North Berwick - do you live there?

[Carowe]

Basically I am sick of living in my ugly London commuter town.

Dh and I met at Edinburgh university and both enjoyed North Berwick day trips. Does anyone have experience living there with young kids? Looking on rightmove and may have spotted my dream house. North Berwick St is only 4 miles away so not overly rural.

DH is a pilot so would commute to Edinburgh Airport. I can wfh. I like the idea of being able to hit the beach at the weekend with kids/dogs or catch the train into Edinburgh.

We make friends easily enough but aren’t overly social. Enjoy a meal out per week with friends but that’s about it - not constantly entertaining. I would have kids that were slightly dependent for lifts etc but don’t mind dropping them off at a St and having themselves out when they are old enough.

Any experience? Not sure why dh and I killing ourselves to live such a blah lifestyle in an ugly semi when we could have a lovely farmhouse with land nearish North Berwick station.

I’m only really out off by the colder weather.

I don’t live in North Berwick but I moved from big city life to a small seaside town. Being completely honest, I absolutely hated it for the first year whilst I adjusted. Now I adore it, love sitting in the garden which is right beside the beach, hearing the water at night etc ☺️ we do get lashed with the worst of the weather but you become used to it.

You’ll only know if it suits you once you try.

We went on a family holiday to North Berwick many years ago. We absolutely loved it.
Not been back but I know the property prices there are high because it is one of the desired places to live in Scotland.

I think it won the Times best place to live award this year. I can't remember now if it was the whole of the UK or the regional one for Scotland, but either way, it's a nice place to live!

No but I also went to uni in Scotland and got to love north Berwick. Would love to live there!

@Carowe I live in Edinburgh. I love NB but very expensive. Good transport links. NB high school I believe is good.

Commute to airport is fine as long as you avoid Edinburgh bypass between 7&9am and 4-6 pm longer on a Friday afternoon.

One of my good friends with 2DC made the move there a few years back from London. They have no regrets whatsoever. I’ve been to visit and it’s wonderful, a more calmer way of life and far more time outside enjoying the glorious coast etc. Great community too from what I could gather.

I live 5 miles from there. Plenty to do, people friendly lovely restaurants. Not far from. Edinburgh. I say go for it.x

I live near there too. Expensive but not London expensive for property. High school is good, lots to do, nice restaurants. Gets absolutely mobbed in the summer and hard to park.
DH and plan to live there or thereabouts when the DCs leave home.

I live just down the coast from NB and love the area. So much space and sea. The Lammermuirs are spectacular as well, like mini Cairngorms.

I moved up here from London as I went WFH full time. Now the idea of going back is a flat no.

Hi Op.

I have been to North Berwick many times. I also used to live in London. London is ridiculously over priced, imo.

Whilst NB is lovely, have you looked at seaside towns closer to Edinburgh? I live in Dalgety Bay, which is about a 12 minute drive to Edinburgh airport. We have excellent schools here, 5 beaches and some nice restaurants. We have a sailing club, a bowling club, a Gala every summer. It's very family friendly.

We have our own train station and it's about 25 mins on the train into Edinburgh. There is also a station at Inverkeithing, which is about 5 mins away in the car, but the trains run into Edinburgh about every 10 minutes (and back again). Very handy after a day/night in Edinburgh, because whatever time you get to Waverley, there is always a train leaving within 10 mins. It's also MUCH cheaper to buy a house here! NB is very expensive.

You also have South Queensferry nearby, with it's huge range of pubs and restaurants all lined along the seafront. Proper oldy worldy place with cobbled streets. Takes about 10 mins to get there by bus or car. They have a fair in the summer. There are regular boat tours of the Forth. And the huge cruise ships dock there in summer.

In fact, from our windows, we can see across the water to South Queensferry, the Forth Rail Bridge, the cruise ships etc. Can also see Edinburgh in the distance.

Much closer to Edinburgh and cheaper to boot!

I live about 20 minutes from NB. Lovely place, very expensive. Great High school. Commute to Edinburgh would be a bit long for me. For airport it's worth bearing in mind you'd need to travel the whole bypass which is very congested and delays are frequent and brutal.

I live in Edinburgh. North Berwick is a desired spot especially for young families but I'm not sure I'd move to a rural house where you need a car for everything at this stage in your life. I'd buy a place in North Berwick itself so that it's not too much of a shock to the system. It is beautiful there. But weather will be colder than what you're used to. It was 14 and grey here this morning. Dunbar is also lovely and a faster commute because closer to the A1.

I agree with this. I should have also mentioned, we have Ferrytoll park and ride here. Your DH could leave his car there (free parking), hop on the 747 bus which would take him straight into the airport and drop him literally at the doors into the airport. The commute to the airport is ridiculously fast.

I keep thinking of more, lol. Fife is the sunniest place in Scotland. Warm and sunny today. Sea is sparkling.

I live very close. Absolutely lovely area, but very expensive for property and shopping on the high street. It is absolutely mobbed with tourists in summer and parking becomes a nightmare. Some good restaurants there, Osteria, Lobster Shack/Rocketeer.
Quite a big commute to Edinburgh, which doesn't bother me.

Lovely places nearby to consider if you like East Lothian are Dunbar and Haddington.

Not sure what kind of shifts your dh does but NB to the airport daily would be awful. Unless after 8pm or before 7am.

I grew up in NB and family still live there. It is a lovely place to live and a great place to grow up.
It has grown a lot since I lived there but it is still lovely and the train to Edinburgh is such a benefit. It is true that it gets very busy in the summer and parking can be a nightmare. I would rather live in the town and be able to walk myself.
The schools are good.

I agree with posters above saying look further east. Balerno, Cramond, South Queensferry would be much better for airport access but depends on the shifts.

Lovely place to live. If I could afford it I’d live there in a heartbeat!

Dalgety Bay! I still think of it as a big housing estate. When I was growing up nearby it didn’t have any shops, or a station, or schools, or a doctor! I’m glad it’s much better now. It’s in a lovely part of the world.

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of great input. Looking forward to visiting some more towns when we go up at the end of Summer.

@museumum Dh typically leaves very early (03:30 or a bit later 12:00). Very rarely does he leave at rush hour. He just switched airlines recently and now flies out of a different London base than the one we bought our house for. Crazily his commute is one and a half hours each way. Not sustainable obviously. But schedules change at the drop of a hat.

Google is showing a 40 min commute which DH finds acceptable.

Getting through Sherriffhall roundabout (where the A7 crosses the bypass) is really unpredictable. Not just in rushour but all day. For me it’s not that you get stuck it’s that it’s hard to predict how stuck you’ll get. And traffic can crawl past the next two junctions (straiton and Lothianburn often for no apparent reason).

South Queensferry is an amazing place to live for a family.

Linlithgow is also on my list. If anyone is familiar would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.