Moving to the Welsh valleys.

[Tootsiroll]

Hi all, long time lurker here looking for some input.

My partner and I live in Bristol, we've lived here for five years, neither of us are from here originally and both are in our early 30's. Our families are back in our respective home towns and we don't have kids yet so we're quite free to do as we please.

About a year ago one of our friends relocated to Wales, he was in the area last month visiting family and we had the chance to meet up. Long and short of it, he offered my partner a job working along side him. In all honesty I've never had the desire to move to Wales, it's never even crossed my mind to go there but it feels like it could be an opportunity.

Our friend now lives in Merthyr Tydfil and loves it there. He lives in a terrace which he describes as "Cosy" and he can't praise to locals enough for being friendly. While we don't have to live in the same area it would be nice to have someone we know living close by plus work would be on our doorstep so almost no commute for my partner.

However, look up Merthyr on Google and YouTube and what you get doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The Gurnos comes up a lot as does footage from a TV program called "Skint". It's also on lists of "Worst places to live" and "Turdtowns"

I guess what I'm after is some opinions from people who might actually live there or have some first hand experiance of it. The Gurnos Estate isn't Merthyr just like Hartcliffe isn't Bristol, there's good and bad places everywhere. Maybe someone might be able to tell me some of the better places as well as where to avoid? Am I grazy for even thinking about it?

The main question you need to answer is are you a city person or a country person?

If you are a city person you will hate it. Wales doesn’t have any decent city. Even Cardiff is more of a town than a city. There’s a lot less going on, fewer people at the things that are going on, a much less diverse population ( and not just in terms of ethnicity). If you like the city buzz and variety of life and activity in a city, don’t move.

However, if you yearn for a (very) different way of life, and love outdoor activities and nature, it could suit you.

But know yourself first, and make your decision based on that.

My uni flatmate is now a GP near Merthyr. Lives in north Cardiff (Lisvane/Thornhill) and commutes by car really easily because it’s against the flow of traffic. I don’t think housing is cheap but neither is Bristol.

He likes his workplace. He says that the patients and the admin staff (all local) are great. He doesn’t live there because he doesn’t want to bump into patients at the weekend, not because he dislikes it. Kids are settled at school in Cardiff too.

Once again, thanks for so many comments, It's proven to be quite enlightening.

Just to add a bit of detail, I'm very much a townie at heart, Bristol has been a lot of fun but if it wasn't for work I'd never have chosen to live here. Too many people, too noisy, too dirty, too expensive. I'm glad I got to experiance it and it's where I met my partner but it's not really me. I much prefer to be on the outskirts, town is accessible but not on my doorstep type of situation. I can't see myself suddenly taking up hiking to be honest, the views of the hills and valleys are lovely but don't ask me to climb them. My partner says he can live anywhere as long as there's decent internet connections and Amazon deliver. Bless him he's easily pleased.

We've also listened to the suggestions and booked ourselves in for a weekend stay. We're going to drive/walk around and see how it feels. It will only be a first impression but it's a start.

Have a look at Tongwynlais.

It's on the outskirts of Cardiff, just off the A470 and M4 for commuting into Cardiff and up to Merthyr. Castell Coch is in Tongwynlais, and if you pick the right house you'll get nice views of the hills.

Gwaelod y Garth is similar.

I'm loathe to say the name because I'm enjoying this username and I know people who read MN 🤣

But it's none of those.

My village isn't the village I wanted, and we've got a ton of surprise housing probs. But I've quickly met and been befriended by several nice people. So I'm sticking with it :)

I've tried to think of a hint for where I am, a sort of if you know you know, but I don't know enough about it to know if there's an iykyk factor outside of us 🤣

We did have a cool model village here, but it's been grown over and they stopped cutting the plants away from it. That's probably given it away.

@Tootsiroll you could look at Newport. It had a bad rap, but the transport links are fab - and you're able to travel easily to Cardiff, Bristol, London, Swansea etc.

We were originally buying in Newport but it fell through.

There's a little more there, for a townie. And Cardiff has loads. It's just super expensive to live in Cardiff. If I had the money for Cardiff I would though.

Pontypridd has a bit more. Depends what kind of townie you are as to what you'd like to be nearer.

If your a bit of a townie I would move to Pontypridd. Halfway between Cardiff and Merthyr, easy access to M4, lovely park and lido. It’s a university town and now on the new Metro line.

Moved from Bristol (bemmy down) to Blackwood nearly 2 years ago, as you will know the house prices crazy in Bristol and still are, Blackwood prices half the price. Got a new job in the NHS within 2 months in Cwmbran, so commute daily. Best decision we made, should have moved sooner. Kids all grown up now and eldest moved from Whitchurch village to Cwmbran, best decision he made too. The Welsh people are very friendly and your neighbours actually speak to you, don’t miss being stuck in Bristol at all in rush hour traffic that went nowhere. Slower pace of life here, so less stress

I didn't think to update since I can't imagine anyone would care but...

We spent a long weekend here in the summer to get a feel for the place and as expected it was a mixed bag. St Tydfils shopping centre on one side and Cyfarthfa Shopping Park on the other. The town centre was heaving on the weekend when the market was on but by early evening is was all closed up. We were lucky to get a nice weekend when it was sunny but it was a few degrees colder than the same days in Bristol (If you believe BBC weather app). We also drove around the residential areas, another mixed bag of newer homes and much older terraces, some well maitained, others a bit shabby but nothing unexpected.

To cut a long stoy short, after some debate we decided to go for it. We're renting a house (A house not a flat!!!!!) in Penybryn while we get a real life experiance of living here. So far, lots of rain, lots of wind, some decent sunshine and beautiful views. We've found the street to be mostly quiet, there were more kids around in the summer months actually riding bikes and kicking a ball, once the seasons changed it got more quiet. Our only bad experiance has been parking, people can be quite millitant about "Their parking space".

Unless things change significantly I think we're going to make this our home and buy here. It's too soon to decide where we will put down roots, my partner absolutely loves being close to work, he's walking through the front door 10 minutes after finishing so I can't see him wanting to move too far. Prices here are so much more affordable compared to what we're use to so who knows. Merthyrs reputation isn't deserved, it's not the ghetto TV like to portray it as. I'm not opposed to moving but I could just as happily stay here.

Lovely update OP

Good Luck

What a lovely update. Since I posted last our house flooded during the storm Bert, the kindness shown by our neighbours cemented my decision to move here.
So whatever you do don't buy near a stream 😂. Penybryn is not far from me.

Welcome home … Croeso 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Look into west Wales.
Lampeter
Outskirts of Carmarthen
If you have money, then Gower.

But
Book an Airbnb for a week beforehand

Many people move to Wales and then nice back to larger towns /cities due to lack of amenities.

You feel like having pizza or a takeaway.... You can't.
You want to run to the shops for milk ... It's a drive
You want to go to a restaurant.... Be prepared to drive to the closest large town city
You want to go shopping.. be prepared to drive to Cardiff.
You want to do something in winter....there isn't anything.

I've lived in a city and the Welsh villages.
It's beautiful in summer and when visiting you want to set up home there. Come winter it's a nightmare.

Depends how much you like convienience

Despite the challenges with our new house we've never looked back, though that could be because leaving Wales in the first place was a major major mistake and only done out of necessary. Coming home has been amazing and so many new friends are here, as we've come back to a different place to where we were from. It's been lush between rainstorms when each leak has made itself known. Love Merthyr, wasn't an option for us due to my partners work.

I'd really love to hear people's opinions on Nantyglo, Ebbw Vale please im due to move here soon and im unsure what to expect......be kind and try not to scare me off hahaha!

I can only hope you don't have school aged kids as the schools are shocking. Nanty glo is a one horse town near to Brynmawr. It's quiet but Blaenau gwent is the most deprived county in Wales. The views though! Beautiful. Also, you are only 10 mins away from Monmouthshire which is really affluent and lovely. Abergavenny is a 15 min drive and the brecon beacons are on your doorstep and they are breathtaking beauty. In winter you will also get snow as you are high up , so be prepared. Where are you moving from?

Come to Neath. It’s beautiful here.

I’m in south wales abercarn rite by the mountain . Peaple friendly beautiful walks and scenery. Been here 36 years and we very happy here

Another Valleys person here. Is there a compromise position which gets more for your money than Bristol but maybe not going the full hog of Merthyr. It's different for those who grew up there but I can see for an outsider the quality of life for someone in say Penarth or Cowbridge would be worlds away from up the Valleys. I do have a compromise suggestion - Llantrisant.

Mind me asking where you're moving from?