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 didn't realise that, I thought they said they'd moved there for his partner's cheese making business or something like that 🤔. Oh well, a different life for the celebs!

He has undiagnosed SEN here and doesn’t get any support or help….so what’s your point?

He needs to be diagnosed and supported and not far from the services he may need one day

Why those two islands? Wouldn’t it be better to start on say a bigger island like mainland Orkney? Or one of the isles you can commute to the mainland Orkney e.g. Rousay.

I go to Shetland/Orkney with work every year, so get to chat to the locals. I imagine if you moved it would be easier to integrate if you worked in local businesses/the school/the GP practice etc.

Also if your son does sports for example, the extra travel and cost can really mount up.

Like a previous poster I might survive mainland Orkney or Shetland, but the outlying islands definitely not!

I'm sure you are doing your very best OP . Things certainly aren't easy.
I would imagine it might be a hard environment if you weren't born and raised there.

Just a thought.

We moved to an island more than 20 years ago when DS was just a baby. Despite both of us working in the community all this time our friends are all incomers. Jobs are easy to come by here but tend to be either in the Co-op or hospitality, which can be seasonal. DS, baby groups and then school were a good way to integrate but islanders do very much stick together. It was a great place to bring up DS and even though he’s now on the mainland we have no intention to leave just yet but lack of social care may force us to when we’re elderly. Every mainland visit involves packing toiletries and clean pants because you just don’t know for sure that you’ll get home the same day. Winters are long and harsh. As you homeschool can you rent an Air B&B for a few weeks next February and see how it goes? I’d say that even if you go to a remote part of the mainland, too.

That’s one opinion.

Have a look at the Angus Glens on the south-eastern edge of the Highlands. Wild open spaces, sparsely populated, in the Cairngorms National Park, with dramatic mountain scenery (especially in Glen Clova and Glen Doll). It’s in easy reach of Kirriemuir and Edzell, and just 40 minutes or so from Dundee with a big teaching hospital and lots of supermarkets, as well as Broughty Ferry with its charming boutiques, restaurants and gorgeous sandy beach.

Of course you would - you've been clear about that! I'd suggest this isn't a great place to ask - scotsnet might be a better bet as you might have more chance of people with real lived experience giving advice. There's a fair bit of assumption and ignorance in the responses here. If you want more specific advice for the Oban area, which might also suit your needs, feel free to message me.

My neighbour and friend visited friends on a bigger island who had a farm. They loved the lifestyle and I think considered moving but then decided against it.

This is excellent advice.

Personally, if you do decide to relocate, I'd try and narrow down the area first. Take a few visits and see what suits you best - there is a huge difference between Orkney and the Hebrides. If you are set on the West Coast, have you considered Ardnamurchan? Beautiful area with a definite sense of remoteness, but on the mainland.

Finally, a PP recommended watching Highland Cops - a great suggestion!

Have you ever actually visited either of the islands? Or Scotland for that matter? It seems a move that is solely financially motivated. I think you'll have a massive shock moving up here from the south coast tbh. Would you consider a move to rural Russia?

I live on South Uist and have family on Eday. Eday is very small, has limited services and few opportunities for employment.The ferry crisis doesn't seem to have hit Orkney in quite the same way that it has hit us, but that could change. I would advise spending time.e there over the winter and seeing how you cope. Not e eryone can.

I was looking there, so that would be very helpful. Thank you so much for your response.

I suggest you at least visit for a time before making such an enormous change. Lots of people have somewhat unrealistic ideas about island life. And tend not to last long.

To those saying the days are short in winter - that is very true, but in summer the days are very, very long, with it still being light around 10pm at night, or later. I live in a small rural village in Argyll on the west coast and rely on a ferry to get to the nearest hospital, so there are drawbacks. The positives are - great sense of community, the most beautiful scenery, a very laid-back way of life, and a tiny GP surgery with one doctor who nearly always can fit you in the day after you phone for an appointment. There are other islands you may want to consider which aren't so remote as the ones you mention, for example, Bute or Arran. But always you have to factor in the ferry availability to get to the mainland.

I am from a small Scottish island. The lifestyle is great for children and I’m sure your child would thrive. Winters can be hard but can’t they be hard everywhere? I would possibly try it short term even over the winter to see if it is for you. We have people move here and are gone under 6 months because it is too different for them and certainly not what they expected.

Hat do you and your DP do for work @NewStartFamily ?

OP, you could look at Moray Coast eg Nairn, Elgin, Forres area. Beautiful countryside, mild climate, close to Inverness Airport and Raigmore Hospital. A more practical choice than island life, I'd think

I can’t fathom why this wouldn’t be your opinion though, as his parent no less.

Because a diagnosis doesn’t fix everything. I have been through the process with another child. It might help if I needed to access more support for him in school but that’s not the case as we home educate.

I might have got confused with my “not an island” and your outwith but there are incredibly empty beautiful places south off the central belt. We’re 9 miles to the nearest shop, 5 to the nearest amenity, the Kirk with a congregation of 6, but amazingly an hours drive to Edinburgh airport.

He has support and understanding of his needs. His school had started the process before I deregistered him. I decided not to continue with it at this time. Not that any of this is really relevant.

It's no though, when coming from the perspective of Islamd living. If you decided to homeschool on Tiree for example, not saying you definitely will, but that would be viewed as strange and not willing to integrate. It's not like homeschooling in a large town or city whereabouts can build a community with otber homeschoolers.
Island life is about being a part of a community, they way islanders see it is a family taking precious family sized accommodation but not giving back in terms of sending the children to the school, helping to keep it viable and get the funding it needs to keep going. It is hard for born and bred islanders when tbey are priced out of their local community by people coming in. They often have to move away to the mainland because of this. It is a very fine balance trying to integrate into a rural island community. With respect your OP dosen't seem to take account of this with the comment about not needing to be near a school. The comments about being quite hardy and outdoorsy have been heard a thousand times before by the islanders. It's all fine till the first winter storm when the powers is out for days and the broadband for weeks. The storm of January 25 had the broadband down for months on Tiree.

The points about darkness, inadequate ferries, harsh weather etc all made so nothing to add to that.

When you refer to south coast as your present home, where it is probably is relevant. If it's Brighton, Portsmouth or Southampton, that is very different from a small coastal community. Adjustment from a large town or city will be much greater than a small community.