Moving to Pernath?

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Wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what it's like living in Penarth. Am working mum with one DC (2.5) and husband.

We moved to Bristol about 18 months ago to start new job but I'm not really happy in the city. My OH loves city life, I grew up in a mid-sized town with a train link to a big city, and that's what I'd prefer. I love being near the sea, or the Bristol Channel will do :) So Penarth might be a good balance?

Husband lived in Wales for 10 years and Cardiff for 7 of those, still has some of his best mates in Cardiff. My job is currently from home, will need to be in the office 2-3 days a month eventually which is a LONG commute but might be okay once a week or less? I used to do 90 minutes each way every day when living in London pre-Bristol!

Pro's: I hear good things about schools, near the water, more affordable than Bristol, friends in Cardiff.
Con's: Not sure how I'd find the culture difference moving to Wales from England?

Anyone got any advice on moving to Penarth from England, working a couple of days a month in Bristol?

I grew up in Penarth and lived there until I moved to Barry a few miles away. It’s a lovely town, very very popular now and the house prices reflect that! The schools are hit and miss. Primary wise you’d want to ideally be in catchment for Evenlode or Victoria. For nursery Bute Cottage is lovely and if you’re catchment for either primaries above, should be for Bute too.

Personally I found Penarth over priced, and snobbier than surrounding areas. My mum and Nan still live there and love it. I moved to Barry which I much prefer, way more bang for your Buck, beautiful beaches and parks and so very friendly, but again, choose your areas!

To get to Bristol from either Penarth or Barry it’s a 20 minute ish train to Cardiff then an hour to Bristol. If you have more questions I’m happy to answer if I can.

You'd need to be on board with your dc learning Welsh in school, sometimes in the place of a decent FML choice.
Have you looked at Clevedon?

Not sure what TO means, but why is Welsh not a 'decent' choice? If you're job hunting in Wales, it's much more of an asset than the smattering of French or German that most people end up with.

*FML....not TO!

Welsh is compulsory yes, but we also have all the normal subjects as well! Basic Welsh is useful (although I’ve long forgotten my own) and government jobs going forward will require at least enough Welsh to greet people and answer phones, have basic courtesies etc. I’m not sure why learning Welsh would even be a point to consider beyond a positive.

@AGreatUsername well said.

Having said all that though... I do agree that Penarth can be VERY pricey. What's your budget, OP? What about Cardiff bay or Barry Island?

I think learning Welsh is grand, as you say needed for all govt jobs etc.

I live in an area thats had a huge increase in folk from over the bridge moving in, and you'd be amazed at how many express discontent that their dc are to learn Welsh, and were seemingly unaware of it being a requirement.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan what I meant was my English friends dc do basic Spanish / French or whatever in primary, my dc, and none of my friends dc in other schools, seem to do any language as Welsh takes up that 'slot'. Just something for op to be aware of.

FML is foreign modern language, I believe thats the buzz word now. Although I usually use it mean fuck my life

If you DO think about Barry (or Dinas would be okay, not on the beach there though) just for an example of the differences, I have a beautiful 5 bed period semi here for less than the price of a 3 bed terrace in Penarth, we’re within a 10 minute walk to the beach too. If you stick to the west end here you won’t go too far wrong 😊

@Gardenwalldilema that’s interesting about English primaries, I didn’t know that! My kids are secondary age now and they do french, Welsh and Spanish as standard with the option to pick up German in y9, but you’re quite right there’s only Welsh in primary!

@AGreatUsername I think that by embracing Welsh or any second language, it aids the brain in learning more languages down the line, so it's definitely not a negative, but some would prefer little Johnny to start Spanish at 5 and be a whizz by secondary school for example, just a consideration for OP.
Anyway, we've probably derailed her thread enough now with this talk
I'd second DP / Sully / Barry etc as decent areas to look at. The vale of Glamorgan also has some lovely towns. If you've a healthy budget though look at Penarth by all means, it's beautiful. Culturally, aside form the dc learning Welsh, and being ribbed a lot on international days, there'll be no real difference.

@Gardenwalldilema I was all ready for a fight then Someone will probably have a go at me now for being rude about Barry Island (which is awesome btw, especially now they have the Hangfire Smokehouse)

Haha, thank you all! Yes, I assumed my DC would learn Welsh at school and I am very much in favour of that! My dad is a bilingual immigrant and so was my mum's mum, so growing up in a bilingual country is a definite plus point for us.

Our budget is about £650k, which will get us a 3 bed house in Bristol but honestly I just really crave a more suburban than city life! One big factor is that we don't drive at the moment, I am desperate to get refresher lessons but it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a driving instructor at the moment (and fair enough, teenagers have had enough taken away in the pandemic, I can't begrudge them driving lesson).

Just had an idle nosy on Rightmove and there is a 1 bed 'investment opportunity' in Penarth for 1.2 million! I'm sure there are better bargains than that, but you could get something amaaaazing in Barry. Good rail links too... (I don't work for the Barry Island tourist board, promise )

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87543964#/?channel=RES_BUY 👀

North Cardiff is great if you're looking for suburbs and better than Penarth for commute to Bristol. Whitchurch, Llandaff, Rhiwbina, Cyncoed all lovely and you'd get more for your money than most areas in penarth. To be honest my family live in Penarth and altough its lovely we find it a bit out of the way compared to Cardiff.

Also I have lived in both Cardiff and Bristol and those Cardiff suburbs really don't feel like city life at all in comparison to Bristol. So much green space and lovely walks on your doorstep and still only being half hour to the sea x

Penarth is great but if you don’t drive I’d look at north Cardiff, one of the suburbs with a train station - llandaff, Whitchurch, Heath etc. Still easy to get to the beach.

@Gardenwalldilema my kids are in primary school in Wales and they study a bit of French. My son's been learning some basic Spanish too because his class teacher happens to speak it.

The difference is probably that they go to a Welsh medium school, so although they study both Welsh and English they mostly use Welsh in school and the ability to speak English is taken for granted to some extent!