To up sticks from inner London for the Highlands?

[hibbledibble]

I've lived here all my life, but am increasingly finding it unpleasant. Too many people, too much pollution, too much crime, too little outdoor space. Since lockdown it's just got worse, as crime has increased, and the amenities have been closed. House feels too small when we are cooped up in it, but I could never afford anything bigger here, despite working in a professional job. I'm already in a not ideal area. Schools are also a concern, especially secondary, as they are rough and full of gangs.

The Highlands seems idyllic in comparison, and I could get a huge house, for less than the cost of my modest London terrace. The children would love the outdoor space, and it would be great for them to have freedom they couldn't in London, due to the crime here.

My concerns are the cold (but surely just need to wrap up warm?!) And feeling isolated. My job is portable.

Aibu?

Scotland has the highest drug death rate in the EU.
It isn't in the EU. It left with the rest of the UK in January 2020.

Brilliant user name @AwaAnBileYerHeid

I'm in Scotland, not in the "Highlands" but on the edge of a big city. Agree that you sound very naive, and very under-prepared OP. You really haven't thought this through.

Living in Inverness is a totally different kettle of fish to living in a wee village in Wester Ross where the nearest supermarket and hospital is back in Inverness. Many of the issues are common to any rural location - shit public transport, having to travel long distances for sporting facilities, supermarkets, clothes shops, museums, galleries. For example if you're into theatre, most of the large touring productions come to Edinburgh or Glasgow only. If you're prepared for a completely switch in lifestyle in which spontaneity goes out the window and everything needs a lot more planning then you may adjust well. No "popping to the shops" at 7pm because you've run out of milk.

I'm a bit about all the weather comments. Again the "Highlands" is defined as anywhere north of about Stirling, more than half the country. Yes if you're moving to somewhere like Grantown-on-Spey you can expect cold and snow each winter. But the west coast places like Oban, Mallaig, Ullapool are much milder and hardly ever see snow. (Although travelling out of those places can indeed involve high routes and snow gates). The west coast is rainier than the east, because that's the way the weather comes from. It doesn't rain all the time and to say it does is just ridiculous. However you can't guarantee weather at any time of the year and often have to take advantage when it's good - it's dry this morning, let's go out NOW as it might not be dry later. Midgies are only a thing on warm, still evenings through the summer, and not everywhere. The darkness at this time of year is shit, but on the other hand the light in summer is amazing.

I'm not saying "don't come" but as with any major lifestyle change you really must do your homework first. Agree with renting initially as it would be easy to disentangle yourself if it doesn't work out. And don't be doing that thing which Londoners can be guilty of, moving out of London and then constantly telling the locals how much better everything is inside the M25.

To be honest the big thing with these moves is getting stuck into the community and a job like a GP will give you loads of connections. There's a big difference between being an incomer somewhere and growing up there with generations of your family. I think people will respect you more for coming to do the job rather too much about the idyllic lifestyle. It's beautiful because some farmers work very very hard in far from idyllic conditions. For the locals it's not a holiday home. Nobody will disagree with you for being fed up with London but dont underestimate the culture difference.

I know of a couple who built a beautiful architect designed house on the west coast, she was a midwife or community nurse IIRC but still found it too isolated, they split up and the lovely home is now a holiday let .

There’s a lot in between inner London and the highlands though.

This! How about Edinburgh or one of the towns
outside. Or the borders? I suppose if you were thinking Perth or something too, but going to live in the remote highlands would be a shock indeed. Some places can be miles from schools or transport links. There can be lots of drug and alcohol use in teens who have nothing else to do. Sometimes more so than in cities where there are options. Midges are a consideration and the short days in winter (if your dc are young the fact it barely gets dark in summer can be an issue as well). Yes it will be colder and wetter but not everyone cares too much about that. Can be pretty miserable have day after day of rain through August though.

The Highlands are good enough for the Queen. I would do it. Go wild. Getting your children away from gangs will make it worth it. Gangs are massively destructive with lifelong consequences.

I grew up in the far north of Scotland. My Dad was local but my Mum was from further south in Scotland and we were considered incomers and 'English' because I didn't have a super strong accent. As a GP you'll not face the worst of the racism but your kids will at school unless they lose their accents fast.

As others have said the internet speed and e.g. not getting deliveries from M&S or IKEA or many others can be a shock. The change in light levels are not to be underestimated, I hated living in the south of England because I couldn't cope with the heat and the lack of long days in the summer, but the converse of that is how much better the southern so-called winter is. The first 'big wind' of the winter is usually in August and you will never go anywhere without a coat and jumper whatever the time of year. Your London summer wardrobe shall no longer be suitable and you will need more jumpers than you can imagine (to visit my family in August I take wellies, walking boots, a heavy raincoat, and several jumpers).

I agree with PPs, why not move within England to e.g. the NE where you won't face the racism, you will still get loads of house for your money, you are within reach of a proper city, and the countryside is just as gorgeous as Scotland but there will still be a need for lights in your garden.

We have quite a few friends who moved out of London to the Penrith/Carlisle area, one of them a GP. There are beautiful and affordable areas as soon as you leave the home counties tbh.

"I remember vividly an Indian member of staff at the place where I work going to give a speech at a formal occasion. He chose to wear the kilt of the city I live in. The entire room stood up and cheered. A friend from Ghana chose to attend his graduation in a kilt made of kente cloth. Got the same reaction. It said something powerful to me about civic belonging."

That's lovely and I applaud it. However not my experience when it comes to the English. I'm in Scotland with an English husband. Asked a work colleague, 'with my husband being English what would be an appropriate Tartan for him to wear at a formal occasion like a burns supper, weddingk. Got a very nasty answer with the gist he shouldn't be in the country at all and this was cultural appropriation. There was a real strength of feeling there.

It got sticky for the husband a few times during the independence referendum. People openly expressing anti English views and it directed at him.

We live in a big city, love living in Scotland, love Scotland, have been here years, but it's telling that many of our friends aren't Scottish. Those that are have often lived for a time in London which is where I met my husband.

It is true that many Scots resent incomers and would state views on that easily in conversation but would be shocked if anyone were to talk in similar terms about Scots being in other parts of the UK.

Buy a large Winnebago and just tour from place to place, home school, explore, follow your nose for a few years. Oh no - that's my dream - sorry ! You are welcome to try it though ! Reality might be a tad tricky though, hence I've not done it it. Have got a VW camper though ! Not quite the same !

It is ethnically and socially diverse here though. Are people trying to tell me that the Highlands aren't?

I didn't see a black person in real life until I went to London as a teenager (I'd never left Scotland before that).

I'm an estate agent on the outskirts of the highlands, in the last four months the amount of people doing the same as you'd like to has been crazy. It's driven up the value of properties as those from down south pay more for houses than local people would've.
It really is a great place to stay.

We have an RAF camp nearby and many families who are posted here decide to stay, often their extended family join them after visiting.

Regarding the weather, yes it's dark most of the day at the moment but come the summer months, it's only really dark for about 4 hours from 11pm-3am. It's not that cold, my Facebook feed was full of snow photos yesterday from all over the country but we had none. However if we wanted to go sledging or skiing it's only a 40 minute drive away.

I remember when a black family moved to our village, they were like an attraction. Everyone was falling over themselves to befriend them to prove they were accepting and not racist. They were treated like celebrities. I was a young teen at the time and remember thinking it must have been quite overwhelming for them. This wasn't even rural highlands it was the Scottish Borders only an hour from Edinburgh and an hours and a half from Newcastle. They were the only non white British family right up until I left in 2014. Even I was seen as a bit of an outsider as I'd moved in from 15 miles away.

My daughter lives near Inverness, gorgeous up there, we love going up to visit. On the other hand, she had to drive her children to sports, clubs etc. Sometimes the school bus would not arrive so she'd have to drive them there.

Now the children are grown up they have left the Highlands and gone further south where there are more opportunities for them, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. Plus a regular bus service, not one an hour like back home.

The most dramatic scenery, the worst weather and the midges are mainly in the west.

I lived just north of Inverness on the Black Isle for a while (it's not an island). The weather there and generally in the Moray Firth area isn't extreme at all and you're within an easy drive of Inverness.

There were many English people living there and further up the east coast. Those I knew were happily settled and involved in the community.

As others have said, some people relocate from the south-east and want the south-east with few people. That causes resentment of course.

I'd rent for a bit first to see if you can cope with it - don't underestimate the effect the weather has. We did the same move 12 years ago because DH's mother needed someone a bit closer than the next nearest brother, who was 5 hours away. Before we moved I'd only ever visited the area in winter, so was used to the horizontal rain and wind you can't stand up in - if I'd only ever been in summer and then moved it would have been a pretty nasty shock. 12 years on I still find November really difficult, we lose 2 hours of daylight in the space of 30 days and that's usually when the really nasty weather starts as well. Even a SAD light and Vitamin D doesn't help much. By midwinter there's just 6 hours 16 minutes between sunrise and sunset and if it's raining it'll pretty much be dark all day.

I remember a few years ago a buyer purchased a property after only viewing it online. She sold in London and purchased near Tomintoul. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The house itself was really rural and up a windy dirt track and she moved in just before Christmas when there was lots of snow. It was a big culture shock to her plus she couldn't get her car up the track as it wasn't a 4x4, She lasted a year and then we sold the house for her again and she lived back to London.

If I was you OP I'd rent first to see if you like it. Moray is a great place to stay, weather isn't too bad, rail links to Aberdeen and Inverness and only a short drive from the highlands.

*moved

It's a bit odd that people are so anti the idea of driving children to places. Never mind the Highlands of Scotland, there are vast swathes of England where everyone does this. It's pretty normal for anyone who lives in a village or eve semi-rurally.

We moved from London to a village in Oxfordshire, but then moved to Cumbria 7 years later because we felt we hadn't gone rural enough and the area was getting busier and busier.

As people are saying, OP - there's a lot between London and the Highlands, including beautiful rural areas like where we now live, without the worry of anti-English feelings.

It's a bit odd that people are so anti the idea of driving children to places. Never mind the Highlands of Scotland, there are vast swathes of England where everyone does this. It's pretty normal for anyone who lives in a village or eve semi-rurally.

Yes. This is our normal. I guess it depends on if you drive, whether you have easy access to a car (DH and I have a car each) and whether you are used to regular public transport.

@TeeniefaeTroon it's stories in the press about big leaps in enquiries from down south and properties selling fast for inflated prices that are making me feel uncomfortable, I believe its happening in Wales too. I suppose the equivalent in London would be the big increase in overseas buyers that have pushed London prices into the Stratosphere over the last 30 years and pushed ordinary Londoners further and further out and into smaller properties (and had the knock on effect of giving them the money to buy space in the Highlands).

When I lived up in the Highlands they had a thing called ‘settler watch’. Do they still have that?

I wouldn’t move to the highlands if you paid me (because of all the reasons listed in this thread) however have you considered Shetland? It’s far more welcoming than mainland Scotland to English people - if you walk around Tesco it’s a pretty interesting mix of accents, I’d say about half of working age people are incomers. They’re desperate for GPs too. If you watch island medics (BBC) you’ll get an idea of the unique challenges faced up there.

The weather is shockingly bad though. Not much snow but the wind will blow your car door off. And you’d need to be fairly comfortable with the idea of not seeing the sun. At all. For months.

@Wbeezer it's true, a year ago if you got your property's valuation then you were doing well. Now most things are going over, sometimes by tens of thousands. That hasn't happened here since 2007-8.
I had a wee snoop at one buyers property he was selling on Rightmove, he was selling an end terraced house in London for 1 million and bought a huge 7 bedroom rural house here for half that. 😱

It's a bit odd that people are so anti the idea of driving children to places. Never mind the Highlands of Scotland, there are vast swathes of England where everyone does this. It's pretty normal for anyone who lives in a village or eve semi-rurally.

I live in Edinburgh and drive my dc to their clubs too, the issue is the distance. I've lived semi rurally and had to drive just to get a pint of milk and had 2 busses a day, 7 miles to go for swimming lessons etc etc but some villages in the highlands can be absolutely miles from anywhere. I remember staying in a holiday cottage in a lovely village and driving over 40 miles to take the dc swimming. It took about an hour and a half on the single track winding roads and that was in the summer in decent weather conditions. Ok when you're on holiday but a pain if dc wants to swim as a hobby 3 times a week in winter. I imagine many things would mean a couple of hour journey to Inverness and very limited options for public transport. Rural in the highlands means a very different thing to rural in most parts of England.