To ask if anyone lives on a small Scottish Island?

Big Tesco at Dingwall! If you are near enough to shop there, even if it’s only once a month, that makes a huge difference.

Agree with this. The village across the bay from where my family lived does not get sun at all in winter as the sun does not get above the mountain. My granny always said she wouldn’t be able to bear that. And she herself cried when they moved from the rocky side of the island to the sandy side at the thought of all that sand to deal with in the house - and it is true, it’s a scourge. Earwigs would regularly short out the kettle and cooker. Sand scours the house, hinges and metalwork on the south side rust.

And yet it’s a life that could suit a person, I just can’t fathom looking on Rightmove rather than going and finding out about it (and Rightmove isn’t the way to find houses in the islands anyway, most aren’t in there, you need to look at solicitor’s sites). Getting to a hospital when you’re sick, or getting home to family members in their last days… it’s a worry with the state of the ferries currently. I had a very close shave trying to get my daughter to a scheduled operation because of ferry cancellations.

Everyone is talking about the wind in the winter. The only time I went to Tiree it was July and it was so windy that it was impossible to stand upright. I seriously regretted leaving my winter coat at home.

OP - the Scottish islands are beautiful, but some of them (including Eday and Tiree) are incredibly remote with quite extreme weather. I'd really recommend visiting at all times of the year before making a commitment to move. I've actually just realised that Eday is in Orkney, rather than the Hebrides so in mid-winter you'd get about 6 hours daylight per day, which is really tough.

There are also lots of beautiful places in Scotland that are not so remote and that are a bit more sheltered weather-wise but area still near the sea where you may find life a bit easier. I am thinking of Dunoon, the Isle of Bute, Oban, Helensburgh. Even moving to a the mainland of Orkney, Shetland or the Western Isles would be less challenging than the places you're suggesting.

Same with when you're on a call to someone down south and they get confused when you refer to 4pm as the evening, which seems natural when it's pitch black outside!

It’s not about being hardy or outdoorsy, but the lack of light for months on end. Some people can hunker down into it, but for many people it just spirals into depression. Until you’ve experienced it, you can’t know how you will respond.

You sound really negative and defensive, which doesn't sound like the kind of personality that would help you thrive on a remote Scottish island.

I've a friend who lives on a much bigger island. .orkney...the winters are brutal and despite it being orkney the ferry can be stopped due to weather. They've got a great new hospital as it's a bigger island. there are limited roads so it's very same travelling...I've visited in the summer months and thought it a beautiful stunning place. We saw a whale. Everyone depends on each other but the shops are very limited in what they sell. However she is very happy but she was born and breed there. Go and live on the island for a winter...the islands you suggesting are a lot smaller than orkney. I was surprised how far it was.

My sister lives on Mull. They have a wonderful life, 4 kids ranging from 11-18. The lifestyle suits them. But their kids are in school and have several friends, it would be very isolating otherwise. We live in SE and it takes us 14 hours door-to-door to visit them, which is a bit ridiculous! Ferries are a total disaster. It takes a long time to sell, so be careful it's the right decision as could be hard to move back! Many English folk, actually more than Scottish! You need to really integrate yourself into island life, and give something back to community.

I live on one of the larger islands, have been here for almost 5 years now. I love it here but I'd echo what others have said about the winters. They really are something else. We don't get the really cold temperatures, rarely goes before zero, but the wind and rain are incredible. Everything outside has to be battened down otherwise it'll take off and never be seen again. Some days we're lucky to get 6 hours of gloomy daylight. It's very difficult to do anything outdoors in the winter

On the other hand, when spring arrives it's all worth it. The last week has been lovely sunny weather and the sunsets have been beautiful. Today I watched tiny lambs snuggling up with each other in the sunshine. And tonight there was a young deer chasing a rabbit in the field next to us. This is the payoff for surviving another winter.

@IslandLifeOtter This year, I think we had about 2 months where I think I only saw a blue sky for 2-3 days in that period.

I grew up in London, and now live near Edinburgh. My wife has family that came from South Uist, and I've spent some time there. A friend of mine lives there too.

Trust me on this - don't.

It's an incredibly hard life. If you're not born into it, I doubt you'll cope.

It's very relevant because it's happening here where I live, and yes, it causes massive resentment. Instead of selling at a realistic price that most locals can afford, many sellers will wait months, sometimes over a year, sometimes even two years in the hope that uneducated people from England will come along and pay over what it's worth in the local market. Those people think they've bought a bargain (because they're comparing to prices in the South-East), but then they realise they're pretty fucked when they try to sell. The worst case of this I saw was a place that sold for over a million during the madness of Covid, and two years later, then place can't even sell for 700k.

It happens across the market though. I met a buyer who had moved here from Kent. They thought they'd bought a 2 bedroom house for a cheap price for 230k, but given the location, I knew she'd overpaid by a significant degree and she shouldn't have paid more than 160k - 180k for it, at the very most. Estate agents and sellers feel emboldened to try their luck like this because they know that sooner or later, some poor sod is going to step into their trap.

Run-down, rough towns now have streets where house after house after house are English people from Cheshire, London or Manchester. The prices keep going up steadily and meanwhile local Millennials like me are stuck living at home with their parents until middle age, or paying extortionate rents.

We currently live on an island, not in Scotland.
Personally I hate it, the weather is awful, you really need to be a "no bad weather, just bad clothing" person. There's a pervasive dampness that rolls off the sea that leads to a lot of windy grey days for a lot of the year. When it's sunshining it's beautiful, but there aren't a lot of sunny days.

The ferries are expensive as you need to put your car on, also in winter there are frequent cancellations. If you have family on the mainland, kids at uni etc then it can be hard to get back in an emergency and it's a horrible feeling knowing you are needed, but you can't just jump in the car and go.

We have a hospital, better than many islands, but more serious things mean being helicoptered to the mainland. If you have a heart attack in bad weather you will have to wait. You have to travel for some cancer treatments.

Our kids had to give up certain sports when they moved here, which didn't go down well. Also support for SEN is poor. Friendship pool can be small and incomers are transient.

You'll always be a incomer. Always.

Getting things delivered can be a right pain in the arse and expensive.

I wouldn't recommend. But each to their own. There's also the risk that one of you might hate it and one might really settle, which I have seen happen a few times.

On the plus side it's safe, kids have a lot of freedom, but there are issues with alcohol, drugs and higher suicide rates although I think that can be the case in many rural communities.

Dunbar is the sunniest place in Scotland.

Back in the 90s I worked for a company headquartered in Glasgow but with branches in the South of England. I remember one December morning I had a phone call with one of the managers on the south coast; he couldn't believe that at 10am it wasn't fully daylight in Glasgow.

Summers can also be quite harsh but just with daylight.

😂

Sadly, true.

OP you hat had a lot of good feedback about the realities of island life as opposed to the twee that is often portrayed.

Island life can be great for young kids but not so much for teenagers.

Do not underestimate how harsh winters can be. It isn’t enough to think that it’s fine as you are outdoorsy. I grew up on one and there were days on end when we were literally ferried right up to school doors and not allowed out as it was just too dangerous. Summers can also be quite harsh but just with daylight.

Also, you will be tied to the car and driving everywhere.

Weather is so important as it will dictate whether lifeline ferries and planes get in, and if they don’t say goodbye to fresh produce.

Also if you or your child needs significant medical treatment, you will be off of the island for the period of treatment so partner/other children left behind.

There are so many who turn up as they are attracted to the remote wilderness with no idea what the reality is.

Take stock of what has been posted here and if you still want to do it, go for it but do it for the right reasons.

Don't do it OP. I'm not from an island, but I do know what it's like to live on a windswept small peninsula which is very much like living on an island.

People move to Scotland, Wales and Ireland because they want to fulfil their boho / hippy Instagram or Country Living magazine dream. It's often just selfishness on the parent's part because they want to life off grid or fancy themselves teaching yoga whilst picking up odd jobs to supplement their income, and they convince themselves that their children will just adapt or that they'll love the countryside and fresh air. It might be just about ok when they're under 10, but not older than that.

Unless he is nature mad and very introverted, or he has very generic interests as he grows up, like football, he will struggle. I'm not even an extrovert, and yet I still felt miserable and isolated as a teenager. People in rural places like that are more conventional and homogenous, and you only have to stick out just a tiny bit for it to be really noticed and remarked upon. If you don't get along or have anything in common with the very small population that goes to your school, or you end up bullied, you're fucked, socially. The population is so sparsely populated that there's few opportunities to make friends within a reasonable distance.

Things are better now we have the internet, but opportunities of all sorts are so limited too. Classes, events, the lot. I've noticed that very often, people struggle to adapt to the fact that they're in a Celtic community and it's not unusual for the ones who move here to end up just socialising with other English people.

This is relevant as there is lots of resentment of (usually retired tbf) people from down south selling up, moving north to buy and pushing house prices way out of reach of local folk.

Totally not your fault but please be sensitive to it if you do make the move.

Honestly op I really would consider the difference you will feel coming from the south to up here in winter.
The lack of daylight can be absolutely brutal, and not something to be minimised just because you are “outdoorsy”
If you are outdoorsy have you thought how you’ll cope not getting outside due to 50 mile an hour winds, sometimes far far higher, which are common place in winter.
I’ve lived in Scotland my whole life so have got 53 years experience of our winters and would never be as blasé to say
winter wouldn’t be too much of a shock

What a rude response.

It's not longer days, it's shorter days. In the depths of winter it won't be daylight until 9am and it will be dark before 4pm. That can be quite hard to cope with, and a lot of people suffer with seasonal affective disorder.

Read I am an Island by Tamsin Calidas

Prepare to be shunned for being English.