Any decent areas to live near Monmouth in Wales?

krooton

krooton

krooton

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Doesn't need to be in Wales, basically just nearby Monmouth, so some Gloucester places could work too.

Parents are immigrating and my mom got a job in Monmouth, but not earning a huge amount (£20k, but then she is mid-60s).

I know nothing about that area, but it looks like Coleford is close and cheap in terms of house prices, then Lydney is a bit more expensive and further away.

Can anyone shed any light on this area?

Thanks
 
Coleford and Lydney are v small towns with v few amenities - also it’s a bit 9 fingered banjo country
Obviously it depends on what your folks want! They banjo players?
I was brought up just outside Chepstow so have some familiarity with the area
What I say about Coleford and Lydney apply to most of the towns in the area
If I was going back, I’d pick a village, because the towns don’t have much to offer
There are lots of lovely and picturesque villages
 
I'm from Chepstow, still live here, it's a decent place to live although traffic can be an bit annoying sometimes and prices have gone up massively the past 5 years. My GF is from Lydney and it's not great (not rough just not much there), she prefers it here in Chepstow but I would much rather live in Lydney than Coleford and Cinderford which is places I would avoid. Probably are better of looking English side as Monmouthshire is the most expensive county in Wales.
 
Pipe & Slippers said:
Coleford and Lydney are v small towns with v few amenities - also it’s a bit 9 fingered banjo country
Obviously it depends on what your folks want! They banjo players?
I was brought up just outside Chepstow so have some familiarity with the area
What I say about Coleford and Lydney apply to most of the towns in the area
If I was going back, I’d pick a village, because the towns don’t have much to offer
There are lots of lovely and picturesque villages
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Thanks, I'm just going by google maps at this point, how do I tell villages from towns?

MikeTheNative said:
I'm from Chepstow, still live here, it's a decent place to live although traffic can be an bit annoying sometimes and prices have gone up massively the past 5 years. My GF is from Lydney and it's not great (not rough just not much there), she prefers it here in Chepstow but I would much rather live in Lydney than Coleford and Cinderford which is places I would avoid. Probably are better of looking English side as Monmouthshire is the most expensive county in Wales.
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Cheers, Hereford and Chepstow are roughly equidistant, but prices are much higher.
 
krooton said:
Thanks, I'm just going by google maps at this point, how do I tell villages from towns?
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Just zoom in and out and lots of roads coming off the main road = town. Obvs it’s a continuum
The further you go into Wales the wetter it is, but in my opinion, the better the villages. I find Glos a bit grim
 
MikeTheNative said:
Is Monmouth itself out of budget?
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Seems it might be out of their budget, monthly net is only likely to be £2k, and they will be hard pressed to get any sort of mortgage at their age, 5-10 year mortgage tops.

The job is actually in Dingestow, Usk looks nice, but again pricey.
 
Just before lockdown I visited an ex of mine who lives basically equidistant from Hereford and Monmouth, that looks a decent place to me. But then I do come from Stoke, so...
 
The nice areas around Monmouth are expensive as you are finding, might be worth looking a bit further into Wales Raglan and Abergavenny are not far and Abergavenny is a reasonably large town so has a variety of housing available. It's a beautiful area of the country but can be hard if you are not a local as Wales can be quite insular at times.
 
a1ex2001 said:
The nice areas around Monmouth are expensive as you are finding, might be worth looking a bit further into Wales Raglan and Abergavenny are not far and Abergavenny is a reasonably large town so has a variety of housing available. It's a beautiful area of the country but can be hard if you are not a local as Wales can be quite insular at times.
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Thanks, I guess my parents will find out if the Welsh dislike South Africans as much the English :p
 
Ross-on-wye and anywhere close to the A40 from there to Gloucester (e.g. Highnam) aren't too bad and certainly you have a nice range of house prices etc..

Being closer to the A40 is useful for commuting, it can get busy but it's the main artery road and you've got a Gloucester/Cheltenham close by, not to mention the M5..

We have a few people in work (Between Gloucester/Cheltenham) that commute from Ross-on-wye and Highnam that used to work in Monmouth and find that stretch quite convenient since you have a city within close reach.

I used to live in Wales (not too far from Chepstow) and I wouldn't recommend the commute from that area, however living anywhere close to the border isn't so bad, it's when I used to go to places like Blackwood that people where most certainly 'hostile' to 'foreigners'..
 
Demon said:
I used to live in Wales (not too far from Chepstow) and I wouldn't recommend the commute from that area, however living anywhere close to the border isn't so bad, it's when I used to go to places like Blackwood that people where most certainly 'hostile' to 'foreigners'..
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I live in Cardiff and my parents live in Hereford. As I was a military kid my accent is very English and I've never experienced any hostility in any of the Welsh Valley towns. My partner is from Pontypool and even on rugby days, I am never made to feel like an alien. Blackwood is generally a poorer "town" but it hardly hostile!

Anyway back to the question. I cycle a lot in the Wye Valley and it is a beautiful part of the UK. I hope your parents like walks and nature!

Monmouth, Usk and Raglan would be my preferences, but any of the smaller villages are lovely and usually have a decent pub or two (they tend to be historic villages due to their location in the Marches). These locations are quite expensive and house prices have started to rocket in that part of Wales. Abergavenny is probably slightly cheaper and also benefits by being on the train line, so I'd look there. I'd try and stay to the west of Monmouth as the east (towards Gloucester) isn't quite as nice (Cheltenham excluded).
 
Thanks all, gives them some ideas on where to look.

On further discussion they will be renting initially, then look at getting a narrowboat around Abergavenny to settle in (weird I know, but it is what they want to do).
 
Liefrich said:
I live in Cardiff and my parents live in Hereford. As I was a military kid my accent is very English and I've never experienced any hostility in any of the Welsh Valley towns. My partner is from Pontypool and even on rugby days, I am never made to feel like an alien. Blackwood is generally a poorer "town" but it hardly hostile!
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Cardiff is great, the wife worked in the Welsh National Assembly for years (We'd also go shopping there most weekends), very nice place, I loved living in Wales, but when I say 'hostile' in inverted comma's, it's just unfriendly locals who think you don't speak Welsh and start hurling insults behind your back.. I usually laugh and start talking back to them in Welsh, invariably they get a bit sheepish! The only real incident was a shopkeeper being pretty threatening to my Son who was literally stood there doing nothing and sadly as he was born in wales he speaks Welsh fairly well, enough to realise they where being a bit too threatening and he didn't realise it was just idiots being idiots..

:)

krooton said:
Thanks all, gives them some ideas on where to look.

On further discussion they will be renting initially, then look at getting a narrowboat around Abergavenny to settle in (weird I know, but it is what they want to do).
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Sounds good!, the only problem with Abergavenny is idiots like me who meet up on a weekend on motorbikes.. lovely place, nice and scenic and not too far from civilisation!
 
Liefrich said:
I live in Cardiff and my parents live in Hereford. As I was a military kid my accent is very English and I've never experienced any hostility in any of the Welsh Valley towns. My partner is from Pontypool and even on rugby days, I am never made to feel like an alien. Blackwood is generally a poorer "town" but it hardly hostile!
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Not sure about that, we play rugby against a lot of teams based around Blackwood, feels like they want to kill you on the field. :p
 
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