Payscales are all available online so you can make your own judgment. And, in terms of atmosphere, I think a lot varies from school to school so I would recommend volunteering in a few to get a sense of how you'd see yourself fitting into different settings.
As to workload, I can only speak for myself. Currently with the benefit of experience and stability in school, my workload is manageable but you're still looking 55 hours a week minimum (down from 80+ when I first started) which is about average for primary teachers as I understand it.
It's an exhausting job even at these hours though as you need to be constantly "performing" as well as doing a huge amount of work and you'll constantly have things to be doing. It's basically impossible to do everything perfectly and maintain sanity but if you're smart and organised you can eventually learn to do most things decently and still get a work-life balance. The holidays are great but you will do a good amount of work in them and you will probably spend the first week in a stupor.
Is it stressful? Yes but it depends what kind of thing affects you. There can be the social work side of things, dealing with all sorts of terrible things, which can be upsetting and difficult (and even in the leafiest of schools, you'll get these children). Then there's the accountability side of needing to get and demonstrate good "data". Expect constant scrutiny - of books, of lessons etc. - which can be pretty miserable even if you feel confident about what you're doing. And you'll never hear from the lovely parents who are helpful and kind but you can expect regular run-ins with "those" one or two. Then there's the behaviour management which with a tricky class can be really hard-going especially as you're stuck with them for the year (or more in a small school), or just the stress of trying to cover the entire curriculum (good luck!). And then there's the constant drudgery of marking, entering data, filling out health and safety checklists, etc.
You need to take care of yourself as well as it's very easy to take everything personally. It's not like a desk job, and I've had a few, where The Work is its own discrete thing. How you teach is hugely informed by your personality, relies so much on those personal relationships and is so demanding of your time and emotional energy. You need to have or develop a bit of a tough skin and resilience but it's not a set of problems to be solved at a desk or at a factory. It's easy to feel quite exposed and isolated. For the majority of your day you will only have other children to talk to - maybe a teaching assistant. You will never see the complete hash they're making of the same topic two classes down but you will feel the dread in your stomach of your beautifully-conceived relative clause with ice cubes lesson is falling apart before your eyes just as the head and parent governor walk in. It can be easy to think that Everyone Else is marvellous and it's Just You who is making a pig's ear of it because each teacher is, largely, in a self-contained bubble. If you let it get to you, it can be hugely stressful.
It's called a vocation and I think this is largely right. The difficulties are so great that you really need to love it. And there are many reasons to love it. Working with children is terrific fun and seeing them move forward can be really fulfilling. You do get, within certain stipulations, to shape your working environment and control your day and be creative. The curriculum, especially towards the end of KS2, is incredibly broad so you'll need a real breadth of knowledge which keeps you on your toes. It's a constant challenge and every year is different so it's never predictable. It's the most rewarding and joyful job I've ever had by far and although I often think about doing other things with better pay or kinder hours, other jobs just seem so dull by comparison.