Wales or Wolves

[Babealicious38]

My husband is currently living and working in Wolverhampton. He works in a great department although has had great difficulty in selling in West Midlands. He applied for a job and has an interview for a post in Uni of South Wales. Since we have looked at Pontyprid, we have read that it is very run down and also not a great area.
We are all moving to wherever my husband is in May. If anyone is familiar with these two areas, I could really be doing with some advice.
Xx

im not sure that either of those count as overseas :)

Well they are both overseas. We live in ireland and he comutes atm. Typical unhelpful mumsnet response

I was confused too OP- your post doesn't say where you are now.

Actually Pontypridd isn't too bad. There's a very beautiful park there which is wonderful in the summer and has a brand new Lido which I can recommend. It's within short train distance of Cardiff, which is really buzzing and a wonderful city to visit. Why not rent in Pontypridd and if it doesn't suit you, move to Cardiff, which is a very short train commute (30 mins)

I've never been to Wolverhampton but I've never heard any glowing reports about it.

People will no doubt slag off Wolverhampton but it's fine, there are some really nice areas and some lovely villages very nearby. The main shopping centre in the city is nearing completion of a massive refurbishment plus there's a frequent train service into Birmingham (trains leave every 5 minutes or so and take around 15 minutes). There's also a lot of really lovely countryside which people don't expect of the Midlands, it's not all concrete and motorways here.

Wolverhampton has some run down areas but there's some lovely areas too nearby. It really does depend what you're after.

There's grammar and independent schools in and around wolverhampton which are rated highly. I don't know about the high schools try house hunting on right move, look for the local schools and read through the data/ofsted reports.

It's had a lot of investment recently and is expected to improve greatly over the next few years.

I don't know Wales so can't comment.

University of South Wales has several different campuses, is it def in Pontypridd that the job is? You wouldn't have to live there anyway, there are loads of lovely places within commuting distance

Oh not so much Pontypridd but there are some lovely areas in a good commute around. Llantrisant, Bridgend, Pencoed, Vale of Glamorgan, Taffs Well, Radyr, parts of Caerphilly, then up towards Nelson and Ystrad Mynach. I could go on...good road links (well A470 has its moments) some very good schools, lots of lovely countryside, affordable housing. I'm biased, I'm Welsh but if I can help in any way let me know? I probably wouldn't live in Ponty itself though, but that's just me.