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.

Do you live on an island or the remote north of Scotland? I am almost certain you don’t because you are so wrong. I also didn’t say everything on the thread is tosh. There have been some great answers. (Especially the PP on Shetland) But there is a lot of ethnocentric nonsense from people who don’t know the islands. I used to have a job that took me all over the north of Scotland and the islands v regularly so I’ve visited and stayed on many of them. You have also misquoted just about everything I have written.
The weather on the islands and on our peninsula is not much different than it is in other parts of Scotland. Yes, it’s colder and wetter in the winter than the summer but I didn’t say it wasn’t. That’s winter for you. I said it was still as beautiful and interesting in winter and I loved it just as much. It’s a personal opinion. It’s a little bit darker earlier in winter but in mid-winter it is dark in central Scotland where I was born, about 4.30pm. In the summer it is lighter for longer. The exception is the remote northern islands like Orkney and Shetland. Winters are tougher there. Where I live on the remote peninsula, it’s not much different from Glasgow or Edinburgh. An island climate (which is what we also have) means the weather blows in and blows out. It can be v changeable.
In the last five years, the steep single track road that leads to our peninsula has been shut twice because of snow. There has been more snow in the central belt in that time. Also you can usually still leave by the coast road when the more direct route over the hill is closed.
It’s different on an island because the weather will prevent the ferry from sailing. But the main reason the ferries have not been running of late are the issues with late delivery of new ferries and the breakdown of the old ones. It’s a big scandal here and it is impacting islanders lives. But the point of my previous post was to suggest a highland location rather than an island one for that reason.
I did not say people do not buy houses in the north “because it is a tough and limited way to live” because that is not true. It’s not a tough and limited way to live. It used to be decades ago but not today. People live in the highlands and run their own businesses, work remotely or work locally. It’s the same as anywhere.
I said I made sure I wasn’t depriving a local family of a home when I decided to buy. The house I bought needed a lot of work and anyone local could have bought it in the previous five years when it was standing empty. The reason people don’t buy houses is because there is not a lot of suitable, affordable housing. Plus it’s a much smaller market than in the city. Hence the need to be sure before you buy. If you are moving to a remote or island community, you need to pull your weight. And you need to be aware of local sensibilities.
People who live in the Highlands go on holiday overseas all the time. It might take a little longer to drive to the airport and cost more but there are connecting flights daily from Inverness and Aberdeen. How do you think these airports survive if folk don’t use them to travel? People are used to driving long distances to get to places. That’s the trade off for living in a beautiful and remote place. Often people save their holidays and go to farther flung places as it makes more economic sense. Friends who live in Shetland have done three weeks in New Zealand and three weeks in Canada in the last 18 months. Friends where I live are heading by car to France for five weeks.
Ceilidhs and strupegs are not “novelties” and the novelty does not wear off. They are events that are organised all year round. They are the way people socialise if they want to be involved in the community. (It’s not mandatory). There are concerts and visiting bands mists months, lots of crafting activities, book groups, get togethers, cycling and wild swimming groups. There are environmental groups and lots of volunteering. There is plenty to do plus people living in remote places are used to entertaining themselves when they need to.
Id say about 40% or more in my community come from England. We get tourists from everywhere. It’s not a lifestyle for everyone and it’s clearly not the lifestyle for you but it’s important not to misrepresent Highland living.

Personal experiences and opinions differ.

@NewStartFamily have you considered NE England? Lots of stunning areas. Dales Northumberland Coastal. We've had many southerners move to our area. Some beautiful cities and not far from Scotland.

@Dumpspirospero again thanks for such a sensible post. Admittedly I don't live on an island, but I don't recognise at all these descriptions of anti-English hate and raging insularity in rural areas.

Yeah, I live near Edinburgh, and my mother in law recently moved to Orkney. She's frequently expressed disappointment that we hardly ever visit. I'm not sure what she expected, it takes twelve hours and costs hundreds of pounds to get there. With all the best will in the world, how often are we going to do that?

No, I don't think there is widespread anti-English feeling. I do think people get thoroughly pissed off with particular kinds of socially and culturally tone-deaf incomer behaviours, which can be correlated with rather than caused by being English. But plenty of English (and Lowland, and international) new arrivals who don't act that way fit in beautifully and flourish. The problem is that the people who do, assume that they are getting a negative reception because they are English, rather than understanding that it is because they are being a bit of an arse.

I have not heard of any anti-English sentiment where I am. Lots of people who live here and have done for decades are English. As far as I can see many people who arrive from elsewhere are contributing lots to the community.
people don’t talk about or think about politics any more than they do anywhere else. Nobody has ever discussed politics with me.
There are several churches in the community. There are people who attend but they are not big congregations and there is no religious pressure. Nobody has ever mentioned religion to me either. It really isn’t different from any other small rural community.

I hear a fair bit of anti-incomer sentiment with my work, even if it’s not overt, it’s still there. In some ways I understand it but also.. times change, people move, traditions are lost and new traditions created, that’s just life.

When I first moved to Scotland nearly 30 years ago, I experienced anti-English sentiment (although mostly fairly low-level - support anyone playing against the English football team type stuff). I am Scottish, was born here to Scottish parents, but have an English accent as we lived in England for 15 years. It was weird as I’d grown up in England identifying as Scottish, but a lot people here didn’t really see me as Scottish back then.

But I never experience anything like that anymore. And haven’t done for maybe 20 years. You do see it online on Facebook comments etc, but I suspect there are a lot of people deliberately stoking division in online spaces. I never meet people in real life like that. Even on the independence question, online discourse is angry and polarised, IRL I find most people are either private about their views on it, or happy to have a balanced discussion and respect different views.

I do see frustration with Westminster and London centric policy and media. Entirely justified and I think most people who live outside the SE of England can relate to that, I certainly saw it where I grew up in England. I am central belt, but through work I have spent a lot of time in rural Scotland and I have often experienced the same frustration and suspicion around central belt centric policy and media. Again, entirely justified. I don’t see widespread prejudice against the English, or Edinburgh, but people are rightly frustrated that their communities are often forgotten, ignored and/or stereotyped.

My VERY VERY FAVORITE part of the country!!

I was fortunate enough to live in Newport, RI for a year and it was like living in a dream.
I loved it.
If - no when I win the lottery I’m moving back.

Don’t you just love it there? ❤️

Yes, I miss it! The fall foliage, the sea, the mountains, the clapboard houses with the big porches and gables...beautiful.

OP, a friend moved from the Central Belt in Scotland back to her original small home town in NI when she retired. She still has a lot of family there. Met her after about a year and asked how it was going. She had found the relocation harder than expected and commented: "everybody knows your business, and if they don't, then they MAKE it their business to find out!" That will be amplified on a small island.

I grew up in a small, parochial village/parish. I know how gossip works in places like these. If you don't share your business, others will fill in the gaps for themselves - and entirely false and unhelpful assumptions will be made about you, your DH, your DS, your situation, and since you won't find out what they are, you'll never have the chance to correct them. Trivial things like whether you moved from Surrey or Sussex might not bother you, but people will generate false rumours about why your son isn't at school, eg "he must be like the McLeod boy, poor soul" - when 'the McLeod boy' is not only 40 but was brain damaged at birth and has a mental age of under 10, then you can see how this could negatively impact their perception of you and how they behave towards you.
I hope you find a location that works for your whole family.

@DisneyCinnamonBun
’It's obvious you have never relocated in a significant way and certainly not with a child. I have lived in several countries, each with its own language and had to settle in 4 types of places with new culture, language religion, people. Fairly well travelled and reasonably open minded I'd say 😂’

Wrong!!
im retired now but have lived in 23 different houses /apartments in 4 foreign countries ,including 3 different states in the US. And from Aberdeenshire to Berkshire in the Uk. Thanks to DH’s job. And have 3 kids.

What type of use do you want to do with the land? Do you have experience with 'land' I'll presume farming of some sort.

Very Liz Jonesesque. 🤪

Don’t live on a small island if you want to home educate and their are health and sn issues at play.

i grew up on a small island, it can be incredibly lonely for children even in school ( tiny mixed classes) we ended up moving when I was in secondary so I could access better education options and health options (I have autism) and it was amazing. We were still rural but living on the mainland was life changing. If you have to do an island go for a bigger one with a lot more people

People migrating from the south coast/home counties/london to the Scottish highlands and islands so they can “have land” is a disgusting colonial hangover that absolutely needs to stop. I commend you for being honest about your reasons, but as a highlander it makes me both angry, and desperately upset. It’s a selfish, greedy and destructive practice.

Nonsense put about by the anti SNP media. Calmac have very good reliability, considering the age of the ships. Tiree, I think, has had problems. But the BBC has interviewed people in Arran moaning about cancellations, when there were 14 sailings that same day. https://scottishindypod.scot/blogpost/calmac-best-in-world/

That's absolutely not a reliable, neutral source. My friend on South Uist is virtually stranded there because the ferries are so unreliable. The SNP have made a complete mess of it.

I think it sounds like a dream, but I’d prefer to be west coast mainland rather than on an island. I moved to a small town in NE Scotland a few years ago, and I think you need to be aware that some smaller communities can be incredibly insular and don’t like outsiders, including the English. It’s incredibly difficult to get a job because half the town is related to itself and family gets work first, going 10 miles down the road to the next town is the furthest a lot of people have got (and some not even that much) so limited worldviews and narrow minded, it has always reminded me of a corrupt western town in 70s USA where you’re still an outsider 5 years later, the mayors son is head of police, and no one likes change or modernity. If you want to integrate, I personally think it’d be easier to move somewhere with a larger community nearby even if you live more rurally.

The point is it’s ££££, takes time and you’re adding a factor you can’t control to your life. I wouldn’t move to the Isle of Wight which has several different providers and routes for the same reason.

My brother who is single lives on Orkney. The summer months are lovely with the long days and migratory wild life. The winters are long, cruel, The wind blows constantly and it is very stormy. There is no mains gas and most heating is by very expensive electricity. The quality of the housing stock is very old and poor. There are literally no houses to rent. Flights are ridiculously expensive at over £250 single for a fifty minute flight to Edinburgh although locals get a discount. The ferry service ( Northlink ferries) is good compared to the Western Isles but storms can keep you trapped on the islands for many days. Employment is very seasonal and limited. You need to establish a good social life or you will go mad. Serious medical emergencies require an air ambulance to Aberdeen or Glasgow ( assuming the airport is open due to storms). Apart from that he loves it. Remember if you go to the outer isles like Eday all if these negatives are magnified. Good luck in what you decide but please try and spend September to April there to experience it fully before burning your bridges.

i meant to add that Eday is quite a rugged island with a population of only around 150. I think you might find the neighbouring island of Sanday ( lovely sandy beaches), decent primary school and more activities easier to assimilate in to .

Stop it - Scotland wasn't a colony ever. And people are entitled to move within their own country.
To add - I can understand a level of upset at second homes, but the rellity is that remote parts of Scotland are suffering inevitable and high levels of depopulation - people coming into the areas help keep them alive.