look at that as an option as well. All balls still in the air. DH will almost certainly take the job and the kids and I will almost certainly stay here for the first few months so we can ensure we make the right decision about where to live. He wants to leave his current job anyway and could always get another back here if we decide the move is too much.

Chepstow is not as nice as it looks. There’s a nearby barracks and it can be quite rough in the nights. I would much prefer a nice bit of Cardiff.

I've visited Cardiff a few times and thought it certainly had its points (culture and scenery, friendly) although the infrastructure seemed creaky (lots of traffic jams, not much public transport). I don't know how resilient the local economy would be to BREXIT.

I think it would be a good idea to take the decision slowly (as you are doing) and retain your London house. Moving is exhausting and involves so much admin - I certainly wouldn't be rushing to do it if I'd just been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. For one thing I'd want to be absolutely sure that I could access the same standard of medical care or better, where I moved to and that's hard to establish when you're not on the spot.

The budget figures you have mentioned do suggest to me that you could "downsize" within London/the south east quite easily if you were to look without prejudice at non-trendy places with good overground services.

Personally would stay in London dh take the job and try to negotiate at least one day working from home. Give up your stressful job for something less tough. It’s very subjective but I would be very very wary about moving secondary aged kids from where they are happy especially away from London. To a London born teen anywhere else is going to seem abit crap and the national museum of wales etc isn’t going to change that.

Lots of London expats in Bristol but am wondering whether a move further out but still within the limits of London would be a compromise? I don’t know where you are now but a move to your Zone 6 equivalent to lower your overheads?

www.facebook.com/northwalesnostalgia/photos/a.1656262727927969/2366001153620786/?type=3
I moved from Glasgow ,to N Wales 24 yrs ago. I was adamant my children would go to an English speaking school as I thought Welsh was a dead language
How wrong I was....from nursery my dcs were taught Welsh and soaked it up , along with the Welsh culture. We've full embraced life here and the dcs took part in the Urdd ( Welsh Youth movement, which promotes Welsh language and heritage)
I've been welcomed by the locals and thoroughly enjoy living in such a beautiful part of the country, with fresh air and fantastic scenery
Ok so some things do frustrate me , like lack of shopping , restaurants and takeaway don't deliver...but it's a small price for feeling safe and knowing my dcs have access to the mountains and sea
Cardiff is a small city but it's still a Capital and attracts concerts and exhibitions and many lovely places to visit...my dcs are at Uni now in various large cities but look forward to returning home...'hiraeth'

Have you thought of Abergavenny? 40 mins on train to cardiff and an hours drive. Beautiful countryside, lots to do and see and is a really foodie area too. Crickhowell also lovely.

Abergavenny's a lovely town, and they have a massive food festival every September with loads of great food producers.

Trains are shocking though - loads of cancellations these days so I wouldn't want to rely on them for getting to work on time.
Also, don't think Aber is as lovely as it used to be - lots of shop closures. Seems to be mostly charity and coffee shops these days, like a lot of small towns.

I love Abergavenny it has a Waitrose and an Aldi.

Monmouth is nice too - has a couple of decent state primary schools and private primary and secondary schools if you want them. Only major problem is lack of a train station.

Aber can be pretty rough.

What's Aberystwyth like?

Avoid neath too

If you're worried about teens being able to get out independently, look at Pontcanna (easy walk to the city centre) or somewhere like Whitchurch (shops etc locally and good transport to town). Avoid Llantwit Major, Cowbridge, Old St Mellon's etc as the need for cars and driving are much greater.

Hello @AutoFillUsername
I realise this is an old thread, but I'd love to know what you decided, as we are also contemplating a move from London to Cardiff or Penarth so that we can stop working ourselves to the bone. But like you, we also get a huge amount from living in London, doing something new almost every weekend - so I fear we would really miss the variety. I'd be really interested to hear any conclusions you've reached since you last posted! Thanks!

Totally agree with Lizzie. Moving to Cardiff from London was the worst mistake of my life and found the place very small minded and unwelcoming. Can't wait to get out.

On a similar thread we are seriously considering moving from Surrey to South Wales, Swansea area. Primarily for a change in lifestyle and to be more rural with access to the beaches and mountains. I can work remotely 90% and happy to travel back as needed, and OH looking at starting small business once settled. The key concern for me is how accepted we will be, and more importantly our children, ages 7 and 10. It would be a big upheaval for them, moving from friends and grandparents. I'm sure, as in this thread there will be different extreme experiences and a lot of that can depend on the individuals, but is there a consensus of ill-feeling towards people moving from England into Wales, speaking no welsh.
How easy will it be to make new social groups and friends. The worst case would be after a year the kids hate it and can't settle at school.