To ask if anyone lives on a small Scottish Island?

Yep. Every time the ferries are in the news I see islanders/people who use the ferry being admonished by people from the cities who had a lovely trip to Arran two years ago, sneering at them and telling them they're being political.

The inverse is in fact true.

Yeah, a lot of kids won't thank you for dragging them away from a familiar life to a sparsely populated wilderness. I know someone who got dragged off to a remote and isolated corner of New Zealand as a kid. First thing she did at the age of 18 was book a one-way ticket out of there, back to the UK. She found it all too limiting and insular, and has never gone back.

Plus 50% of the land in the Highlands is owned by 400 people, vast estates. A couple buying a couple of acres of a small croft is dwarfed by that.

Owning land in this case probably means a few hectares. Doesn't sound a big threat-there's plenty to go round. My folks are from Mull and our son and grandchildren live in Singapore. Mull is bigger than Singapore. The population of Singapore is 6 million, the population of Mull is 3000. There's plenty room. Our nearest neighbours to the east and west are each a mile away, and there are none to the north and south.

Try Mull. Much better than Tiree or Eday. Ferries to Mull only a minor issue. There's a high school in the north of the island

We all have our different ideas so I understand but in fairness with us there were no children they were all adults

Or maybe not, having actually gone through this experience as a dc I absolutely wouldn’t describe it as marvelous and neither would any of my siblings.

If we were 40years younger we'd have moved there in a flash as regular visitors to the islands for long peroids of time, but the main thing is you have to have a community spirit because everone helps each other rather unlike in England or the mainland but do it it will be marvellous for you and the children

Absolutely.
I am not actually a yoon thats the irony. Far from it. I am not scoring political points.
I am just a person getting utterly shafted due to the ferries with children getting shafted due to the ferries.

Or you get told "Its island life".
No its not.
Ferry disruption due to severe weather is island life. Do not tell me what island life is if you dont live on a bloody island!

"Well my day trip in August went fine dont know why you are moaning".
That single journey makes them an expert!

Ferry disruption because ageing vessels cant cope when the wind gets above the puff of a butterfly wing is not island life.
Ferry disruption when a "new" 250million vessel has break down after break down is not island life. Its systemic failure from a company that gets dizzying amounts of public subsidy.

I don’t - but I do live in a small village in Scotland. Far enough away from other people but only an hour and a half to Glasgow.

suits me fine. I get the solitude but I can drive (no need to rely on a ferry even without the political stuff, weather is a huge factor there!).

but if I knew I could move to an island in Scotland and it would look like this!!! I’d do it in a heartbeat!!!

www.instagram.com/stories/historic_ally/3888045792015872311?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=MTR5dWhsaG5xYWZuYg==

Hi OP. I’ve seen the responses and wanted to add a bit of support for you. I grew up in the Highlands. Not the islands to be fair, but I had a lot of school friends who had travelled to the mainland for school and boarded locally. I can see that you know it’ll be tough at times and might not work. There will be challenges for sure and some will make you cry maybe. But there will be successes as well and it could be a great experience for you all. If it doesn’t work, you can think what you’re next adventure will be. The islands and some of the Highlands can be grim, especially the unrelenting awful weather. But when the sun shines - well, there’ll be nowhere else you’d rather be.
I spent several years in Southern Europe with my kids. We’re back in the UK now, they have great memories of the time. Yes, we struggled with language, culture, sometimes education and definitely money! But regrets? No! Just make sure your son knows you’ve got his back at all times, plan, plan, plan, research and expect the best and worst and you’ll be ok. @NewStartFamily

100%

But anyone who complains at the atrocious mess of the ferries and the consequences is attacked as being a 'yoon'. There are regularly people who need to travel for dialysis stranded and desperately trying to find a way to the hospital. It has ruined businesses, and livelihoods.

You can tell instantly if someone has experience of relying on the ferries.

What about immigrants? Are they allowed to buy a house in the Highlands&Islands?

You dont understand the distinction? Really?

Seriously unless you live on Arran you know shit all . The ferries are a fucking catastrophe. Calmac stats do not count cancellations so those are bollox.

My children attend an activity in Glasgow every saturday. An activity theg worked long abd gard to get in to . They should be able to leave on first boat and come home on last boat . In the 24 Saturdays so far, just 4 journeys have been non disrupted. I have spent 2k on hotels as we have been stranded 19 times . Since August.
Our high school has teachers who commute daily. There is not a week when those teachers miss a whole or part days work. The loss of teaching hours is huge and causes real problems for staff having to fill in.
The "new ferry" was 8 years late. It its cost spiralled until it cost £250 million to build. A car ferry. 250 million. Its been out of service in its first year almost as much as its been in service. They fitted the wrong propeller system and the vibrations are causing the hull to fail. Thats going be to another 5million to fix. Its sister ship is 10 years late, still not finished and being canibalised for parts to try to keep the first one running.
Oh and they built them too big to fit the port so thats been nice.

Its not anti SNP anything. Its cold hard facts from people living with it day in day out.

Its really not ignorant.
Island children often live at distance from their friends unless you live in a bigger village. We live on the south of the island. The north of the island is a different country, its 20 miles away. My kids have no friends from the far away villages....because its just too much faff out of school. School becones the social hub to see friends.

At high school because of distances generally team up with those from their primary school, because they will be relatively close by. If you child is not at primary they wont forge those connections.
They wont be able to get away and make non school friendships. Because you live on an island. You cant just pop off elsewhere. The island community and the schools which support them are central to everything. That are utterly essential to you survivivg island life as a family.
Also being an incomer is islolating. Being an incomer who doesnt engage will make your life very difficult.

Are we also going to stop "highlanders" migrating south so they can have better jobs etc? Or is it just the Highlands that is to be protected from any immigration?

Yes I agree.

On the mainland, near/in a town or city yes I’d agree. Community in HE, socialising etc is definitely, fairly easily a thing.
Living on a remote Scottish island is isolating. You are relying on the island’s community for your social life, work, someone to fix a broken roof etc.
HE on an island is a slap not just to the local school (which may badly want pupils) but the entire community. It’s a rejection that won’t be appreciated.
Nearest other HErs may well be a 100 miles away.
Having a pupil at the school is about joining in - in a way that nobody cares about in cities etc.

😆in this day and age??

Stop it - Scotland wasn't a colony ever. And people are entitled to move within their own country.
To add - I can understand a level of upset at second homes, but the rellity is that remote parts of Scotland are suffering inevitable and high levels of depopulation - people coming into the areas help keep them alive.

i meant to add that Eday is quite a rugged island with a population of only around 150. I think you might find the neighbouring island of Sanday ( lovely sandy beaches), decent primary school and more activities easier to assimilate in to .

My brother who is single lives on Orkney. The summer months are lovely with the long days and migratory wild life. The winters are long, cruel, The wind blows constantly and it is very stormy. There is no mains gas and most heating is by very expensive electricity. The quality of the housing stock is very old and poor. There are literally no houses to rent. Flights are ridiculously expensive at over £250 single for a fifty minute flight to Edinburgh although locals get a discount. The ferry service ( Northlink ferries) is good compared to the Western Isles but storms can keep you trapped on the islands for many days. Employment is very seasonal and limited. You need to establish a good social life or you will go mad. Serious medical emergencies require an air ambulance to Aberdeen or Glasgow ( assuming the airport is open due to storms). Apart from that he loves it. Remember if you go to the outer isles like Eday all if these negatives are magnified. Good luck in what you decide but please try and spend September to April there to experience it fully before burning your bridges.

The point is it’s ££££, takes time and you’re adding a factor you can’t control to your life. I wouldn’t move to the Isle of Wight which has several different providers and routes for the same reason.

I think it sounds like a dream, but I’d prefer to be west coast mainland rather than on an island. I moved to a small town in NE Scotland a few years ago, and I think you need to be aware that some smaller communities can be incredibly insular and don’t like outsiders, including the English. It’s incredibly difficult to get a job because half the town is related to itself and family gets work first, going 10 miles down the road to the next town is the furthest a lot of people have got (and some not even that much) so limited worldviews and narrow minded, it has always reminded me of a corrupt western town in 70s USA where you’re still an outsider 5 years later, the mayors son is head of police, and no one likes change or modernity. If you want to integrate, I personally think it’d be easier to move somewhere with a larger community nearby even if you live more rurally.