Live in Devon or South Wales

[Hocuspocusandfairies]

Where would you Live between these two locations? I have 3 primary aged children and currently live in a city but have wanted to leave for so long and time seems right for us now.

Sorry I can't be more specific with particular areas but we'd choose exact location depending on work which I think is pretty transferable.

I see that South Wales we would get more house for our money but my heart is set on Devon.

Has anybody else moved from a city to these areas? Are you glad or do you regret it?

I don't have experience living in Devon but my parents moved there about 6 years ago from just outside of London with my brother who was at senior school the time and they just love it, including my brother, since then my both my sisters and husbands have moved there and all just love it. I do enjoy it to visit and can see how it would be great for kids, my two love being able to so easily go to the beach and there's a lot of lovely things are for them to do, it is also very beautiful

i live in devon but i hate it so moving in a month. I also hate Wales though as used to live there too

We moved from a seaside town in Devon to South Wales as it was so unbearably busy there, crowded roads, takes ages to get anywhere. That was over 10 years ago. The children have had a fantastic childhood in Wales.

I live in Swansea, I love it, it's my home and you get more for your money.

Devon would definitely be seen as the nicer place to live.

Also here in Wales you need to consider it's not England 😂 sounds weird, but we have our own government often with different laws and rules and we have the Welsh Language which your children would be required to learn by law and jobs often require that as essential, even in areas where the welsh speakers are low.

So don't have payment on the bridge anymore though so that's great. From Swansea it's about 1.5 hours to Bristol without traffic.

Wales.

Wales for me too. It's less busy, culture isn't too far away(Cardiff is a fabulous small city) and the scenery is breathtaking. Mountains, beaches and wildlife.Learning a little Welsh is hardly that difficult and wouldn't put me off.

I need to research both areas I think. It's really good to hear everyone's point of view and really helpful

I love both Devon and South Wales, both are very beautiful. But 100% Devon

I'd go for Wales, there are some lovely beach towns within easy reach of Cardiff.We live near Bristol and there's loads more stuff on in Cardiff than here.

Wales.

We will be moving back once the kids have finished A Levels. I just love it - the scenery, people, everything. I am Welsh, though, so biased .

People have mentioned the language - it's not a problem, it is an opportunity to learn. Your children will be required to learn it from Key stage 2 until Key stage 4 (GCSE). Some schools (around 1/4) teach nearly all subjects in Welsh. I'm not saying this as a warning, but I am always surprised at how few newcomers grasp this! I speak Welsh, and being brought up not solely in English certainly makes it easier to learn another language. My father spoke Welsh as a first language, then Spanish (as they fostered refugees when he was a child) then English - required when he went to Grammar school. He went on to learn French, German and Dutch (not sure what he would make of Brexit!)

I have spent a lot of time in Devon, and it's really beautiful, but it did feel a lot more "touristy".

Definitely Devon. You’d have to be West if Swansea for decent beaches in S Wales abs then you are a long way from anywhere. DH is from West Wales (Pembrokeshire). It takes so long to get there and there is little to do in bad weather and job situation is terrible.

I grew up in south Devon and DH grew up in north Devon so I have experience of both.
We have lived in Monmouthshire (south east wales) for over 15 years now.

Devon is lovely, I love Dartmoor lots of beaches, etc but crazy busy in summer and everything shuts down in winter. Nothing ever comes to Devon (concerts, shows etc and used to be that decent shops stopped at Exeter so anywhere else in Devon wasn’t good for trendy shops) I remember them queueing round the block when KFC came to Barnstaple a few years ago!!! Decent jobs are harder to come by. Getting anywhere up country takes a lot longer!
Where we are in South Wales is lovely countryside, easy access to the wye valley mad the Brecon Beacons aren’t too far. Cardiff and Bristol are both easy to get to for shops/concerts/nights out/cinema/museums etc. Beaches are a bit further but still very doable for a day trip. Both Cardiff and Bristol have a huge selection of jobs. London is only a couple of hours away.

I think growing up on Devon is lovely for young kids but now mine are approaching teenage years I’m glad we can access a wider selection of things for them while still doing hikes, swimming in the river etc. Also when they grow up they are more likely to settle around here due to jobs rather than moving away from Devon the minute they can like most people I know so I’m more likely to be able to live close to my grandkids!!!

To put learning Welsh as a second language to GCSE in context, I got an A by basically writing sentences as complicated as 'I love playing football with my friends because it's great', 'I think we should recycle because it's good for the environment' 'It is very windy by the sea' etc. It wasn't particularly taxing!

What sort of budget are you looking at? The beauty of south Wales is that you can be really close to Cardiff and equally as close to the mountains and the sea. I don't think I could ever leave Wales!

Both are lovely but to my mind the advantages of S Wales would be

• majority of it (until you get to Carmarthen) is closer to major transport links both road and rail. While the M4 can get busy at peak times It always seems to take me FOREVER to get anywhere on Devon A roads. Newport is about 90 minutes by train from London now, less than 40 to Bristol.
• Most of S Wales (again depending on where exactly) much more multicultural than nearly all of Devon
• There aren't really any major cities anywhere in or close to Devon which has a knock on impact on cultural stuff. While Cardiff is a fairly small city, due to being a capital it punches above its weight in terms of music/events/comedy gigs/theatre/nightlife/shops etc. Friends I met in uni from Devon said they chose Cardiff because they were used to going there for gigs growing up as it was the closest place bands used to play!

Disadvantages would be the welsh language prevalence - it's perfectly possible to survive without speaking a word but your kids would have to study it in school until they were 16 and depending on the sector you work in it would usually be at least a desirable criteria for job apps.

South Wales

We moved from a city not far away from London to the South West in January and it was the best decision we made. We knew our pace of life would slow down, we must didnt envisage it slowing down as much as it had to with the arrival of lockdown! For me, the beauty of choosing Devon over South Wales is that you'd be close to so many other counties, moorland, different coastlines - all on your doorstep.

@HelplessProcrastinator

Definitely Devon. You’d have to be West if Swansea for decent beaches in S Wales abs then you are a long way from anywhere. DH is from West Wales (Pembrokeshire). It takes so long to get there and there is little to do in bad weather and job situation is terrible.

Would have to disagree with this. Loads of the beaches listed here www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186456-Activities-c61-t52-South_Wales_Wales.html are in or to the east of Swansea, and those are just the 'naice' quieter beaches, not including the touristy ones like Trecco Bay or Barry Island!

Also not sure about Jellytot's rationale re: more variety of scenery - if you lived in say Glynneath you would be equidistant (i.e. less than 13 miles in either direction) between the highest peak in Britain south of Snowdonia (Pen y fan) and the coast - that's pretty varied to me! Not that if I had the choice of all of South Wales or Devon I would necessarily choose Glynneath, but just as an example!

I moved from London to South Wales and love it. Our neighbours are friendly, we are close to the beach and the woods, a short distance from waterfalls and caves, the school has been good and we adore our house and land. We’re not far from devon/Cornwall for holidays and pretty easy reach of seal watching coastline. DC grow up with a second language, which can be useful to aid learning languages later (at Welsh medium school - lots of parents don’t speak Welsh, don’t worry). Everything feels so open after London’s fall, close buildings (and I adore london, but it’s a free feeling here, the sky feels wider). We get beautiful light across the hills and watch a storm blowing in from the sea or sometimes see it snow on the next hill along while we’re in sunlight. The stars are so bright compared to the orange skies of London, which my son adores and we get lots of wildlife. I hope we’ll be here forever now.

One thing I’d say is driving is important and there aren’t heaps of certain jobs. Lots of people do gardening, chimney sweeping, woodwork etc. There are loads of medical jobs and dentist roles that people don’t move to take up and so on, but certain industries aren’t really here. Also the NHS systems a bit old school. Lots and lots of form filling just to get a basic blood result printed out and whatnot. However, you CAN get gp appointments, unlike in My old surgery in London where you had to turn up at doors open and queue to book as the phones would block up and by the time the line cleared everything was gone. We also had paramedics out a while ago (husband got Bell’s palsy and they had to check for stroke as BP was v high) and they were very quick to arrive, reassuring and helpful.

We had such a warm summer here this year that olives grew in our olive tree! And they said it would never fruit! So, although there is lots of rain at times, there was lots and lots of hot weather over summer. It’s been very cheap to live here so far compared, even a (pre covid) drink (g&t) down the pub cost about £2.50 compared to £7.50 in our old pub. Classes are smaller too, which is nice and it’s one form entry in our village primary. I definitely reccomend it! Having said that, I used to holiday in Devon every year and it’s nice there too.

Tall not fall*

thevassal All the nicer beaches on that link are on The Gower aren’t they? If there are decent swimming beaches further East I stand corrected but never known anyone to do a beach holiday on that coast.

South Wales.

I love Devon but people I know who live/lived there feel it’s great when the DC are younger but the lack of opportunities are an issue for them as they get older (as well as things like gigs and concerts).

I think it sounds idyllic in theory but in reality I think I’d find it too much of a shift from city living.

Devon. For the most part because with 3 primary aged children if you move to S Wales they will have to learn Welsh in both primary and secondary school, up to GCSE level.

Also, you’ll find you start to pick up welsh with your kids. Seeing as you read to them in welsh and they read to you (beginner books don’t panic), you can kind of grow in the language together when you start from scratch which is great. It’s not too hard to learn the sounds/letters. I think it also depends where you live as we looked at a few houses over here and in some areas there was much less welsh speaking between the locals than others.

Another Pembrokeshire lover here (hence the username). We moved here from the South 4 1/2 years ago, and absolutely LOVE it! We used to always go to Devon on holidays when we lived down there, and faced the same decision as you when we decided it was time for a complete change of lifestyle. We plumped for Pembrokeshire, because in our opinion, the scenery etc, is even better than in Devon, and property is much more affordable. We have no regrets at all.

Devon. The weather in Wales is shite.