Ballater/Braemer doable or too expensive?

[Treesandsheepeverywhere]

Hi, anyone know/live in or around Ballater or Braemer please help.

We are planning a move with a 300k budget for possibly a detached/semi 2 bed.

Is this realistic and which place is better?

Londoners all our lives with lots of country breaks, so love the countryside but have only ever done 2 weeks max.

Favourite places are Northumberland, Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
Love outdoorsy activities and are both big walkers and cyclists.

YABU - Boring villages with nothing for that budget.
YANBU - Go for it, you may find a gem and learn to love the different pace of life.

@SabrinaThwaite apparently Egyptian mongeese/gooses. The poor chickens' gooses were certainly cooked anyway.

@nameXname , thank you for your advice.
We would absolutely be respectful of the people and way of life.
Taking everything on board and will certainly visit the Highland Folk Museum.

@MaryLennoxsScowl , Thanks, DH fancies himself as a small holding farmer, maybe a few sheep and a dog.

@BreakfastAtMimis , hopefully will work out ok.

Thank you @Ishagonnaland, that's really helpful to hear and promising 🙂.

@feellikeanalien , love Northumberland and had looked at a few places there, but not keen on Newcastle. Again, no reason other than it just doesn't feel like somewhere I'd enjoy going to.

@Treesandsheepeverywhere

Has your DH had experience of sheep before?

This thread might be useful.

A sheep’s one ambition in life is to die as quickly and as inconveniently as possible.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/4578634-why-do-sheep-need-so-much-help

We live in the lakes and go up to Ballater for the get away from it all feeling.

It's very different to the lakes - my DH and I are in Leeds/Manchester a lot for work, you're connected to everywhere here.

London to Ballater would be quite a step!

He hasn't , that's hilarious! I'll show it to him 🤣.
Thanks.

I’ve had taddy lambs. By the time they’re ready for the freezer you’re more than ready.

Totally agree with the above. I love Deeside and go there most years. However, I really don’t think I could take 6 weeks in the winter there. If you are going to move spend a couple of months there in the winter first.

Thanks, DH fancies himself as a small holding farmer, maybe a few sheep and a dog.

Have wondered from the start whether the whole thread was a wind up 🤔. Now this is the icing on the cake!

What's wrong with wanting a different lifestyle?
May have not thought it through thoroughly but as some have said up thread, it's possible to move from a city to the most remote place.
We may live in London but are quite hardy people.

This was us at the weekend, which is what prompted me to post as every time we go, we don't want to leave.

We always pop into a few shops for a chat. So far we've come across friendly people.

How can you not love those views, and pheasants on the street top it all off. Just glorious.

As someone who moved from the south of England to the Highlands (not to a village, somewhere with lots of conveniences) I would caution you moving to Braemar or Ballater. Both are beautiful of course. But there is a big difference between spending a short time somewhere in holiday mode and actually living there. If you buy a house that needs work done and do not have the skills to do it yourself, you will be in for quite the wait and added expense to get someone out to do it. They are such remote places, I think you'll be in for a massive shock. Especially with the lack of variety in eateries/shops that you have in London. You can kiss goodbye to Uber and Deliveroo. As other PPs have suggested, there are other places that you can move to up here where you may not feel quite so cut off from it all and can still easily visit Braemar and loads of other places in the area for day trips.

If possible I'd recommend doing what we did and renting up here for a year to start with (we kept our house down south and only sold it once we were sure of our decision). It is lovely here, I wouldn't want to put you off moving to the general area. But I always say, don't try and live on your holiday. Normal life and all it's issues follow you wherever you go and you will end up falling out of love with your favourite destination. Best save Ballater & Braemar for holidays and live elsewhere.

Braemar is only an hour from Perth and a two and half from Edinburgh. Ballater is an hour from Aberdeen with the nearest supermarket 40 minutes drive away (they also deliver). Ballater has a good range of shops; butcher, baker, clothes, cafes, toy shop, ice cream, curtains and carpeting, gifts, galleries, restaurants, bookshop, coop, library... Lots of activities on in their halls. Regular farmers market on the green. I don’t know anyone who has had trouble getting workmen compared to other areas.

Nothing wrong with that at all anything is possible if you are determined.

The community I live in is smaller and more rural than Braemar but having seen many come and go over the years the failure rate can actually have an effect on local folk - pushing up house prices so young locals starting out can't afford to buy.

Hardy is good, but you need a strategy and an idea of what you'll need to be hardy for - from the dream you have shared over various posts I'm just not sure NE Scotland is the solution - what you are describing is more likely to be found in the Borders/Perthshire or Rural England.

@SaffronSpice I also don’t recognise the ‘remoteness’ of places like Ballater and Braemar. Admittedly choosing to live in a house that is remote from the villages, eg several miles away and perhaps no close neighbours, the country dream so to speak for many, would be considered more remote to me.

But ballater is a busy wee place, is commutable to Aberdeen or the outlying business estates, though not everyone’s cup of tea to such a long drive.

The things I’d watch for if you’re looking for somewhere a bit more remote Deeside or Donside is the water supply, track clearing for snow, standard of the roof, and also any proposed new forestry plans if that would bother you.

On the one hand I agree with most posters, it's a big move. On the other hand, sometimes you need to take the plunge - if it doesn't work out then at least you tried. I'd definitely opt to rent first rather than buy though.

One thing that stood out to me in your opening post is that you're keen cyclists, I presume road biking? I think Braemar is actually a pretty terrible location for that, unless you enjoy cycling the same road over, and over, and over again. And the A93 has no hard shouldere either. Ballater would give you a bit more variety. Nice area for mountainbiking though.

I have a friend lives in Aberdeen just retired and wanted to downsize and move to Ballater in retirement 2 things properties very rarely come up for sale and they are very expensive have a look at what is currently for sale in both areas on rightmove

But ballater is a busy wee place, is commutable to Aberdeen or the outlying business estates, though not everyone’s cup of tea to such a long drive.

But shorter than an awful lot of London Commutes.

And a darn site more pleasant than getting stuck in traffic on the M25

Completely get that, I guess it’s all relative. And it does get tedious driving in and out in the dark in winter on mainly unlit, albeit main, roads.

30 miles out of Aberdeen tends to be seen as edge of commute, as it’s possible to find ‘remote’ houses much closer to town, to get that away from it all feel. You don’t need to be far out of Aberdeen or any of the towns and villages to be in the countryside.

So, what do we think about the reverse move? Going from rural living to the London life, with the commute, costs, business and isolation that big city life brings - is that something that is seen as a cautionary tale too? It is for me, I lasted 6 weeks in a London summer and was miserable - I’m from a Scottish town that’s just big enough to have a swimming pool and a cinema.

There are a number of places that have a special place in my heart and I love visiting. Tenby, so many happy memories of childhood holidays. Hay on Wye, so many blissful weekends wandering the bookshops with DH. And Skye which has an atmosphere like no other place I’ve been there. I’ve often fantasised about living in all three of these places. But then I wonder if they would stop being special and just become everyday, and I’d rather keep them special I think.

I guess it depends what you are used to. I grew up on a very remote farm, then moved to a farm in the Greenbelt of London when I was a teen. As an adult I have lived in villages, towns, and in London for a number of years and I now live in a very remote home where I cannot see another neighbour and get snowed in frequently.

I have been happy in all my homes and able to adapt to the differing cultures and lifestyles at different life stages. Having said that I don't think I could move back to a City now, in fact I have nightmares about it. I will probably have to move again when I get too old to cope with the house I am in now, but hopefully not for a few years yet!

I couldn’t move back to a big city @stealtheatingtunnocks but I’d be fine in a small town, as long as I had a garden.

I have never stopped being amazed by where I live and it's nearly 25 years since we moved. In fact only the other day I was saying to DH that I quite often step outside the front door and think "Wow. I actually live here! How did I get so lucky?" I never get tired of the views from our house or on my drive to work etc despite seeing them every day. Of course it's not like being on holiday all the time because you are living normal life and doing the same mundane stuff as everyone else and you do lose a bit of the rose tinted glasses thing that you can get when you visit somewhere on holiday, but in my experience, no, living somewhere doesn't necessarily stop it feeling special.
My children were born here so I think take it for granted a bit more and certainly when they were younger used to get very excited about going to cities. Stuff like going on public transport was as exciting to them as the outdoor activities which they saw as "every day" might be to a kid from the city. But now they are late teens and 20s they're seeing things differently and are always happy to come home. My middle child is approaching graduation and after student years in a big city is starting to look for work back in the area in fact. That's potentially a problem of course as there are not a lot of job opportunities but we'll see.

Thank you for the input.

Like @Alaimo, I'm one for taking the plunge. I moved to a different country from home when I was 19 and don't believe in planning to a T.
Yes, more road biking and helpful about the roads, thanks.

I also hear you @Bringbackspring and others, I did move to Reading once after liking it on a one visit weekend and it wasn't as I expected.

I was young then but I'm very much a seize the day and you only live once kind of person.

Thanks @Butterfrog ,that's helpful info re' forestry plans.

I thought of this too @KimberleyClark but DH is adamant it won't lose the magic. I'd hate for it to become just another regular place.

Thanks @NotInvolved , that's a great perspective to have.

Perth, Aboyne and Banchory top alternatives too thanks to PP.

Will discuss with DH and hopefully settle on one over the weekend.

Thanks again to all the advice, all very much appreciated and will come in handy.