cremedemonthe
Well-Known Member
After my previous thread about moving to Wales about 2 years ago or more, I have written an up date on how I am getting on.
Here it is, any questions, PM me, just remember, you'll see things here that in Surrey you'd get arrested for, ANYTHING goes in Wales I have discovered and no one seems to bat an eyelid.
Total different way of life!
Apologies for any spelling mistakes or bad typing
Moving to Wales
It certainly was an eye opener for me and I am still learning.
I came down from busy, modern, Surrey Hills (North Downs - Caterham)
I had a fixed idea in my head about the place, nice countryside, cheaper prices, nice people etc and had to ignore the doubters who were always telling me and still do things
Such as , The Welsh don't like the English, it rains in Wales you know (like I didn't know) and loads of low flying aircraft (fighter jets)
I will deal with these “myths” first
1)The Welsh don't like the English, hmmm well, so far I have only met nice locals, VERY friendly and helpful as are most of the English here and there are lots. The only aggression I have encountered is on the roads by inconsiderate, impatient car drivers, whether they are Welsh, English or Martian I couldn't tell you as we didn't stop to fight about it and I have a dual dash cam anyway so any trouble it's recorded as I drive a White Transit van I am the lowest on the evolutionary scale and will no doubt get the blame for any trouble.
I have met a wonderful lady who lives about 600 yards up the road from me and we are now engaged and oh yes, she's WELSH, through and through!
I am learning a lot from her about the Welsh ways but I'm still too thick to learn the language but I try much to her amusement.
2)It rains in Wales, well of course it does, why do they think it's so green?
Actually the last heatwave drought turned everything back to Surrey grass, ie brown and the some of the rivers and smaller springs dried up, including ours on our land.
We have been on the phone to friends and relations back up in Caterham and they were having a series of torrential rain and thunderstorms, day and after, we had beautiful sunshine here and could see the sea 15 miles away at Cardigan and these were the people who were warning us, it rains in Wales you know. It is wetter here, but not a lot more.
Personally, I don't like the heat or the dry parched ground of Surrey anymore, I love the Welsh green grass and after having ridden motor bikes for donkeys years in all weathers I really don't mind the rain.
3)LOADS of low flying fighter jets.
We have a little flurry of them occasionally, maybe 6-12 times a year, can go for several months and nothing then 3 or 4 in one day and they are so fast you blink and miss them, all the animals here don't bat an eyelid. The turbo propped planes (C-27's – wanna be Hercules as I call them) do push their luck once every other year or so with low flying practice, again only once in a blue moon and that scares my chickens but it's gone over within seconds and I love watching them to be honest, we wave at them as they go over. We have a yellow helicoptor once a year maybe hover over our field looking at the electricity poles running through our field, can wave at the pilot too as they are so close to the house, going to hand him a cup of tea one day as he passes.
We really don't mind any of the planes here, better than watching the police helicopters which were EVERY DAY at one point hovering over your house during the day RIGHT above you and at 2am in the morning with search lights as in Caterham or the constant air traffic flying over from Gatwick or Heathrow.
Now, horse owners, there are NO bridlepaths here where I live. The nearest I know of and happy to be corrected by those who know better than me is a place about 4 miles away called the Horse Trail.
Locals keep removing the sign to it as they don't want people to use it though so I had a bit of trouble finding it to walk my dogs along it.
There are a lot of Adders there in the Summer so I tend to keep away from it now.
There are no foothpaths signposted here or open either, we have loads but have been told by one landowner that no the ordinance survey map is wrong, the footpath does not go through our farmyard (had cows in the way to block me anyway) but you can use that field to go round to get back on the path (next day it was full of bullocks so a no go again) The paths are ALL blocked, locked gates, fallen trees, no maintenance by landowners what so ever so walking dogs down the footpaths is impossible.
One beautiful walk about 6 miles from me , the footpath if you can call it that, runs through an area where cattle are kept, electric fencing all round so if you do wish to walk it you have to get through the fence, there's no warning signs up and signposts for the path. And deal with the cattle if they are in there.
I asked Carmarthenshire council to get the landowner to open up the footpaths, not interested, the reply was we don't have the budget and it's not priority also remember this point, further up the valley from me is a councillor and the first thing he did when he moved in was, to close all the footpaths on his land.
I went to a safety on the roads event/show about 2 years ago in Ammanford, the Beacons Equestrian Centre. The Carmarthenshire riders group on facebook asked me to display my Locatas which I happily did and gave them some as a donation. The council were there in attendance boasting how they are opening up and making new bridlepaths for riders ….....Hmmmmmmm
Red rag to a bull , I challenged them on this as there are no bridlepaths near me yet there is an old run down lane (owned by the council) about 100 yards up the lane from me, the farmer who owns the land adjoining this lane blocked the lane about half way up years ago, you can see the lane still but cant walk along it. IF opened up it would make a good bridlepath as well as a walk for dog walkers and walkers. And I also mentioned the lack of open footpaths, the councillor shutting all the paths on his land and the apathy that seems to prevail here when it comes to public rights of way, fobbed off with the excuse, not our department and we didn't deal with it so can't comment.
I feel the attendance by the council was nothing more than a PR exercise to keep local riders happy to be seen to be doing something in other words and they really didn't like me being there asking questions and I am sure I won't be asked back again
I have kept my head down as being the new boy on the block I didn't want to make waves, now I have a different attitude, why the hell shouldn't I use the public rights of way?
So, work in progress.
There's no dog walking here in woods unless you own it, I have only 2 acres and a little wood. The local farmer lets me use his fields which is kind of him.
The way it seems to work here is, ask permission to use the land of the locals and most will allow you but don't try to use any footpaths on their land without asking them first, that's HOW it is here.
The other thing I really had to get used to was, in Caterham my Mum had a newspaper delivered everyday, here it's 12 mile round trip everyday to get one,same as going shopping in Tescos or Morrisons, in Caterham it was under a mile here it's in Carmarthen, 30 mile round trip, so you need to have a reliable vehicle and a deep pocket for the fuel.
We do get powercuts, but have learnt to deal with it. We have a gravity fed Rayburn range so can still cook if the power's out for any length of time but they usually get it sorted pretty quickly, hats off to them.
NO decent broadband from a BT line, absoloutely useless so I have found and use Resqnet, they provide our VOIP phone line (through broadband) and my broadband for my business. Runs at 11.50 Mbps and is good, reliable and cheap.
I would not use BT if you paid me, not only does it run at less then 0.5mbps but the landline only works if THERE'S NOT AN EAST WIND BLOWING (trees rubbing on lines), 2 years on they still can't find the fault so ignored it. We soon got rid of them and saved ourselves a fortune, you can get a grant from the Welsh government to pay most of the installation charges for the broadband, make use of it whilst you can.
All of the above , me moaning is outweighed by, cheaper prices, easier way of life, slower pace, friendly people, beautiful countryside, great food, that is locally produced,cleaner air, QUIET, can see all the stars at night, sea about 15 miles away and shops near enough to be available but far enough not to be worried by traffic or noise. We do get fireworks here, didn't the first year but some bright spark (pardon the pun) in Capel Iwan about 3 miles away has decided to pee the locals off by having them every night for a week around November, this is still not a problem for us with our noise phobic dog as it's far enough away not to be an issue. There are literally thousands of cattle, sheep, poultry and a fair amount of horses here so no one really is going to have a lot of fireworks, it's mainly countryside anyway with very few houses compared to where I came from. We had fireworks most days and nights in Caterham so it's something we can easily live with. NO where in the world is going to be perfect but this is the nearest I have been so far, you just have to use your brain and adapt or find ways round it and ignore the bits you don't like.
The ONLY thing I miss about Caterham apart from friends is the open space to walk my dogs in but even that was getting too crowded with anti social people and their dogs.
Oz
Here it is, any questions, PM me, just remember, you'll see things here that in Surrey you'd get arrested for, ANYTHING goes in Wales I have discovered and no one seems to bat an eyelid.
Total different way of life!
Apologies for any spelling mistakes or bad typing
Moving to Wales
It certainly was an eye opener for me and I am still learning.
I came down from busy, modern, Surrey Hills (North Downs - Caterham)
I had a fixed idea in my head about the place, nice countryside, cheaper prices, nice people etc and had to ignore the doubters who were always telling me and still do things
Such as , The Welsh don't like the English, it rains in Wales you know (like I didn't know) and loads of low flying aircraft (fighter jets)
I will deal with these “myths” first
1)The Welsh don't like the English, hmmm well, so far I have only met nice locals, VERY friendly and helpful as are most of the English here and there are lots. The only aggression I have encountered is on the roads by inconsiderate, impatient car drivers, whether they are Welsh, English or Martian I couldn't tell you as we didn't stop to fight about it and I have a dual dash cam anyway so any trouble it's recorded as I drive a White Transit van I am the lowest on the evolutionary scale and will no doubt get the blame for any trouble.
I have met a wonderful lady who lives about 600 yards up the road from me and we are now engaged and oh yes, she's WELSH, through and through!
I am learning a lot from her about the Welsh ways but I'm still too thick to learn the language but I try much to her amusement.
2)It rains in Wales, well of course it does, why do they think it's so green?
Actually the last heatwave drought turned everything back to Surrey grass, ie brown and the some of the rivers and smaller springs dried up, including ours on our land.
We have been on the phone to friends and relations back up in Caterham and they were having a series of torrential rain and thunderstorms, day and after, we had beautiful sunshine here and could see the sea 15 miles away at Cardigan and these were the people who were warning us, it rains in Wales you know. It is wetter here, but not a lot more.
Personally, I don't like the heat or the dry parched ground of Surrey anymore, I love the Welsh green grass and after having ridden motor bikes for donkeys years in all weathers I really don't mind the rain.
3)LOADS of low flying fighter jets.
We have a little flurry of them occasionally, maybe 6-12 times a year, can go for several months and nothing then 3 or 4 in one day and they are so fast you blink and miss them, all the animals here don't bat an eyelid. The turbo propped planes (C-27's – wanna be Hercules as I call them) do push their luck once every other year or so with low flying practice, again only once in a blue moon and that scares my chickens but it's gone over within seconds and I love watching them to be honest, we wave at them as they go over. We have a yellow helicoptor once a year maybe hover over our field looking at the electricity poles running through our field, can wave at the pilot too as they are so close to the house, going to hand him a cup of tea one day as he passes.
We really don't mind any of the planes here, better than watching the police helicopters which were EVERY DAY at one point hovering over your house during the day RIGHT above you and at 2am in the morning with search lights as in Caterham or the constant air traffic flying over from Gatwick or Heathrow.
Now, horse owners, there are NO bridlepaths here where I live. The nearest I know of and happy to be corrected by those who know better than me is a place about 4 miles away called the Horse Trail.
Locals keep removing the sign to it as they don't want people to use it though so I had a bit of trouble finding it to walk my dogs along it.
There are a lot of Adders there in the Summer so I tend to keep away from it now.
There are no foothpaths signposted here or open either, we have loads but have been told by one landowner that no the ordinance survey map is wrong, the footpath does not go through our farmyard (had cows in the way to block me anyway) but you can use that field to go round to get back on the path (next day it was full of bullocks so a no go again) The paths are ALL blocked, locked gates, fallen trees, no maintenance by landowners what so ever so walking dogs down the footpaths is impossible.
One beautiful walk about 6 miles from me , the footpath if you can call it that, runs through an area where cattle are kept, electric fencing all round so if you do wish to walk it you have to get through the fence, there's no warning signs up and signposts for the path. And deal with the cattle if they are in there.
I asked Carmarthenshire council to get the landowner to open up the footpaths, not interested, the reply was we don't have the budget and it's not priority also remember this point, further up the valley from me is a councillor and the first thing he did when he moved in was, to close all the footpaths on his land.
I went to a safety on the roads event/show about 2 years ago in Ammanford, the Beacons Equestrian Centre. The Carmarthenshire riders group on facebook asked me to display my Locatas which I happily did and gave them some as a donation. The council were there in attendance boasting how they are opening up and making new bridlepaths for riders ….....Hmmmmmmm
Red rag to a bull , I challenged them on this as there are no bridlepaths near me yet there is an old run down lane (owned by the council) about 100 yards up the lane from me, the farmer who owns the land adjoining this lane blocked the lane about half way up years ago, you can see the lane still but cant walk along it. IF opened up it would make a good bridlepath as well as a walk for dog walkers and walkers. And I also mentioned the lack of open footpaths, the councillor shutting all the paths on his land and the apathy that seems to prevail here when it comes to public rights of way, fobbed off with the excuse, not our department and we didn't deal with it so can't comment.
I feel the attendance by the council was nothing more than a PR exercise to keep local riders happy to be seen to be doing something in other words and they really didn't like me being there asking questions and I am sure I won't be asked back again
I have kept my head down as being the new boy on the block I didn't want to make waves, now I have a different attitude, why the hell shouldn't I use the public rights of way?
So, work in progress.
There's no dog walking here in woods unless you own it, I have only 2 acres and a little wood. The local farmer lets me use his fields which is kind of him.
The way it seems to work here is, ask permission to use the land of the locals and most will allow you but don't try to use any footpaths on their land without asking them first, that's HOW it is here.
The other thing I really had to get used to was, in Caterham my Mum had a newspaper delivered everyday, here it's 12 mile round trip everyday to get one,same as going shopping in Tescos or Morrisons, in Caterham it was under a mile here it's in Carmarthen, 30 mile round trip, so you need to have a reliable vehicle and a deep pocket for the fuel.
We do get powercuts, but have learnt to deal with it. We have a gravity fed Rayburn range so can still cook if the power's out for any length of time but they usually get it sorted pretty quickly, hats off to them.
NO decent broadband from a BT line, absoloutely useless so I have found and use Resqnet, they provide our VOIP phone line (through broadband) and my broadband for my business. Runs at 11.50 Mbps and is good, reliable and cheap.
I would not use BT if you paid me, not only does it run at less then 0.5mbps but the landline only works if THERE'S NOT AN EAST WIND BLOWING (trees rubbing on lines), 2 years on they still can't find the fault so ignored it. We soon got rid of them and saved ourselves a fortune, you can get a grant from the Welsh government to pay most of the installation charges for the broadband, make use of it whilst you can.
All of the above , me moaning is outweighed by, cheaper prices, easier way of life, slower pace, friendly people, beautiful countryside, great food, that is locally produced,cleaner air, QUIET, can see all the stars at night, sea about 15 miles away and shops near enough to be available but far enough not to be worried by traffic or noise. We do get fireworks here, didn't the first year but some bright spark (pardon the pun) in Capel Iwan about 3 miles away has decided to pee the locals off by having them every night for a week around November, this is still not a problem for us with our noise phobic dog as it's far enough away not to be an issue. There are literally thousands of cattle, sheep, poultry and a fair amount of horses here so no one really is going to have a lot of fireworks, it's mainly countryside anyway with very few houses compared to where I came from. We had fireworks most days and nights in Caterham so it's something we can easily live with. NO where in the world is going to be perfect but this is the nearest I have been so far, you just have to use your brain and adapt or find ways round it and ignore the bits you don't like.
The ONLY thing I miss about Caterham apart from friends is the open space to walk my dogs in but even that was getting too crowded with anti social people and their dogs.
Oz
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