Are there any nice towns near Carmarthan, Wales?

[Hotbrownie2021]

My husband has a job opportunity in Carmarthan, Wales. It would mean moving from Stourbridge, a town on the outskirts of Birmingham. We’re country people at heart, from Hampshire and Worcestershire. We love the idea of being in the countryside, but we also want to have a nice, good sized town not too far away. We have 2 kids, aged 2 and 5, so it would be a big family move, school change etc etc. We’re just coming out of the really tough early years, so we want to also be able to socialise, go for some meals, mooch round the shops…

I’m also concerned about my job prospects… as a psychotherapist, I have a lovely private practice here but looking at the prices being charged locally they’re a lot less, and if I switched to working in the NHS, the problem is Wales’ mental health services are much less developed than in England so there aren’t as many job opportunities.

We had a visit to Carmarthan and I don’t want to slate it for anyone who loves it, but we weren’t into it. We also checked out Narbeth, which was gorgeous but small. Tenby was heaving with tourists. I’ve heard not great things about Swansea. So now I’m worried. Wales is gorgeous, the people are friendly, so surely I’m wrong to worry that all of west Wales isn’t right for us?!

AIBU to worry that it’s all too remote, that there aren’t any towns that are a compromise between tiny village and big city? Is there anywhere with the kind of demographic that would pay for private therapy? Is there anywhere within a reasonable driving commute of Carmarthan that would be a nice place to live? Thanks!

Really sorry, just realised I’ve put an A in there instead of Carmarthen. I’m a bit crap at spelling!

How about Lampeter?
You’re right about MH services being less developed, but definitely crying out for therapists. So much need for mental health support in rural and framing communities. I don’t know if people would pay a LOT, but I think if you charge an affordable amount you will have clients.

Farming - not framing!

Swansea is fine.

Also if you lived somewhere pretty like New Quay, DH could commute to Carmarthen, while you could head north to Aberystwyth? There’s a hospital and a university, possibly more job opportunities there

Llandeilo is lovely but small.

Do you have kids in school? What do you like in a place to live? Where do you live now?

I’m from Llanelli and lived in Carmarthen as a child for a few years. If I were to move back I’d live somewhere in the Gower but that’s a fair schlep to Carmarthen.

Have you travelled around Pembrokeshire, you might find somewhere there you like? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to think where may suit you.

Are you planning state or private schools? If state then really you need to pivot the conversation to where the good schools are as there are some shocking ones in that area.

Sorry, i didn’t read your first paragraph which answers all of those!

The roads are slow in west Wales; factor in that a 30 mile drive can easily take an hour.
Llandeilo is a pretty, trendy town near Carmarthen. Otherwise Swansea is the biggest town for miles; yes parts of it are ugly but did you look at the pretty and very affluent seaside village / suburb of Mumbles?

I live 30 miles from Carmarthen......its our biggest closest town. I haven't been much in the last 18months for obvious reasons.
But when I went last week it seemed really run down. Lots of shop closures. Sad really. Whats you're thoughts on Cardiff???

It might be a bit far, but since you mentioned Swansea, have you considered The Mumbles? Lovely seaside town with nice independent shops and restaurants, and a bit more going on than Narbeth I think

I was going to mention schools too, I’m guessing you’d want English medium, this is a big factor for considering areas around Carmarthen as there are lots of Welsh medium schools.

Llandeilo? It has the demographic to pay for therapy! Not a huge town but the area to the north towards Llandovery and the beacons is some of the best countryside in the country.

If you look at pontabraham (junction 49 of the m4) as a central point and start exploring from there. The commute to Carmarthen from there is 30 minutes on an average day and you’re less than an hour from Cardiff and at the start of the m4. I work in Carmarthen and a lot of people commute from Swansea and the outskirts.

Going east might help with your search for a demographic as well.

Go west of Carmarthen or down to Pembrokeshire and it’s a good hour before you get to a major town. Also, if you travel abroad frequently it’s a trek to a major airport.

I agree with @EnsignKim about the area in general crying out for therapists.

Oh yes schools.......my boys are taught in welsh.

I like Newcastle Emlyn more than Lampeter having lived really between the two. Swansea is generally better than it was in its 'Twin Towns' era!

@LlamaLasagne
I came on to say Newcastle Emlyn. You must have lived near my mum as she lives between there and Lampeter.

Burry port/pembrey is beautiful! X

If his job is in Camarthen look nearer Swansea to live
Cross hands, Pontardulaus, Ammanford
There's nothing wrong with Swansea though and the town in Camarthen is much better than it was. Lots of nice shops.
Cardiff is only an hour and half away if you need a big city for anything.
There are loads of lovely places in West Wales

The problem with Aberystwyth for instance is that half of the Midlands ends up there at some point over the summer and it’s turned into a bit of a pit post COVID - lots of shops closed, a more definite anti-English air about it (the town council spent lockdown posting reg plates of “not local” cars) and for 9 months of the year is very definitely a student town.

New Quay is pretty but tiny and heaves with tourists in the summer.

Aberaeron the same.

Honestly though, and I love Wales, I wouldn’t move to Carmarthen or surroundings, lovely to visit but pretty isolated - Carmarthen’s got the “big” mid wales hospital - some of the services from Aberystwyth are led from there, I went to Uni at Aber and if anyone got properly sick they ended up at Carmarthen so if your job prospects aren’t good in Carmarthen they aren’t going to be any better further up the coast (really really sick got you either to Swansea or Birmingham)

The kids are a good age though - the curriculum is different in wales so at least at 2 and 5 they’d be in there at the beginning rather than have gaps - would you be choosing welsh language education? Are you going to learn welsh? Carmarthen’s quite Welsh (I mean it’s in Wales obviously but it’s welsh in a way that say Cardiff isn’t) given the proportion of welsh first language speakers.

It would have to be a really really good job to move Birmingham outskirts to mid wales.

Not sure why this is in AIBU

But have you been to Llandeilo?

I'm from Llanelli and that is lovely
You could always commute from the Vale of Glamorgan Alternatively. Cowbridge Is lovely

I was looking at jobs in the West Wales area just before Covid and forgot about it because there was no English-language school outside of Lampeter. Lampeter is a Uni town. Wales really is turning into a foreign country these days: the West Wales area is very nationalist and can be anti-English. You don't always know who will turn out to be anti-English until it happens and has effects either. I have wondered how much of Wales' lower education standards are due to the insistence on Welsh-medium learning too. Personally I would say Swansea is too far for a daily commute, and stick to looking for jobs in Cardiff if you want to be in Wales nowadays. I used to love the land of song.

Echo the people that have said Llandeilo. Decent schools and quite affluent for west wales. Not far from Swansea and a decent enough commute to Carmarthen. My family still live in Ammanford so visit often and I went to school in llandeilo.

I’m from north Wales and south west Wales is beautiful.
However the Welsh language could turn out to be a sticking point. I imagine it’s much easier to find an nhs job if you speak Welsh (though def not impossible if you don’t) and if you want an English medium education for your kids the further west you go the less choices you will have.

@EnsignKim

Also if you lived somewhere pretty like New Quay, DH could commute to Carmarthen, while you could head north to Aberystwyth? There’s a hospital and a university, possibly more job opportunities there

I came here to suggest New Quay.