Are the Welsh Valleys REALLY that bad???

mrsnow101

Another born & bred Cardiffian here.

You mention that your offices are in the east of the City - so i'm making a wild assumption that you are either referring to the Cardiff Gate or St Mellons business parks.

If your looking for isolation somewhere up north of the M4 - just be mindful of your daily commute! There is no rail infrastructure in the east of the City, and so you will be completely dependent on the car. While I cant really comment on the Gwent Valleys - the A470 from Caerphilly into the north of Cardiff/Coryton junction of the M4 can get very congested.

As nice as the Vale is (Cowbridge/Llantwit) - its just too far in my opinion to commute each day.

Re. you being English. I really wouldnt worry about that! Dont forget Cardiff has two Universities - and a lot of the students end up settling here.

Best of luck.

MobileSaver

Epona wrote: »

have already heard all the stories about how much the Welsh supposedly hate the English and have found them to be untrue

You're absolutely right, the only time there's any conflict is when the rugby is on and even then it's all very good-natured ribbing.

I moved to mid-Wales a few years ago and wish I'd done it sooner; I've commented before on the benefits:

MobileSaver wrote: »

The biggest plus though is something that money can't buy; community. The local pub is the hub of the community, everyone knows everyone and is friendly and we all help each other out. You can move into the area as a singleton, knowing no-one and be the least sociable person on the planet but if you want to you will make friends in no time. Crime is non-existent. Even the local delivery postmen are happy to collect and post your letters and parcels for you.

My advice would be to go out for dinner at a local pub in your preferred area - you'll hopefully be pleasantly surprised with how welcoming they are to new people thinking of coming to the neighbourhood.

Ivrytwr3

Gigervamp wrote: »

I'm an ex-Londoner and have never had any problems mixing with the natives! (I did marry one.) There are a lot of people from England living in South Wales, so you won't be alone.

I love it here. I hope you will too.

Are you Gavin?

iwannabefree

I too am looking at buying in the Valleys but at the lower end of the scale. First time buyers and looking somewhere like Mountain Ash or Treorchy for a 2/3 bed house £30-40K. We are first time buyers, luckily have the ability to pay for the house outright and are initially looking to rent it out. It will be an investment opportunity until we come to settle in Wales in the future as OH wants to be back home. The plan is that the house will grow slowly in value and we can use this as a larger deposit when we come to buy a larger house in the future.


Does this sound like a good plan?

Davesnave

mrsnow101 wrote: »

Re. you being English. I really wouldnt worry about that! Dont forget Cardiff has two Universities - and a lot of the students end up settling here.

....And don't forget, in some parts of Wales, coming from Cardiff is much worse than being English! :rotfl:

Gigervamp

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

Are you Gavin?

Who? Anyway, I suspect going by the name, that Gavin is male, I'm female. .

picket_fence

iwannabefree wrote: »

I too am looking at buying in the Valleys but at the lower end of the scale. First time buyers and looking somewhere like Mountain Ash or Treorchy for a 2/3 bed house £30-40K. We are first time buyers, luckily have the ability to pay for the house outright and are initially looking to rent it out. It will be an investment opportunity until we come to settle in Wales in the future as OH wants to be back home. The plan is that the house will grow slowly in value and we can use this as a larger deposit when we come to buy a larger house in the future.


Does this sound like a good plan?

Not sure how much of an investment a house in mountain ash is in reality. We looked at buying a business there not that long ago. ALL of the nearby business (including the one we looked at) had shutters, bars, grills etc. They were all really run down and didn't look overly welcoming. Don't get me wrong, I love living in Wales, beautiful place with very friendly people. I'm just not sure how much larger your deposit will be on sale of this investment - especially considering that any houses you would want to buy will potentially have increased in value too.

natlie

Hi
I live in Grangetown, right next to the city centre, we live on a new development. Grangetown has a bit of a reputation but we have been here a year now with no problems, its close to everywhere - Penarth, the Bay there are two train stations plenty of shops and you can walk to the city centre in 20 minutes. Its all flat too so you can cycle everywhere.


I would stay away from Roath, Splott and Cathays, these are student heavy areas and you always hear about drunks smashing windows etc.


Parts of the Bay are nice but would avoid Bute Street.


I would definitely move closer to the centre - the most frustrating thing is the traffic and use public transport as much as you can - its brilliant here


Good luck
Nat

Davesnave

Gigervamp wrote: »

Who? Anyway, I suspect going by the name, that Gavin is male, I'm female. .

I think the reference was related to 'Gavin & Stacey,' but as I've never seen it, except in passing I could be wrong.

Prothet_of_Doom

In my humble zenophobic opinion, the south is fine, but the north? they hate the english.