Wales

[Billysmumma]

We are looking at buying a property in Wales and have looked at Abergavenny which we love but I’ve seen a couple in Porth and Caerphilly are these nice friendly places to live as we’ve been told to avoid certain areas (Ebbw Vale for one) I know everyone’s opinion is different but any advice would be great

I lived in Caerphilly for a few years and loved it. It's not a very 'wealthy' area, but it has one Of the most beautiful castles in the UK and house prices are ridiculously cheap! I always found people to be very friendly.

Tbh I'm amazed Londoners haven't yet 'discovered ' Caerphilly and started gentrifying it.

Also - good train links to Cardiff.

Caerphilly has always struck me as somewhere ripe for improvement. Once it's on the up, someone should open a decent cheese shop opposite the castle. It's criminal that there isn't one.

The town centre always strikes me as quite sad (and I last visited before the pandemic so I doubt it's improved since then). The Wetherspoons was an okay one five years ago, but if that's the best thing you can say about a place it's a pretty sorry state of affairs....

What do you want from the house in Wales? All the places you’ve mentioned have good places and bad places to live 🙂 they are also very far from each other. Do you want to be close to the M4 etc?

Transport and where you need to commute to will have a huge impact on where you want to live. There’s definitely routes you want to avoid and I find that getting somewhere in Wales takes longer than in England!

Abergavenny is far and away the "nicest" of the three areas you listed, but it's also quite far from the other two geographically.

What factors are there influencing where you live? Do you have children, or need to commute somewhere for work?

Abergavenny is lovely but a bit out in a limb.
Caerphilly has great transport links for Cardiff. Bit if a mixed bag with nice parts and not so nice. Some pretty villages just outside, Machen is popular .

Abergavenny or Monmouth are wonderful places to live. Friendly, liberal and beautiful with virtually no crime. I would avoid the traditional coal mining valleys areas as they can be very insular, schools are often poor and lots of deprivation.

It’s just for me and my husband we can work remotely so it’s just somewhere nice and relaxing really - 2 of the houses we have seen are in porth so wondering if that’s nice or as above person said insular. We know Abergavenny and love it there but prices reflect how nice it is.

You could also look at Chepstow? Although prices there are high as commuter belt for Bristol.
I’m from South Wales area, my top 3 would be
Monmouth
Abergavenny
Chepstow
Usk

Oops that’s 4, Usk was an afterthought but a pretty little market town

@Mrsmomomo I live in the valleys not far from Porth. It’s no longer insular, maybe 50 years ago but not now. People do actually travel to work in Cardiff etc.

However Porth only has one road in and one road out. If you travel in rush hour a 5 minute journey can take 20 mins.

Thank you for the info we wouldn’t need to be travelling in rush hour so that shouldn’t be an issue - if you live in Porth where do you go for food shop and night out (nice restaurants).

On a previous post someone advised against going near ebbew vale or Merthyr Tydfil is that true.

Sorry for all the questions

I would choose Caerphilly of those three. It's nearer Cardiff and the M4. I used to live near Porth and it's certainly not somewhere where you would go on a night out! Abergavenny is also a bit far out for me though it does have the nice Angel Hotel for meals out. I work in Cardiff though so might be a bit biased towards getting to work.

There is a big Morrisons in Porth for shopping and for a night out you would go into Pontypridd or Cardiff out out to the hills to the Llangeinor Arms which is lovely! Also a big outlet centre at Junction 36 which cinema and restaurants. The other nearest cinema would be Pontypridd.

Like everywhere you have your desirable and undesirable areas. Without knowing your budget, what’s a priority with buying a house etc I cannot comment or advise on a location 🙂

It can be confusing when you name change part way through a thread as people can't pick out your posts.

Thanks everyone I think best thing will be to visit areas and have a mooch round you get a feel then

Someone else said usk will definitely have a look there thanks 😊

Monmouthshire is lovely (so Abergavenny, Usk, Monmouth and Chepstow). Vale of Glamorgan also very nice. Expensive areas though. We would have chosen one of those two areas but became able to move to North Wales and that won hands down.

Depends on your budget and what you want. You'll get half as much house in those nicer areas than you would in the areas you first said.

Llandeilo
Crickhowell
Cardigan

Crickhowell being by far the most expensive

Depends how far into Wales you want to venture. I’m SE Wales so have given places near to me but if I had free rein I’d head to Pembrokeshire or Cardiganshire and be near the coast

Caerphilly is lovely. We moved here from London come years ago and couldn’t be happier. The schools are great, plus the cafes and restaurants are really welcoming and serve some amazing food. The town seems to stay nice people. Some were born here, others like myself have moved here. However, the type of person who moved here just all seem to be lovely and genuinely friendly. I’ve not encountered any anti-English sentiment at all (though my gran was Welsh I see myself as English) and was really surprised at how educated everyone is. Most of the mums I’ve met have degrees but have chosen to go part-time or become start at home mums. I work full time and it’s great having these mums as felled as they always seem more in the ball than me at knowing when the fancy dress days are! 😃

I love it here. As for House prices, I’ve been reliably informed that they are nowhere near the peak yet and that as more investment in the town and castle is announced in the next few years, House prices will increase further and look to park in about ten years or so. Definitely a good investment.

@OverByYer

You could also look at Chepstow? Although prices there are high as commuter belt for Bristol. I’m from South Wales area, my top 3 would be Monmouth Abergavenny Chepstow Usk

I'm also living in South Wales and would echo what @OverByYer says.

Personally unless I was from Caerphilly I don't think I could live there, same with a lot of Welsh valleys. As a newbie to Wales I'd be looking for a property in one of the previously mentioned towns or somewhere in a city, maybe Cardiff, Swansea or Newport which have great rail and road links, as well as good local services and shops etc.