Hello - and help please!!

[Amandella]

Hi all
We are moving from London to Cardiff later this year and I'm petrified and just need to tell someone and hopefully get some common sense back!
We've lived in London for over 20 years and have family in West Wales - have decided it's time to get out of the smoke and we love Cardiff (having visited a fair bit) - so have decided to make the move! Have two dd aged 3 and 9 and they are very excited (ditto dh) but I'm PETRIFIED!! I am so worried about stupid things... like how I'm going to ever make any new friends, how my poor dd's (especially the 3 year old who won't be going straight to school) is going to have a birthday party (January 08!!) - as she won't have any friends...how I'm going to entertain the kids (we have hundreds of activities/clubs that the kids do here to keep them occupied). As you can see, I'm totally paranoid and usually i'm not like this but it's such a huge life-changing experience! I think it's the loneliness for all of us that I am most worried about.

Sorry- I know I'm rambling on but I'm desperate for some reassurance or advice and I wasn't sure where to turn. We have sorted out school place for dd (aged 9) but are househunting right now and again, since I don't know areas, I'm worried we'll end up somewhere we don't like and will all be miserable!! Aaaahhhh. Help!!!

Sorry again....thanks for reading this.
Amanda

Hi Amandella,
I think it is perfectly natural to feel like this as it is such a big upheavel and not what your are used to.
Firstly what parts of Cardiff are you looking at and what school is your daughter going to?I have always lived in Cardiff so may be able to offer you some advice on this.
There is lots to do in Cardiff ( as you probably know) and when the weather is nice the you are only upto an hours drive from many beaches.There are also lots of community farms in the countryside.I would suggest going to a local parent and toddler group where you can meet friends,or when your 3 yr old starts school learning a new skill in one of the many adult learner centres.Is your daughter down for a state nursery place?Many nurseries do take them shortly after their 3rd birthday.
I post on a forum babycentre/welsh parents and we meet up regularly so maybe you could join that and that could be another way to meet people.
Good luck and keep me posted!!

Hi there
Try not to worry. Get to some local mother & toddler groups, church ones are fab and really friendly (no you don't have to be a church go-er). Where is your kiddies school & what areas are you looking to move to?
I'm a childminder locally and go to lots of groups.
I remember after my son was born the daunting feeling of being thrust into the unknown, I felt I had lost lots of contacts through not working, I know moving is different totally but I can empathise.
I have a son who is 3, he is off to nursery come September, is your 3 year ols going too?
If you fancy a chat email me frankie3 at orange dot net. I'm 35 weeks preg at the minute and will no doubt be glad of a chat with an adult soon!
Take care
Frankie

Thanks to you both for your lovely replies! My dd (9) is going to Howells in Llandaff - and my 3 year old will no doubt do the same. We are desperately looking for suitable areas to live - we've spent weekends driving aimlessly around Cardiff with me looking for houses with gardens that have kids toys in them! I'm desperate to be
a) not too far from the school and b) in a family area..but it's so difficult to tell what an area is like until you actually live in it! Any thoughts/advice would be really appreciated. We like Llandaff and have been to Radyr and Morganstown (lovely but I was worried about the commute into town). Also been told that Rhiwbina and Lisvane/Llanishen are nice but haven't had a chance to get there yet. I'm so worried we'll end up in an area where we know no-one and there are no kids around. We live in a cul-de-sac at the moment where every other house has children and we are all in and out of one anothers houses.
Sorry, I'm rambling again! By the way (frankieb)- I'm an antenatal teacher!
Thanks again both of you for your support.
Amanda

Hi Amanda,
TBH the areas that you have mentioned are quite affluent so I wouldn't be concerned about the areas not being nice.Lladndaff is probably the closest to the centre of town and they have parks with cycle route to take you there if you wish.You also have a riding stables nearby in pontcanna and the welsh institute of sports near too.
The other areas you mentioned are further out and TBH traffic coming from that direction to Llandaff can be quite hectic in the mornings so the daily schoolrun could prove a bit manic.
Pontcanna is also a nice area and not that far from Howells school,you could walk it.The streets oppsite pontcanna fields look family orientated from what I gather.Maybe you could contact the school secretary and ask her for some advice on where alot of the children live,though with it being a private school you will have a lot of boarders and children travelling from all over the city.
I hope this helps and good luck.If I can help with anything else please feel free to ask.
Vicky
ps if you haven't guessed already, I'm a Doula

Hi
All those areas are nice, Llandaff is lovely as are Radyr & Morganstown.
Good luck in your search, hope all goes well.
Take care
Frankie

Hi Amandella,

I'm also relocating to Cardiff from London this summer. I grew up in Penarth (just south of Cardiff), so in some ways not as scary as I'm moving back to be close to family. However I have a lot of the same worries about finding new friends. I'm sure we'll be fine! Cardiff is a great city!

I hope you're getting on OK with the househunting - we found it grim enough and we knew exactly where we wanted to be!

Llandaff and Pontcanna are really nice - so close to town but not too 'urban' a feel. Expensive, but if you're selling a LOndon house that's probably not a problem. (We're buying a 3 bed house for what we're selling our 2bed ex-Council flat for - it's crazy!)

If you haven't looked at Penarth I do recommend it. It's a really nice little seaside town and only 10m out of Cardiff on the train. The state schools are also excellent if you're not already committed to Howell's.

Was gonna add though your areas are lovely they feed into ghastly secondary state schools - if you are going to stick with private then no prob - but friends of mine relocated from Pontcanna to Penarth as the state secondary schools in Penarth (where I am)are excellent...