To ask if anyone lives on a small Scottish Island?

[NewStartFamily]

Specifically Eday or Tiree but thoughts and opinions of any others very welcome!

DP and I are considering a relocation from the south coast to Scotland, somewhere with land we can use.

We have found a couple of properties that we like but we’d like to hear thoughts from people who live there about how life works in the smaller communities and places where not everything is on your doorstep.

We have one home educated son aged 9 so nearby schools not an essential consideration.

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.

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.

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.

Summers can also be quite harsh but just with daylight.

😂

Sadly, true.

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.

Dunbar is the sunniest place in Scotland.

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.

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.

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.

@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 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.

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'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.

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.

Hardly.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I dont live on an Island, but I can spit on the Mull :)

I moved from London to the NE of Northern Ireland , very remote, rural, small community

I remember my first weeks here, seemed every where I went I met English people , all heading back to England as they had had enough of the winters here . Indeed the day we came off the ferry , the snow followed us up the road and by time we got the keys to our home, the snow was a foot deep and it was with us until the end of April

Since then we have had some really dire winters.

We have short days, daylight is 8.30ish am to 3.30ish in the winter, but then come July , we dont get dark.

And Ive slowly acclimatised. Where as in London Id still be wearing a jacket at least at 16oC, now its get the shorts on. It was 18oC here this afternoon, shorts, vest, sunhat and BBQ and sat in the garden amongst the midges till 9pm

Moving to a small community has its own challenges. It really is all about what you can bring to it. You have to give to take out . I ( being English ) was so very lucky that the local pub needed a hand out one weekend, I offered - having always worked in pubs part time over the years - and from that weekend, got offered hours ad hoc. It meant that I got to know people very quickly. I did get some stick from some, but I had to suck it up , show that I was a person, not a nation and get on with it . Getting to know people, meant I was included, job offers came, help when needed was offered

When you live remotely you have to be hardy and have to be adaptable . We have had long power outages - weeks - not hours - for instance, We share our resources with not just immediate neighbours but further afield if we can. We know everyone in the locality and look out for each other - without living in their pockets. That means also everyone knows your business , which is a godsend at times, bloody irritating at others

Our nearest inhabited Island is six miles off shore. Has a population of 140. The kids at secondary and above have to board over here to attend school. Last I heard the primary school had 3 pupils. There is no doctor or dentist, community nurses do week and week about. Emergencies are air lifted No petrol cars allowed as everything - including fuel - has to be ferried over. Storms stop the ferries We have a lot of storms , even gale force winds that arent even given storm status will stop the ferries.

Living remotely is expensive, everything costs more, especially fuel - be it heating, lighting cooking or travel

Elle Duffy is a journalist who moved from Glasgow to the Isle of Rum in 2024. She and her husband moved to run an existing business and she has an article almost every weekend in The Herald. These articles tell the reality of life on a remote island. She had to move to her inlaws' home on the mainland prior to the birth of her son in case of problems. Her car needed an MOT and she had to leave the island for 4 days because of ferry schedules. Life on the islands really isn't easy (and that's before you factor in CalMac).

I grew up on the coast in the Highlands, and now live in a rural part of south Scotland. I’ve been well accustomed to the long, dark, gloomy winters, with a damp wind that goes through your bones, and the constant need to keep the fire topped up with coal. Despite that, I doubt I could handle island living. The dire state of the ferries is just the cherry on the cake.

Think carefully before upending your life for the ‘rural idyll’!

I think the OP is being quite naive, and the defensiveness and refusal to discuss certain things is exactly the attitude that'll get you isolated and ostracised in a small community very quickly.

I've spent enough time in rural Scotland to see how much gossip and intrigue there is - it's almost impossible to be anonymous, and if you won't talk about stuff, people will let their imaginations run away with them, and they'll draw their own conclusions.

I remember reading a blog some time ago about a family that moved from London to an island croft somewhere with young kids. I can't remember which island, but clearly they'd never seen the place in winter before they moved there. The blog started cheerful and optimistic, but then got rather more subdued before going very quiet for a while. The final post, after a couple of months of silence, was made from London, admitting defeat. It all lasted less than a year.

Where I am in the middle of England, it's less than 1.5 hours - although I did misread the times, I thought it was less than 1h 15m. Still absolutely in line with what I said, and not remotely close to "that's just not true".

And it was an example, to be applied to the context of the conversation happening where I was responding to someone talking about those coming from Scotland not being able to cope.