Relocating - where is the best place to look??

[0310Star]

Wales is a pretty big place so you'll get almost as much variation in atmosphere, weather and prices as you will in England.
I don't really know North Wales very well but know most of South very well as have travelled around the area with work.

The nice thing is that the cities (Cardiff, Newport & Swansea) are fairly small so you can have rural areas that are pretty close to civilisation. It's therefore good to get jobs and still have space and the rural lifestyle. Cardiff in particular is lovely as it's fairly small (350,000) but as it's a capital city it has lots that a city its size doesn't normally have. The Vale of Glamorgan for example is only about 30mins out of Cardiff and has lots of lovely coast line and countryside. It's pretty expensive though and you'll struggle to get anywhere with land for that budget. HRT and Watts and Morgan (both in Cowbridge) are the main rural estate agents in the area. Monmouthshire is very well placed, being so close to the English border with excellent transport links if you need to go to work every day but again you might struggle on that budget although it's usually a bit more affordable than the Vale.

Pembrokeshire is beautiful but due to tourism is pretty expensive especially in coastal areas and is very busy in summer and very quiet in winter. North Pembs is much nicer (in my opinion) than the South and is less affected by tourism although St Davids and Solva are very expensive, with lots of second homes. Carmarthenshire could be a good bet. It's a nice areas with decent riding but isn't overrun with tourists so a bit cheaper and is a bit closer to the M4 than Pembrokeshire. The house mentioned above is in Carmarthenshire. It's a fairly reasonably priced area but still within about 45 minutes of Swansea and 90 of Cardiff. Ceredigion (where Crèmedementhe is) is similar but a bit further away and the roads aren't so good but the house prices are pretty affordable there.

The one area that might be worth looking is in the S. Wales Valleys, particularly the further north you go towards Brecon. It seems a bit odd as most people think of the valleys as being very industrial but the coal mines have gone and nature has reclaimed a lot of the land now. Away from the main towns there are some lovely little villages and house and land prices are pretty cheap. There are areas of deprivation but also some lovely communities and nowhere is further than about 45 minutes from Cardiff (traffic permitting, the A470 can be a problem in rush hour).

The good thing about anywhere in Wales is even if the local school has a lot of kids from deprived homes (not saying it's a bad thing but a high percentage of free school meals often means lower performance for the school) you'll always have a choice of schools as there will be Welsh medium schools as well as English in the area (except Gwynedd and Anglesey where all primary schools are Welsh medium and some rural areas where schools will be bilingual as they don't have the numbers for one or the other). They tend to perform better as parents have made an active choice to send their children there and teachers have made an active choice to teach there so it's a very committed environment. It doesn't matter if you/they don't speak Welsh to begin with, they pick it so quickly. My parents don't speak Welsh but I went to Welsh nursery at 2, then all the way through school. I'm completely bilingual, don't favour one language over the other and don't ever remember learning Welsh. It's pretty handy for jobs these days (if you stay in Wales, of course!) too.

Weather wise, the further west you go the wetter and warmer it is. Being on the eastern side of a mountain / hill range tends to protect you a bit from rain. Mid and North Wales tend to get more snow than the South but even then they get very little in reality. S. Wales is very similar to Devon / Cornwall weather wise.

Wow, thank you for such a helpful and informative post!! That's really interesting to read and really very helpful

 

[catembi]

We are upsizing to a bigger equestrian property atm, so have been looking...and looking...and looking...!

Have found somewhere now in west Cambs, but found that properties are a LOT cheaper in N Cambs, i.e. Wisbech/March/Manea etc etc. It is very Fen-ey out there though - v flat indeed! For example, there's this: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52590186.html or this: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70582469.html or this: https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbsmrsssg160120#/r/detail/GBSMRSSSG160120

So if you don't mind being all the way out there (and I'd have a good drive about if I were you as the landscape etc is very unique and not for everyone) you can get a lot of house and land for not much money. And there are good rail links from March & Whittlesea.

 

[buzyizzy]

I have lived in Aberdeenshire for nine years then Cornwall for nine years with a brief break to live in Ireland. Of the three, Scotland is cold, don't be fooled. We had two decent summers when we were there, and the rugs hardly came off the horses. Aberdeenshire is lovely and the prospects are fab. You'd have the property you want there for that price, we sold ours for £250k which had 5 bed, 6 stables, school and 6.5 acres and prices haven't gone up that much. Cornwall is lovely but it does rain a lot! It takes some getting used to and is a complete challenge if you have native ponies with the laminitis problem. Don't look far west, they are not too keen on blow ins and can be quite rude. Wages are not so bad, Council tax is lower. Now if you're looking for the perfect place, then Ireland is the one for you. At the funds you have available, you could buy a lovely place in Wicklow which has fab communications and near Dublin. I was in Ireland (NW) for three months last year and I'm selling up and moving back asap. Lovely people, so friendly and helpful, Euro isn't doing so badly, and Wicklow has decent weather.

 

[0310Star]

I have lived in Aberdeenshire for nine years then Cornwall for nine years with a brief break to live in Ireland. Of the three, Scotland is cold, don't be fooled. We had two decent summers when we were there, and the rugs hardly came off the horses. Aberdeenshire is lovely and the prospects are fab. You'd have the property you want there for that price, we sold ours for £250k which had 5 bed, 6 stables, school and 6.5 acres and prices haven't gone up that much. Cornwall is lovely but it does rain a lot! It takes some getting used to and is a complete challenge if you have native ponies with the laminitis problem. Don't look far west, they are not too keen on blow ins and can be quite rude. Wages are not so bad, Council tax is lower. Now if you're looking for the perfect place, then Ireland is the one for you. At the funds you have available, you could buy a lovely place in Wicklow which has fab communications and near Dublin. I was in Ireland (NW) for three months last year and I'm selling up and moving back asap. Lovely people, so friendly and helpful, Euro isn't doing so badly, and Wicklow has decent weather.

Thank you for that, that's really helpful! We had ummed and ahhed about Ireland... its a beautiful place and you do seem to get a lot for your money!
I am probably asking for a lot with regards to weather, ideally I would go abroad to sunnier climates but that's not a plan we can put into action anytime soon lol

 

[0310Star]

We are upsizing to a bigger equestrian property atm, so have been looking...and looking...and looking...!

Have found somewhere now in west Cambs, but found that properties are a LOT cheaper in N Cambs, i.e. Wisbech/March/Manea etc etc. It is very Fen-ey out there though - v flat indeed! For example, there's this: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52590186.html or this: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70582469.html or this: https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbsmrsssg160120#/r/detail/GBSMRSSSG160120

So if you don't mind being all the way out there (and I'd have a good drive about if I were you as the landscape etc is very unique and not for everyone) you can get a lot of house and land for not much money. And there are good rail links from March & Whittlesea.

Beautiful houses!!!