Usk, Monmouthshire, named best place to live in Wales 2021
Put down roots in this horticultural hotspot, with its attractive town centre and active community
Best Places to Live in Wales: Usk has been a regular winner of Wales in Bloom and has garnered international acclaim
ALAMY
Everyone smiles and nods or says hello as you walk through this delightful, convenient little town. “You’ll have no trouble getting to know your neighbours,” says Janet Mundy, whose hobby is hill-walking in the “spectacular” Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains. “And I particularly like the way that Usk people take responsibility for things and don’t just moan that ‘someone should fix this’.”
Nowhere for the kids to play? Get together and build a new playground. Local heritage threatened? Rally round and buy the Victorian Sessions House, now the town hall and a venue for weddings, as well as offering welcome office space. A global pandemic? The 60 thriving community groups covering activities from art to Zumba are still going strong: wild swimmers meet every Friday evening to take an uplifting dip in the River Usk, and last year the Usk in Bloom brigade managed to lift everyone’s spirits with a riot of pink and purple petals. This year the theme is New Dawn in honour of the vaccine breakthrough, so expect blues and whites as well as shades of apricot, peach and pink.
Pride is big business here. The sheer amount of number plates starting with USK act as proof of that, as does the Usk Show, one of the largest one-day agricultural events in the rural calendar, when most of the 3,000 or so inhabitants turn out to welcome up to 30,000 visitors.
The Welsh hiraeth — the call of home — is strong in Monmouthshire
STEPHEN DAVIES/ALAMY
Day-to-day life is a little more sedate, but there is still a farmers’ market and plenty of independent shops, galleries and cafés. Local produce is to the fore, notably thanks to an excellent butcher, the ice cream at the Parlour and the cakes at Morris’s of Usk garden centre.
The high street is home to salons, restaurants such as 57 Bridge Street and a dozen or so pubs and bars, which remain at the heart of life here. The New Court Inn and the Lines Brew Co are the best picks for beer nerds, while for cocktails it’s the White Hare Distillery or the Mad Platter.
You can walk it all off in the glorious countryside found in every direction. If you like your exercise more organised then there are top-notch facilities for tennis, football, cricket and, of course, rugby. The local RFC has 80 or so youngsters on its books and a senior team that punches above its weight — never more passionately than during the Boxing Day grudge match against Monmouth. And in typical Usk style, the club’s grounds are also used for Brownie and Guide meetings, as well as social evenings for young carers.
The Welsh hiraeth — the call of home — is at its strongest here. Abby Barton is one of many locals to return after a spell working in England. Barton and her husband, Jon, have lived in the town centre for 16 years. “People leave and have their adventures, but we always come back because we want our children to have what we had. Wherever I go in the world, whenever I say I’m from Usk there’s always somebody who knows it. They’ll always say what a beautiful place it is — and they always smile.”
You’ll love living here if
You prefer multigenerational living, are passionate about rugby and like to say it with flowers.
Best address
Old Market Street or Maryport Street for gorgeous character cottages close to the centre.
HOUSE PRICES
Starter home £285,000
Mid-market £475,000
Top end £725,000
Average rental price £800 pcm
Source: TwentyCi
Connections
It is 15 minutes by car to the M4, then a further 20 minutes to the centre of Cardiff. A drive to Bristol takes 35 minutes. The nearest station is Pontypool and New Inn, a 15-minute drive, for trains to Cardiff (from 33 minutes) and Swansea (from 1 hour 40 minutes), and all points north via Shrewsbury to Manchester (from 2 hours 50 minutes). Cwmbran is ten minutes longer in the car, but has easier parking. Trains to London Paddington (from 1 hour 35 minutes) are from Newport, a 20-minute drive.
Broadband
Usk has good coverage of over 30 Mbps speeds and some properties can get over 100 Mbps over their phone line. No full fibre in Usk itself, but the villages of Monkswood and Glascoed to the west do have this available.
Schools
Usk CIW Primary School was last inspected by Estyn in 2018 and was judged to be good in all areas. Nearby Raglan VC Primary School was found to have made sufficient progress since it required monitoring. Coleg Gwent, one of the largest colleges in Wales, has a campus in Usk and was also judged to be good in all areas in 2018. Independent options include Haberdashers’ Monmouth schools for boys and girls in Monmouth, a 20-minute drive away, whose day fees per term range from £1,549 to £5,425; boarding options cost more.
Air quality
Not great on Bridge Street, but fine elsewhere.
Don’t miss
The chance to get really, really involved.
What’s the catch?
Flooding. The River Usk frequently bursts its banks and it’s not just the sheep that find themselves stranded.
▶ Covid restrictions were in force when this article was published