Anyone relocated from ENG to WALES?

Van_Girl

I'm English, and have lived at various times in Llandudno (North Wales), near Dolgellau (Mid West Wales), and near Holywell (North Wales). DH is from Swansea (South Wales) so I'm familiar with that area too.

In North and Mid Wales there are a lot of day-to-day Welsh speakers, especially in the small towns. But never had any issues with anyone, aside from friendly banter in the local pubs about being English. If you can learn a bit of Welsh, it can be nice to use it, though certainly not required.

The only place I've ever had someone continue to speak to me in Welsh after I've answered in English, was in Blaenau Ffestiniog, which I understand is a bit rough generally - but even then, she gestured as she spoke so that I understood what she was referring to, so she wasn't being horrible.... maybe just making a point?

I've found the NHS here to be far more accessible than in England, in all places I've lived. Although NHS dentist waiting lists are ridiculous, but I think it's much the same in England now.

In small towns, everyone knows everyone else's business... but isn't that the same everywhere?   

Aside from that, I forget I'm in Wales, people are much the same everywhere really. 

I'd maybe say, match where you move to where you currently live i.e., if you're in a large town, move to a similar size town. I think when people make a huge move e.g. city to countryside, the difference is so stark that they blame it on the area, rather than the fact they're not used to the different pace and style of life 

Ath_Wat

Van_Girl said:

I'm English, and have lived at various times in Llandudno (North Wales), near Dolgellau (Mid West Wales), and near Holywell (North Wales). DH is from Swansea (South Wales) so I'm familiar with that area too.

In North and Mid Wales there are a lot of day-to-day Welsh speakers, especially in the small towns. But never had any issues with anyone, aside from friendly banter in the local pubs about being English. If you can learn a bit of Welsh, it can be nice to use it, though certainly not required.

The only place I've ever had someone continue to speak to me in Welsh after I've answered in English, was in Blaenau Ffestiniog, which I understand is a bit rough generally - but even then, she gestured as she spoke so that I understood what she was referring to, so she wasn't being horrible.... maybe just making a point?

I've found the NHS here to be far more accessible than in England, in all places I've lived. Although NHS dentist waiting lists are ridiculous, but I think it's much the same in England now.

In small towns, everyone knows everyone else's business... but isn't that the same everywhere?   

Aside from that, I forget I'm in Wales, people are much the same everywhere really. 

I'd maybe say, match where you move to where you currently live i.e., if you're in a large town, move to a similar size town. I think when people make a huge move e.g. city to countryside, the difference is so stark that they blame it on the area, rather than the fact they're not used to the different pace and style of life 

When you get a thread like this where people want to "move to Wales" and are asking where to go, I can only imagine it is because they see it as being synonymous with "moving to the country".   If it was anything else - coming home, moving to be closer to family, for work, etc - they would already know where they wanted to move to.  

I don't see why anyone from Leicester would be desperately keen to move to Newport just for the sake of "being in Wales".

Skiddaw1

For what it is worth, a close friend of ours relocated from London to a very small settlement on the coast north of St Davids a few years ago and he loves it. He's made local friends and connections and has been learning Welsh since shortly after he moved. He has friends who were already living in Wales, which I am sure helped, but he certainly has no regrets.

tooldle

Courtesy Welsh is a pretty low bar. I think even I could manage that and I’ve not had a single lesson. I might mangle the pronunciation.

rdchick

We moved from Portsmouth to Ebbw Vale in the Valleys of South Wales. I’m a nurse so easy to get a job at the time it was April 2020 so height of covid and I just come off of maternity leave so basically they bit my hand off to start! It was a reasonable place to live, mega cheap houses, everyone was soooo friendly and never heard anyone have a conversation or even more than a couple of obvious words in Welsh. We moved back to Portsmouth in May 2021 because I missed home so much and wanted my daughter to see her grandparents more as because of the pandemic it felt like we lived on the other side of the world!