Advice on Wales! Llanelli area

RedfordML

An potential opportunity has arose for me and my family 2022, in this area of Wales. 

As a family we prefer large town living to City but being within 10-15 miles of a City for activities would be great! 

Could anyone give advice on Towns that have a great range of schools, facilities, activities for a family with 3 children. We’d have a house budget around £425,000 - hopefully that would get us a 4 bed detached but for us before we visit we would love to hear from people who live in and around the area of Llanelli. Thanks for reading! 

tooldle

That’s a big budget for Llanelli. I'm across the bridge in Swansea. Is the opportunity in central Llanelli? Plenty of places that might suit you to the west, Kidwelly, Burry Port etc are popular. How old are the kids? 
Swansea is not a big city and we have pretty much everything a family would want. 

SameOldRoundabout

I’m from closer to Cardiff, but I agree that your budget is healthy for Llanelli. If you search right move and include STC you’ll get an idea of the kind of house that money will buy. We got married in Swansea and love it there, great beaches and museums and places to go. It’s also not THAT far a trip to Cardiff if you want a bigger city. 

West Wales is also beautiful, no real cities down there but a wonderful place for days out or weekends away. 

gwynlas

There are a number of properties that would apper to suit your needs but more information needed re ages of children etc.

RedfordML

2 junior school, 1 early secondary year groups. Like a town that maybe has a cinema, skatepark or even a leisure centre 

Pok3mon

Burry port is OK and ok for Llanelli shops You have a BIG budget for this area. 

Kidwelly and other areas around there is 20/30 mins from anything.

Look towards Crosshands very up and coming KFC, Burger King, Lidl don't move to areas unless they think it is worth it. And towards Carmarthen. 

Llanelli town is crap in my option and a bit of a ship hole. 

Pok3mon

phoebe1989seb said:

Agree with Pok3mon that Llanelli itself isn't great.

We moved to Wales from England three and a half years ago and whilst we do venture to Llanelli occasionally, it's to go to B&Q, TK Maxx and M&S at Trostre retail park 😉

Having wanted to be rurally located, within about 30 mins drive from a good beach and with boutique shops not too far away (we'd previously sold a house near Shaftesbury which has those aplenty!), we did look around the Kidwelly area amongst others. Although for us, it was more about finding somewhere with no/few neighbours and a bit of land....

Eventually we purchased a 400 year old former mill a couple of miles south west of Llandeilo - great shopping/coffee shops etc, but probably too small a town for the OP (our visiting adult son refers to it as "the village", lol!) - we can get to Pembrey beach etc in just over 30 mins, the Brecon Beacons are on our doorstep and Carmarthen is 20 mins drive. Crosshands also has Leekes homestore (kind of like a Welsh John Lewis) for decorating materials etc and Swansea isn't too far away either if we want more shops.....

Also agree that your budget is very healthy for the Llanelli area, OP, so you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding somewhere that suits....it's just establishing the right location 😎

We love Wales and are very happy with our move here....

I moved to the area 6 years ago from Berkshire, Llanelli and Swansea has gone down hill in the last 5.  Most of the shops at Trostre retail park has closed down now.

daivid

Pok3mon said:

Llanelli town is crap in my option and a bit of a ship hole. 

I have family from Llanelli, I wish I could take offence but sadly have to agree. The town has never recovered from the loss of traditional industry in my opinion.

As to the OP you may want to consider the Welsh language, it is very strong in the region and the dominant language for education in some pockets. For the older child in particular you may want to ensure you are near an english medium school. I would commend you if you want to embrace the language but if your child is close to GCSE age keeping them in schooling through English may be best for them.

tooldle

daivid said:

Pok3mon said:

Llanelli town is crap in my option and a bit of a ship hole. 

I have family from Llanelli, I wish I could take offence but sadly have to agree. The town has never recovered from the loss of traditional industry in my opinion.

As to the OP you may want to consider the Welsh language, it is very strong in the region and the dominant language for education in some pockets. For the older child in particular you may want to ensure you are near an english medium school. I would commend you if you want to embrace the language but if your child is close to GCSE age keeping them in schooling through English may be best for them.

Compulsory even in English medium schools, although it can be 0.5 GCSE. 

daivid

tooldle said:

daivid said:

Pok3mon said:

Llanelli town is crap in my option and a bit of a ship hole. 

I have family from Llanelli, I wish I could take offence but sadly have to agree. The town has never recovered from the loss of traditional industry in my opinion.

As to the OP you may want to consider the Welsh language, it is very strong in the region and the dominant language for education in some pockets. For the older child in particular you may want to ensure you are near an english medium school. I would commend you if you want to embrace the language but if your child is close to GCSE age keeping them in schooling through English may be best for them.

Compulsory even in English medium schools, although it can be 0.5 GCSE. 

Indeed, but there is world of difference between going to an English medium school where Welsh second language is studied as a GCSE or 1/2 GCSE with a bit of incidental Welsh thrown in across the curriculum (or not…), and going to a Welsh medium school where all lessons and exams (except English and English lit) are through the medium of Welsh. 

Markneath

With that budget you will find a nice house down here, personally I would avoid Llanelli itself but some of the surrounding areas/villages are great. 

If it wasn’t for work and traveling times I would pick Port Eynon or surrounding areas myself, I’m currently in Sketty.