to consider moving to Wales?

[cheminotte]

Specifically Abergavenny?
We have 2 dc age 4 and 7, going into Reception and Y3 in September. We live in a small city in the West Midlands and commute to Bristol and Birmingham respectively.
Pros - much closer to beautiful countryside, less pollution, slightly shorter commute for dp, cheaper house prices
Cons - I would need to find a new job, but am contracting anyway so no security, massive upheaval for dc, esp ds1 who has taken a while to settle into school, further from pils.
Smaller location so possibly less available to do in evenings?
Neutral - similar commuting distance to Cardiff as Birmingham,

Ds1 suffers from some sort of allergy which we suspect may be caused by living near motorways and a railway line (diesel).
We are an outdoorsy family and love walking and cycling but currently have to drive a bit first

[cheminotte]

Thanks infinity . I need to do some more research on the schools but a 30 class intake is fine, I'm not looking for a village school with only 50 children. I would say minimum requirements for me are a train station and a cinema so nowhere really.

I'm mostly worried about how the children will cope with the change.

[cheminotte]

Nowhere tiny that should say.

[onestepbeyond]

I'm from that area and would move back there in a heartbeat if there were any jobs. Beautiful area, lots to do outdoors, nice community but would agree with infinity about the schools and would also point more towards brecon.

[CelticPromise]

YANBU. I think Abergavenny is lovely. Usk is also nice. We've moved from London to Wales (not Abergav) recently and we LOVE it.

[cheminotte]

Thanks onestep - As far as jobs go I would look at
Hereford and Cardiff, maybe Newport.

Celtic - do you have dc? If so, how did they cope with the move?

[cheminotte]

Thanks onestep - As far as jobs go I would look at
Hereford and Cardiff, maybe Newport.

Celtic - do you have dc? If so, how did they cope with the move?

[missymayhemsmum]

Abergavenny's gorgeous! Have pm'd you about schools etc.

[cheminotte]

Thanks missmayhemsmum* ! Seems mostly positive do far. If we were still dinkys we would not be hesitating I think.

[softlysoftly]

We are in Newport, outskirts. The city centre is a dive but no regrets moving here. It's so easy to commute to MILs in Cardiff, business in Bristol and I do London twice a week for work easily too.

LOADS to do outdoorsy and if you want life it's a simple hop to Cardiff or Bristol.

Don't know much about Abergavenny other than it seems very pretty but a bit remote. Not sure how easy Bristol or Cardiff is from the M50 as its a PITA route around tbh you would be better a hop to Newport station for DHs Brum journey and your job hunt that's why we chose here.

What about something closer to the M4 like Magor, Chepstow etc? All lovely.

So YANBU about Wales we have no regrets love it but I'd reconsider location.

[KeepCalmAndLOLKittens]

What's your field? We moved six months ago and despite expecting to have to commute I have found a teaching post with no problems. I love Abergavenny, but Brecon is beautiful too. What about Hay-on-Wye? If I had no commitments where I am currently leaving I would thing about Prmbrokeshire or Ceredigion.

[KeepCalmAndLOLKittens]

Oh, living. Not leaving.

[drudgetrudy]

Remember that in some parts of Wales education particularly at primary level is Welsh Medium. Your Yr3 child might need to go to a language unit for a term before transferring to local school.
Primary age children usually pick up the language quickly but if he has had difficulty settling I think you should bear this in mind.

[WashingFanatic]

What made you choose Abergavenny op?

I'm in South Wales, have been to Abergavenny once - it seemed OK, not somewhere i'd actively want to move though tbh.

Brecon is lovely, as is Llandeilo. Gower is also amazing but I imagine property is a good bit cheaper in Abergavenny than Gower.

Also, re Cardiff and Birmingham - similar distances? Birmingham is over double the distance from Abergavenny than Cardiff!

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

Have you looked at Monmouth? It's a nice little town now, well it's always been nice but it's got some good shops these days. Hereford is a city, although not large. Much bigger than Abergavenny.

[youbethemummylion]

I would not move my children to anywhere where the schools teach in Welsh (unless they already spoke Welsh obvs) Could you move nearer to countryside but not actually in Wales?

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

Schools such as Monmouth don't teach Welsh as a first language. Maybe because it's on the border. So that may be something to think about. The Wye valley is beautiful.

[Willhewonkher]

Abergavenny is a shithole these days. I was born there. Crickhowell is lovely but very expensive houses (a 2 up 2 down terrace is around £180k) and no train station or cinema. Brecon is nice but again quite expensive. I'd go for Chepstow or Usk tbh (although not sure about cinemas). Come to think of it, Aber's cinema shut years ago anyway.

[Willhewonkher]

Also that area is not very welsh speaking so you'd be pressed to find a welsh medium school. Nothing wrong with learning a second language early anyway.

[cheminotte]

Nothing against the dc learning Welsh. We already speak 2 European languages at home, so why not a third?

Found a website for a cinema so glad you confirmed I hadn't dreamt that Infinity !

Hereford would be too far for Dp's commute to Bristol. We can't afford to lose two jobs. DP has just pointed out we would not be able to use my salary for mortgage applications as I'd not have a job in the short term.

[CelticPromise]

We only have DS who is 4 and hasn't started school yet. He missed his old preschool but has settled well in lovely new school. We actually wanted Welsh medium education, he is young enough to pick up easily and there is great language support in the schools. For long and boring reasons it wasn't an option for us, but I think am extra language will always be a benefit.

[cheminotte]

sorry hadn't noticed earlier replies.

Washing - I meant its a similar commute from Abergavenny to Cardiff as my current commute to Birmingham iyswim? Sorry I wasn't clear.

Keecpcalm - I'm a buyer. So I need a medium to large organization, public or private. Have experience in a variety of industries.

drudgetrudy - thanks for the warning re Welsh language schools . I'm pretty confident he'd pick it up pretty quickly if necessary.

[hippo123]

I have family in Abergavenny and have always found it to be a nice town, not to big nor to small and near enough to bigger cities for work etc. it's not very welsh speaking though so I wouldn't worry about that. They'll probably get taught a bit in school though which is no bad thing.

[cheminotte]

Thanks hippo - not too big or small sounds about right.