Move to Scotland - Inverness, Black Isle or Stirling?

[SuperGlowBug]

We have 5 DC ranging from a baby to a 13 year old and live in Southern England. My parents are Scottish and we have a lot of family in the Highlands.

We want to be semi-rural/village within walking distance of schools, 20 mins drive or so of a city/large town and have plenty of gorgeous scenery and outdoor space.
We've narrowed it down to three possible choices...

Drumnadrochit (Loch Ness)
Fortrose (Black Isle)
Callander (near Stirling)

All have excellent schools and seem to tick the other boxes. Would really like the first two but a bit concerned about the career opportunities in Inverness when DC leave uni, have heard it's difficult to find work.

Any advice much appreciated.

Stirling is great if you want easy access to the outdoors but also to be connected to the outside world - it's half an hour from Glasgow and Edinburgh but also from the Trossachs national park. Driving in from the south you get this amazing view of the Ochils on your right, the castle in the middle, and proper mountains (including a couple of easily identifiable Munros if you're into that sort of thing) in the background behind it. I like Inverness but it doesn't really compare.

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan are the expensive end of things by local standards but if you can afford it they're worth considering. Both have their own train station so commuting is very easy. Failing that I'd try villages West and North of Stirling.

Callander ought to be lovely but as others have said it's very coach trippy, impossible to get parked on a Saturday, etc.

Wow, so much helpful advice and so much to think about! Found this in Stirling near Balfron school which is meant to be very good. It seems to tick all the boxes! Does anyone know the area?

Echoing some of the other posters. Angus/Dundee is a great idea at the moment.

Less than an hour to Aberdeen or Edinburgh, slightly longer to Glasgow.

World class University, and really on the up just now (new V&A museum, vibrant arts scene etc), and house prices still haven't caught up with the other big cities. (5 bedroom detached, loads of land, just outside Dundee in Angus for less than £300k)

Definitely worth a stop on your tour

Boquhan is a beautiful place. I have friends in Balfron so know the area. It is isolated though. No train station nearby so you would rely on the car a lot.

Just to throw a spanner in the works re post uni employment, 4 out of my 5 Scottish cousins that went to uni then left Scotland, despite being within easy reach of Glasgow/Edinburgh.

Out of the three I would say Callander however agree with other posters there are better small towns etc around ( originally from Local area). Being in the central belt will just be easier for general life and travel and opportunities rather than really up north I think

Ooh another lovely house.

I'm about 15 miles from Balfron and 7 from Glasgow city centre. I attended a thing in balfron one evening a week until very recently.

Personally, I think it's really nice. My absolute fave would be the neighbouring village of Killearn. Prettier, (IMO) and slightly closer to Glasgow. Lovely cafe. We used to sometimes spend sunday afternoons in Killearn when the dc were younger. Beautiful walks, excellent play park then fab cake and coffee. But slightly more expensive than Balfron And no secondary school.

Yes, I think Balfron is a good school. It has an excellent music dept apparently.

However the last bus in to Glasgow on a weekday leaves at 9.30 pm. I think there's one slightly later in the other direction. I don't know about services to Stirling. As another pp said, there are no trains. Travelling time to Inverness would be about 2hrs 15 minutes.

Thanks everyone! Cannot believe how much I feel I've learnt from this thread ... Now for actually visiting these places. I shall report back once I've been next month ....