Completely off topic, more of a personal blog post..
Ryan Reynolds and Rob Macalvoy just bought Wrexham FC!
Wrexham is Beautiful – Really!
A lot of people complain about Wrexham, but we’ve got a lot to be grateful for.
If you don’t like living in this beautiful part of the country, it’s because you’re not making the most of it.
Yes, the ‘functional’ town centre has a few problems, but there are dozens of stunning local villages which make up the county of Wrexham.
There are opportunities in terms of jobs for everyone from computer programmers to tradesmen and everyone in between. The house prices are also pretty reasonable too.
Here’s a summary of why I’m grateful for living in Wrexham:
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Beautiful Countryside
We don’t appreciate how beautiful North Wales is.
Copyright John Harrison – Bwlchgwyn – Nant y Ffrith
But go live in the city for a couple of years and you’ll soon appreciate all the trees, fields and greenery that we take for granted in Wrexham and the rest of North Wales.
There’s amazing scenery to be found in all the surrounding villages and towns of Wrexham, as well as Flintshire & Denbighshire.
In no particular order, off the top of my head, the Wrexham area boasts the following beautiful sites & walks:
- Marford Quarry
- Hope Mountain
- Castell Dinas Bran
- Horseshoe Pass
- Bala Lake
- Moss Valley
- Bwlchgwyn
- Rhos, Johnstown, Pen Y Cae
The vast majority of villages within the county of Wrexham have their own scenic walks and routes, although a lot of them are not well known.
Steeped in history, if you have an appreciation of architecture then each village has its own iconic buildings. Check out Wynn Hall in Pen Y Cae for example.
I’d never been to the top of Hope Mountain for example, until 2 years ago:
Wrexham – a great place for dogs
Note – I realise Hope, strictly speaking is in Flintshire, but it is literally 5-10 mins from Wrexham Town Centre.
The town is surrounded by beautiful villages including Overton & Erbistock.
There’s even a Roman fort and Farmstead on the Wrexham/Flintshire border, in Hope.
There’s also a number of world-class mountain biking tracks in the area, including Llandegla:
Wrexham also boasts its very own World Heritage Site, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Built in 1805, the 18-arch aqueduct is a marvel of architecture and people literally come from across the World to visit.
The beautiful countryside also provides some amazing settings for (affordable) places to eat too:
Cross Foxes Erbistock. Image from TripAdvisor
Honey’s Bakery https://www.facebook.com/honeysbakerycafe
So, to summarise, the villages within the county of Wrexham are steeped in history and rural beauty…
A few more random pictures from our walks around Wrexham:
If you’re willing to drive a few miles outside of Wrexham, there’s more beautiful scenery to be found in Llangollen and areas of Denbighshire such as the Horseshoe Pass:
The Horseshoe Pass is a Scenic Spot – 10 mins from Wrexham
2. History!
There’s a lot of history behind this industries town.
Erddig
Minera Lead Mines
Brymbo Heritage Centre
Each local village is also steeped in history. Just look around, some of the buildings are hundreds of years old. Below is a picture of the Pant Yr Ochain:
For more Historic facts and pictures relating to Wrexham, see the aptly named website Wrexham-History.com
3. National Parks on our Doorstep
Whilst Manchester, Liverpool & Chester reside to the east of Wrexham, to the West is a range of beautiful mountains, beaches and National Parks.
Named in the Top 5 Regions in the World to visit by Lonely Planet in 2017, North Wales offers the traditional & historic sites of castles, mountains and lakes, combined with modern attractions including Surf Snowdonia and Zip World.
Snowdonia is the most obvious place that we’re blessed to have close by (because it’s amazing) but there are many more places to explore…
5 Things to Do in North Wales
North Wales also has a number of the world’s Dark Sky Reserves.
If you don’t like beautiful country scenery, Chester is just a few miles down the road. You can go shopping or just take a stroll in one of the most beautiful walled cities in the country. Plus there’s loads of Roman stuff to look at.
4. Wrexham Industrial Estate – Jobs & Opportunites
A couple of practical things to consider about Wrexham…
Wrexham is home to one of the biggest industrial estates in Europe. Home to dozens of companies, both large & small, the estate provides jobs to thousands of Wrexham residents.
Despite its reputation as a sleepy town, Wrexham is also home to a number of modern, high tech, online businesses including the likes of Demon Tweeks, Net World Sports and Moneypenny:
Chester Business Park is also located within 5 miles of Wrexham & Airbus is a huge employer, based 10 minutes from Wrexham in Broughton, Chester.
Basically, there are lots of jobs to be had if you live in Wrexham.
5. Affordable House Prices
Considering the strength of the local economy, house prices in Wrexham are reasonable. The average house price in Wrexham in 2018 was £157,000, whilst the UK average was just over £226,000 (source).
Take another beautiful part of the UK – Dorset. The average house price there is £347,000! (source).
A lot of people travel for hours to London, just to earn a living and afford the price of a house in that county.
This is often overlooked but definitely something to be grateful for. If you live down south, especially in an area as rural as the outskirts of Wrexham, you’ve got little chance of living locally and being able to afford a decent gaff.
A picture of my back garden in Hope (albeit just in Flintshire, it’s 10 mins from Wrexham town centre):
Back-Garden of a 97k House in Hope, Flintshire/Wrexham
My uni-mate’s back garden in London:
Back Yard in a 300k London House
Here they are side-by-side, just to emphasise how much of a difference a bit of a garden (with actual grass) makes:
Anyway, if you don’t like Wrexham, there are 2 airports within an hour’s drive, Chester is only a couple of miles from Wrexham, and Liverpool & Manchester are both under an hour’s drive away.
There’s beautiful scenery, countryside and beaches to the West of Wrexham and historic yet high-tech cities to the East (Manchester is the tech-hub of the North).
One more thing –
Wrexham has no gun crime and very little knife crime, compared to the big cities. You can’t really put too much value on that if you have kids!
A few more pics from near or within Wrexham:
Sunrise – Moel Famau
A Beach in Anglesey (can’t remember which one)
Hope Mountain
2 handsome men at Park in the Past
One more thing that you won’t get in many larger cities is the ‘strong’ local communities.
I can’t vouch for other places in the Wrexham area, but the community in Hope is pretty cohesive & amazing.
Switching on the Christmas Lights in Hope
It’s all about how your frame it. It’s very easy to pick out the negative points about Wrexham, but with a little effort it’s even easier to see how amazing the county actually is!
Stop watching TOWIE, get off your arse and go explore!
A lot of the places pictured are from areas that border Wrexham, such as Hope.
Please comment below if you have a favourite place within Wrexham
Share this post & spread the love!
#MakeWrexhamGreatAgain
Some bonus things to think about:
- Wrexham doesn’t have the ridiculous rich/poor divide seen in places like California, South Africa etc.
- Wrexham doesn’t have many animals that can kill you – like spiders etc.
- Wrexham doesn’t have any gun crime – or at least very limited
- You can go for walks in the countryside without worrying very much about Lyme disease (which is a massive problem in East USA)
- Wrexham doesn’t have a drought issue like California
PS
It goes without saying that Wrexham has a great MMA gym – IPC Wrexham
Fitness & MMA Blog - BlackBeltWhiteHat.com 
Great post 😁
Very useful