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.

I live on an island off the west coast of Ireland. We have a bridge to the mainland - which obviously makes a huge difference! Saying that, it’s not for everyone. Like people have already said the short days in the winter can be challenging - but I think our super long summer nights are the pay off. My family have been on the island for at least 700 years …being local as opposed to a ‘blow in’ is a major factor. I’ve always lived between the island and big cities (London, NYC) and so have my DDs. I don’t think I could live solely on the island …

I did not say the SNP do not like the migrants. I said they do not like the English.

Just wanted to commend @Matildalamp on an excellent post.

A very good explanation that there are islands and islands.

I want to get on the Shetland ferry every time I go down to Aberdeen and see it go out but the length of journey and cost has so far put me off. I'll need to change that soon. The quality of light here is something I love too and I don't mind winter but it isn't for everyone (and not with the additional issues of island transport).

Personally, I love the south coast. Could you rent for a while on a Scottish island before making it permanent?

My parents dragged me away from the suburb I lived in when I was 15, they moved me away from all my friends and to a house in a village in another county that had little in it, it took a toll on me mentally and it was so isolated for my mum whilst I was out at college and my dad at work that she ended up having a mental breakdown. The journey to college every day was hell because it was in a different county to where we had moved to. Your kids will not want to live on a bleak and isolated island once they are old enough to make their own decisions. They won't be visiting you very often when it's a total ball ache to get to you. And if grandkids come along you won't see much of them either - you have to think ahead.

You also have to think about climate change, it's getting harder and harder to live on the Scottish islands because the storms are getting stronger and stronger that hit the far north west. You have to think of how you will fill your days when you'll experience so much bleak, dark and cold weather and indoors a lot of the year - I think you have to be born into that life to cope with it.

I came to say exactly what @Matildalamp said but from the perspective of someone who moved to Shetland a few years ago. I would add that for me I felt like I had come home the minute I saw the island from the plane and that feeling has stuck with me through all the wind and rain and lack of bananas/nothing but green bananas/nothing but brown bananas in Tesco. The only other thing is if anything happens with family you’re a long way and time away from them. I have made my peace with that but it’s something to bear in mind.

I moved from central England to South Highlands 20 years ago with three young children.
It's the best thing I've ever done. The kids have had a wonderful upbringing - feral around the village, woods and hills. Great school with true Lifetime friends. A secondary school that ran lots of sports and outdoor pursuits, good exams and a general school experience that's better than England.
We could afford nicer house while working less hours. Huge number of days canoeing, cycling, hillwalking. Truly mixed neighbours in the village who are not perfect, but are genuinely there when needed.
Sure the winter is long and dark, but that's what waterproofs and fleeces are for. It's a long way for all sorts, but it's a simpler life.
Your values and expectations change. As does your life.
I spent last Saturday canoeing with friends on an empty Scottish loch. We braved a swim at the "secret beach" and waterfall. We went to a local beer festival in the village hall and spent the night chatting to all sorts of friends and neighbours. With no busy road, amazing views and peace.

There's also a strong dislike of Edinburgh in the Uists! And that old classic, Christian sectarianism. This observation is based on personal experience. Lovely scenery, great food but the locals weren't very friendly.

Hi OP

I’ve never lived on a Scottish Island but I have experience of relocating abroad with DC, to a medium-sized, well-connected, close-knit town with a rural hinterland.

I strongly recommend renting to begin with, so you don’t burn your bridges. We rented in the centre of town. But I met so many people who’d sold up and bought in the surrounding rural areas without ever testing out what it was like to live there day-to-day and year round. Or how difficult it’d be integrating with their local neighbours. Or indeed how hard it’d be (as incomers) to get work. Any work that did become available (rare) understandably went to locals.

Quite a number of people (or their kids) quickly felt isolated, unhappy and started struggling financially. It didn’t seem to have dawned on them that the home/land they’d bought was cheap for a reason: because it was in low demand: even the locals couldn’t have a meaningful, financially-viable life there. But then they couldn’t sell up for years, as no one wanted to buy such an isolated place. Not even locals.

So, I strongly suggest renting out your home and renting a place on the island you’d like to live for a year or two. To give yourselves a ‘test-drive’. If you feel happy and settled after a couple of years, you’ll then have much better local knowledge (and local friends who can advise) when it comes to buying.

Northern rather than western issue experience, but now mainland similar level with western isles.

Trasnportbane connection to the outside world is unreliable and expensive. Not a problem while you’re wanting to be there but if you’re needing off for anything or anything to get to you then makes life very difficult very quickly. Eg. Hospital appointments (planned or emergency), holidays, funerals, weddings, department stores, spare parts, fuels. Depends a lot on how connectivity and control over your ability to change location matters to you.

Small tight knit communities with no secrets and plenty of opinions. Brilliant or awful depending on perspective. Theres not much scope to dilute a neighbour you dont get on with.

Weather. It’s windy a lot. In a way that youve probably not come across. Some people dont enjoy permanent breezes. Some thrive. It’s also probably 8 degrees colder than where you currently are most days. Worth adding a couple of locations to a weather app and starting to keep an eye on the difference.

Daylight hours. Dusk is well after bedtime in the summer. Full daylight is well before getting up time. Dark is mid afternoon in the winter (Youre used to late afternoon rather than evening living down south). Sun rise isn’t until well into the morning. Think your late December experience but Thats October and February and the bits between that is darker. Some like cosying in. Others struggle with SAD type issues.

But its not ignorance, there will be very very few homeschooled kids in the islands. Its not the same as having a home school network like you probably have now.

Go for a holiday first.

I'm not an SNP supporter, but I just don't think that's true. Westminster isn't 'English' - it represents the whole of the UK and SNP believe that it represents some parts better than others, and that Scotland misses out. Can you me a single piece of SNP campaign material that says anything negative about the English? Their official position is that there is no place for anti-English sentiment within the party so I bet you can't. And yes, the electorate in Bute predominantly vote SNP but I've been there in the run up to a couple of elections recently, and when Rishi Sunk visited in 2020, and I can tell you that what the people there really dislike is the Conservatives. I also happen to know there a lot of English-born people living on Bute including some who vote SNP, so it can't be that bad!

This is absolute nonsense. They have plenty of faults but they've nothing against English people.

This sounds like a more workable plan, a plan of my own experience

2000's, we needed a bigger house - London suburbs in a 2 up 2 down, which we managed as the DSC were younger. But with them being teens, parents getting older and needed downstairs everything when they stayed

In our 40's, the idea of taking on a 1/2 million quid mortgage - scary - so I started to look up the country, think we got to Norwich before we could buy what we wanted for the price we wanted

I thought well we are moving that far, let's go back home - my family is Irish and DH is NI. Seriously nothing to keep us in London, at least we had more family between us on the Island of Ireland

Its only an hours flight to London when I feel the need, which became less and less as I intregated here

There's been a lot of talk on this thread about being English moving to Scotland, I was an English catholic moving to NI and yes it was very hard then, I did get abuse . I still get "banter" , some is fun, some has a nasty undercurrent

We moved to a very Ulster Scots area , and yes swings were tied on a Sunday when we first got here, shops didnt open on Sundays ( and its only the national chains that open now on a Sunday or do late nights )

It was a pure cultural shock to us both tbh, even though Dh was born and spent his former years here, after being in London for 15/20 years , even he struggled

BUT, being on a main Island, ( Ireland ) we have the services we are used to/ need. There are hospitals, doctors , dentists, schools, libraries and all sorts of leisure facilities . Not all on our particular door step, but easy reach as long as you drive ( first thing I had to do - learn to drive )

But I have to be truthful. being English in Scotland or Ireland or Wales, puts you on a back foot, The English are not liked and whilst you can forge some really good friendships, those good friends will say stuff which will rankle, upset and make you question

There's a lot country within the UK. Scottish islands whilst sounding to be the perfect " off the beaten track" place to live , possibly arent if you are used to city life ( and whilst I settled here happily, it still boils my pee that I cant get shoes heeled or dry cleaning done there and then ) We are off mains, yet only 4 miles from a town, we have a septic tank ( great fun - not - and expensive when they go wrong , which can be often ) no gas, reliant on oil ( at the moment we cant afford heating oil ) . In 20 years we have had 3 periods with no electric for a week or more, the storm last year no electric, no phone lines or signal for 7 days. Constant power cuts where some farmer had taken out a power line . We get snowed in for days at a time, gritters dont come out past bus routes and there are no buses. And whilst I live in a tourist area, what public transport there is, doesnt run Sundays or public holidays

All that aside, I love it here But I moved here in my 40's, we had no children to worry about . I would have thought very differently about the move if I had

I’ve just been out and taken these photos. This is the pay off for winter and all the other rubbish that life throws at us!

Opposite side. New England :)

@suki1964 On of my friends moved here in the early 2000s and still can't believe there are no cobblers!

It's those tiny things that grind my gears. In London, a shoe mender and key cutter at every tube station, dry cleaners you could drop off in the morning and collect after lunch . Local shops and services shutting at 1pm for lunch

And as for NI time, I swear I was ready to kill within a year lol

Yeah Ive settled in , so much so that even going to a city is a bother nowadays. If the town doesnt sell it, do I need it :)

But then I always felt like a square peg in a round hole in London. Dont get me wrong, I love London, but as a teen, going back to my dad's home in Donegal, I felt at home, I really felt this is where I belong . Im so content and happy - with all the "hardships "

I think one of the things it's easy to take for granted in England is the accessibility of other towns.

You have alternatives in the centres with amenities like cinemas, swimming pools, large shops.

Even in large parts of mainland Scotland, you can for example get all these things in Inverness but that's it. That's not to say it's a problem. It really doesn't bother me but having been used to a city surrounded by satellite towns which were all bigger than Scottish cities bar Glasgow and Edinburgh, it took more mental readjustment than I had expected (and I hate shopping!)

Gosh, OP there is an absolute load of tosh written on this thread about the Scottish Islands and the kind of people who live on them. I live in a very remote peninsula in Western Ross. It’s not an island but it’s very cut off. In the winter the population numbers about 250. It’s five times that in summer. It’s a wonderful, magical place and there are lots of “incomers”, many from England. We are incomers from a different part of Scotland.
I was very mindful when we moved here that we might not be welcome but that has not been the case. We bought a cottage that had been empty for five years and which had been on the market for five months. Nobody local wanted it. It had had no renovation for over 40 rears. So I was confident that we weren’t doing a local family out of a house. We spent over £100k rewiring it, replumbing and dealing with damp. Nearly all of that was spent locally and we kept four local tradesmen employed for 18 months. It’s really important to spend in the local community and give back where you can. There is a local shop, a local fish van, and two restaurants. To keep these facilities going, you need to use them.
The local primary school has fewer than a dozen children but incomers with children are very welcome. The school needs pupils and that is true of most highland and island primary schools. Pupils are weekly boarders for secondary school a few hours’ drive away.
It’s a really diverse community and people are mostly friendly. There is definitely an aging population and children and young people are important to keeping these fragile communities thriving. We have great internet (which I’m amazed at) and we also have mains water and sewage - a real luxury in remote communities. The water pressure is fantastic. Not always a given. We do have power cuts during storms but we have a wood burner, which is something of a necessity as there is no mains gas. Many people rent out part of their property or have a cabin or yurt in the garden or a separate little one-bed annexe as a B&B to supplement income. Sheep wander everywhere and pretty much everywhere is common grazing (apart from gardens).
I absolutely love it and it’s as wonderful in winter as it is in summer. The light is so diffuse and the wildlife is amazing. There are lots of ceilidhs and strupegs in the village hall. There’s a lively community association. Locals swim in the sea and have book groups. Is very safe and easy. You don’t need to ever lock a door (even at night). It’s really magical. There is nowhere else like it. There is a great GP service.
The reason I didn’t choose an island home is because of the ferry situation. It’s been v difficult for the west coast islands which use CalMac. Not being able to leave an island because of weather or the ferry issue is highly stressful and flights are expensive.
Orkney and Shetland have a different ferry provider so don’t rely on CalMac. Both Orkney and Shetland are great places and I love visiting them. I’d definitely consider living on Orkney. Most of the Highlands and Islands are great places to live and have plenty of modern conveniences. Tesco delivers all over the Highlands and Morrisons does a weekly drop off to the local hall. The only thing to bear in mind is that the property market is much slower in some places. If you can rent a holiday cottage over the winter to see if you are happy there, that’s the thing to do. If you invest in property, don’t expect to be able to sell it quickly. Good luck, OP. Let us know what you decide.

@Dumpspirospero great post. Very much tallies with my own experience.

@Dumpspirospero brilliant post. There are some people in Shetland who dislike incomers, and I dislike the word because some people can be horrible. But the comments on this thread that made it seem like all of us were SNP and/or anti English really irritated me. It's totally different here to most places in England or Mainland Scotland but it's diverse for all that. Shetland definitely is. And we welcome people who come and give to the community, sometimes simply by having a few children and increasing the school roll! It's interesting what you say about the remoteness of some parts of Wester Ross. I sometimes think that in Shetland we are less remote than you. 30 minutes takes me to the airport and within an hour I'm in Aberdeen. I don't know how long it takes you to drive to 'civilisation'.

It's hardly fair call it all tosh! You aren't exactly telling the truth by pretending that winter is just as nice as summer in these far northern isles! That's simply not true! It's long, dark winters with lots of wind and rain would take a toll on a lot of people especially those not used to such long and at times powerful winters.

You've said yourself that nobody buys houses in these places because most people know it's a tough and limited way to live. You can't even go off on a holiday overseas somewhere from those islands because it would be so lengthy and expensive to get even to a simple holiday to Spain etc.

Going to the village hall for a ceilidh would be novel for a short time but once the novelty of that wears off there's not much to do on a remote island especially in the many months of crap weather. As I said on another post, it's also something people have to think about that climate change may make the weather even more extreme in these places.

When you say there's lots of work, it's going to be in limited fields and the OPs kids will likely have career goals that they'll want to go off and achieve and once they've gone to live their life, they won't be travelling back too much to see their parents because it's too difficult to do.