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.

Yeah, I thought it was a weird book, she arrived with a lot of trauma and seemed very unprepared for the realities of integrating into such a wildly different place to Notting Hill!

As someone who moved the opposite direction (kinda), I would not do it. People in the south do not appreciate the weather and the convenience of everything until it's gone.

If cold, rainy summers and a two hour round trip to an understocked Tesco sounds good to you, go for it. I also wouldn't choose it for my child. The kids are bored, because it's boring, so they end up doing things you wouldn't want your child to be involved in. Seasonal depression and isolation with a bored teenager and no social network is a recipe for misery, not to mention house prices will crawl upwards by comparison so you probably wouldn't be able to afford to move back to a home like the one you're leaving.

I like the aesthetic of the homesteading, stay at home mother, homeschooling influencers as much as the next woman, but it is very far removed from reality. Escapism, not inspiration.

I work as a doctor in Glasgow and patients from the islands are referred down to us for medical care. There is a small hospital in Oban but it has limited facilities. If you need any continuing healthcare, for example chemotherapy or regular scans for any reason, the travelling is difficult. It does mean medical care can sometimes be compromised due to the distance.
otherwise the islands are beautiful places to live, I lived on Lewis for a while but that’s a lot bigger.

Thank you @OhBuggerandArse
an interesting read.

I think jobs are hard, there is a strong advantage to having a job useful to the community. Something remote or artistic is less valued.
My personal experience was that there wasn’t enough of a population base to have much tolerance of difference, particularly amongst dc. There is more for adults.
There is an enormous amount of gossip and often misinformation. Partly because there isn’t a great deal of alternative activities. Both alcohol and drugs were significant issues. It is hard to get healthcare at times. Everything costs more. It takes several generations to really become part of the community.
There are obviously positives but the negatives are real and need careful consideration.

Have you watched the documentary series following Banjo Beale renovating a hotel on Mull? And there's a previous series where he does interior design for various local companies. I'm sure it's not the most accurate portrayal ever of island life, but it does show many of the challenges of island life (transport, accessing services, community tensions, weather, isolation). Overall he seems to enjoy his life there (he's from Australia originally).

I'm from central belt Scotland - the winters there are so much worse than in the south of England where I now live. I think the difference is greater than many people realise. As PP have said, it's one thing to know in theory about the weather and darkness but another to live it.

You could join some FB group like Information Oban or similar for other areas and get a feel for the area and community. Sometimes people post there when they are selling a property. Accommodation is very very scarce here, both rental and to buy.

This is my husband's fantasy - a small holding somewhere remote. So long as there is internet and a local pub, and a ferry to the mainland when needed he’d be happy as Larry (if the locals were at least lukewarm to outsiders, that is). Homeschooling is so much easier now that when we did it with one of mine 10 or so years ago, again so long as you have internet and children in the community for them.

Going to watch this thread in case I see myself relenting.

Do you need to go to the extreme of a small island? What sort of a place do you live now?

Can recommend north east Scotland. I can go nearly 40 miles before I hit a traffic light but in Scottish terms we are rural rather than remote. I can walk from my door to hills or beaches and it's quiet. But if I do need things I can access the east coast mainline fairly easily or we have Ember buses connecting us to cities.

I always say run to something and not away. What is it you are trying to achieve? Work out that rather than getting excited by land etc (especially if you have no experience of crofting).

You can certainly change your life and get a greater sense of space and peace without going to quite such an extreme. Even if you want an island, they are far from the same.

I didn't realise while watching his first series and only found out afterwards was that Banjo and his partner were commissioned to do the series and moved to the island for that purpose.

With that in mind it's probably even further from reality as they'll have had so many pre-moving in advantages.

Too windy for midges on Tiree. Might be a few on Eday but much better than on the mainland.

They are on Ulva, a small car and shop free island off Mull. The series is worth a watch OP.

Ah, sorry - was basing it on my annual stay with friends on Lewis. Though I remember many afternoons on Bostadh beach on Bernera with the wind blowing an absolute hooly, and still getting devoured by the bloody things.

I've worked with a few island communities and my only advice is that they are each very very very different. The history of land ownership on each island, the current landowner and the religious history will have a HUGE impact on your experience of moving there.
It's complicated to describe but the crofting tradition will affect how people feel about you buying land - it might be that the community feels the property you bought 'should have been' somebody else's by right.
Islands with a strong reformation protestant tradition feel very different from islands that never reformed and remained catholic, and this permeates all aspects of the community even if you're 'not religious' (maybe especially if you're not religious).
Islands owned by the community are generally quite open but require a large input from community members to join (you must do something to help the community and help the trust to be accepted).
Some islands have a benign absentee landowner, a few have a resident one who is friendly, but some struggle with their landowner.
And then there's the crofting commission which you should understand if you wish to buy land https://www.crofting.scotland.gov.uk/

Finally - as others have mentioned, education and healthcare - think FAR ahead to your son's secondary education and beyond and your own old age in terms of access to both of these.

They were based on Mull in the first series I was referring to, which is bigger, further south and more used to visitors than some of the other islands. It might be worth a look by the OP.

There might be Mnetters who can comment on actually living there?

Berwick is in England.

Short days aren't crazy unheard of or unique in Scotland. Eday has its shortest day not that much more than an hour less than the middle of England.
Anyone sensitive to that extent, wouldn't really be much happier in most of the UK during that time for the short days.

That’s just not true. It’s at least 90 minutes less daylight, or 2 hours. So often I’ve been sitting with my morning coffee and it’s pitch black in Glasgow and they’re interviewing someone in London where it’s broad daylight. And the sunrise/sunset time doesn’t account for those days where it is dreich and overcast and never gets really light.

Oh sorry @DampSquad I misunderstood your post. Both Designing the Hebrides and The Grand Island Hotel are worth a watch.

but looking harshly and practically - if you have no real in demand skills, and are moving to a place with an extremely limited pool of customers, what are you going to do for money?

As someone who now lives in the south but has spent a lot of time in northern Scotland (which I love with some reservations), there's a vast difference between short days here, which are bad enough and short days there. You might think Oh, i'm used to English winters I can cope, it's not the same at all.

Are you running away from the police?

You should do an 'I'm a fugitive from justice - AMA'

@olivepicantowhat makes you say they won't integrate?
OP please spend a good few months renting before you sell up to live there, holidays are completely different to living permanently in an area.

Not a small island but I have a good friend on Shetland. She talks about the costs of things a lot, and she has downsized recently to help. She had a professional role as well.
She comes to the mainland every few years to spend a week doing life admin as it’s easier/cheaper for lots of things.
I know someone who grew up on Mull who said he wouldn’t subject his children to it, he also went to uni when we got grants and he was able to get away. Will you be able to help with the cost of your child travelling to and from the mainland/accommodation etc.

Is it purely because it’s cheap as I’m sure there are other places that would be a better option.

Ooh, OP should watch Highland Cops in addition to This Farming Life!