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.

You said you are looking for specific things - what exactly are those and maybe other can help with out going to a remote island. How will you to integrate or earn money?

I live on a tiny island in the inner Hebrides (rather nor say which one) population under 200. I've lived here full time for 6 years having moved here in my late 50s. However I did know pretty much everyone here already as my wider family has a long association here and I've spent time here every year for my whole life.

People often make rash decisions to move here after brief holidays in the summer months and then are totally overwhelmed by the reality of life here all year round.

I'll advise you what I tell anyone who asks about this, and many people do. Rent a house for a month in January and see how you feel about it then. I love my little piece of paradise but it comes at quite a heavy cost. While the summers are fabulous, the winters are bleak and isolating. Lengthy power cuts are frequent, ferries can be cancelled for a week at a time and everything is really expensive.

However people do successfully make the move and love it. A few families have moved really successfully to my island in the past few years. They have generally really thrown themselves into the community and island life and fitted right in.

If it's for you, you will love it and never regret it but it's a decision you really need to make with your eyes wide open.

Many of my points are already made. We seriously thought about it. We're Scottish & a teacher (there was a job that were desperate to fill with my subject) & a heating & plumbing engineer. We were told that was THE key to being welcomed & successful- what we could give the community. I also have a friend from the island: doesn't live there, but family & friends still there, so connections & he would have helped us move & stayed with us for that first summer.

Unfortunately, our youngest DC developed epilepsy & ASN, & we just couldn't be away from the hospital & specialist. Reflecting, even if he was in good health, the whole autism/ adhd journey with diagnosis & management would have been nigh on impossible on the island. He's now 14 & has been so well looked after in primary, secondary & had great care from services. I think this is in part to being in a big city with lots of opportunities.

There's also this point from a PP Many of the islands are struggling with the availability of housing, and with locals being outpriced by newcomers selling properties in more expensive areas and driving up local prices. Again, consider this when you're thinking about how to integrate into the community

I've heard too many rural residents say this about SEast money coming in & blowing apart the local economy. They make good arguments to be fair, & I do agree with them.

I have to organise ferry’s for engineers to get to Islands as part of my job, I cannot emphasise how much a nightmare this is.

One of them got stranded on Tiree over the weekend, on a Sunday all he had to eat was a bag of crisps (the people who owned the accommodation he stayed in knew this but didn’t offer anything, I think that says a lot about how they treat incomers).

I would look at remote mainland parts of Scotland. Plenty up in the North that will give you the same vibes. But seriously do not underestimate the culture shock, I grew up in the North East rurally and found it so isolating and having to drive at least 30 miles to get basic things is something I would never go back to.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I’m sorry that happened to you, your parents sound like they were being very selfish with your move.

I lived on a small island and access to healthcare is an issue. I developed an autoimmune disease and was reliant on the rheumatologist flying into the big island every 12 weeks, which I could get to by boat. If the weather was bad either they could fly or I couldn’t sail or both. Maybe since Covid it has improved with remote consultations but I highly value access to healthcare (I don’t holiday in remote places for this reason too).

I have family in the outer hebrides, grew up visiting in holidays for prolonged periods of time and personally, I couldn't live on an island. That includes the bigger islands like Lewis, Skye and Mull which have better infrastructure than the smaller islands.

The ferries are a nightmare at the moment. It can be really hard to get a booking, meaning that travel in emergencies can be problematic. We had a family member struggle to get off an island in the event of a death in the family.

The cost of housing and land may be cheaper compared to elsewhere in the UK but the cost of living is high. Food shopping is considerably more expensive, as is fuel and travel. You would really need to factor in regular trips to the mainland to stock up. Every time we have family over or we are travelling over, every nook and cranny of the car is packed with essentials that are expensive to buy on the island.

We stay in Oban and some of the children from Tiree choose to board at the school hostel in Secondary, rather than be educated on the island, as there are more courses available and the social opportunities are greater. It is worth factoring in, as it is alit of travelling for children, over and above their education.

Personally, I think your son would struggle to integrate on Tiree if he didn't attend school, as there aren't alot of extra curricular activities and then those that do run, the children would already know each other, making it harder to break in to established groups.

Medical care can be a nightmare. It's bad enough having to travel to a city for treatment from Oban, never mind the logistics of travelling from an island. We have only just managed to get an orthodontist, so up until last year, people were travelling between 100 and 200 miles for orthodontic treatment.

Also what people have been saying about the winter is true. It's long, cold, wet and dark. We once got stuck, as the ferries weren't sailing and it was grim.

One of them got stranded on Tiree over the weekend, on a Sunday all he had to eat was a bag of crisps (the people who owned the accommodation he stayed in knew this but didn’t offer anything, I think that says a lot about how they treat incomers)

I once got caught in a snow storm on the M62 with a toddler and a baby. The locals were only too happy to open up and sell me a banana for the baby! unbelievable.

I don't live in Tiree but I'm flabbergasted at the story of the man stuck with no food! That would simply not happen in my small island Community. Visitors often get stuck and locals rally round to help them out.

Healthcare can be complicated in Tiree - anything needing Consultant review will be in Oban usually but then many specialist services are further referred to Glasgow/Inverness so be prepared to potentially travel days for an appointment.

Couple of thoughts: There's a family who post on Insta 'New Life on Bute'. They seem to love it, the weather isn't too awful. Both parents work and the kids go to school. It's definitely a 'wetsuits in summer' place. Another family moved to Papay and post on Facebook. Might be worth a read of either.

Go for it. The long summer nights are amazing.

I grew up on a medium ish Scottish island. Winters are not much worse than the mainland (although much worse than the south east of England). Depending on where you are though, it can be VERY windy pretty much all the time. People can be wary of outsiders if you don’t have a connection to the island and more so if you’re English, I wouldn’t say they’re the easiest places to integrate into the community and make friends, not half as easy as in English villages IME. But people are friendly, much friendlier than in England. If you don’t need a lot of culture, variety of restaurants, nightlife, and love the outdoors and hiking, wildlife etc and don’t mind being a bit cut-off from the outside world, it’s a amazing place to live. I agree with other posters about your son though, if he didn’t go to school locally he’d be extremely isolated and might not make any friends. Also be prepared for him to leave home very young. I could not wait to leave the island I grew up on. I left at 16 to go to college in Glasgow and stayed with relatives but I missed my parents a lot, I couldn’t even go home on weekends cos the journey was too much for just a couple of days. I was too young to leave home really but many kids there don’t have a choice if they want to study past standard grades

“Fix everything”

what about… support? Help?

You’re not even willing to give getting a diagnosis and professional support a chance??

what do you do for work @NewStartFamily ? And you partner?

As I said I have been through the diagnosis process with a child previously. I understand the process and don’t feel it’s necessary at this point to go after one for my DS. He’s thriving out of school and there has been a marked difference in his difficulties without the pressure of being in a place that had him constantly disregulated.

One of my late relatives moved to the very north coast of Scotland.

They absolutely loved it, and it was indeed a stunning place to live.

But.

The winter months were difficult. Daylight hours were not very long at all, and in the depths of winter, local roads regularly became blocked with heavy snowfall.

Once, my relative needed to see a dentist as an emergency - and they had to drive a 200 mile round trip to see the closest one.

Having said that, they were so happy living in Scotland, and never regretted it once.

Whatever you decide to do - Good Luck!

I have never properly lived there, but all sides of my family are from Orkney which has had some mentions

Orkney folk are different to other islanders, aren’t Gaelic speakers but do have a dialect with at least the older generations in a tight accent
Orkney is full of “characters”, my mad uncle is one of them (actually something like my grans cousin). He’s well known on the islands, lives out in a cottage and has featured on TV a few times

A couple of posts have mentioned the “Orkney mainland”. Scotland is considered a different place, and the central island with Kirkwall is considered and called mainland

The islands are remote places, Kirkwall is a nice town that has a balance of not being so remote
My fathers is from a farming family on one of the islands. As a child I found it odd that the island shop had pallets of long life milk (because they never
knew when the boat would make it) …… but it was a dairy farm. Island milk was exported and they drank long life

You can be stranded on “mainland”, there’s Orkney international airport and massive ferry’s. But it’s in the North Sea
Have a search for video of the Hamna Voe in “heavy sea”

There is a road over the sea between some of the islands, (search for “Churchill barriers”). This road gets closed - do believe it when the signs are up

It is a popular place for “outlanders” to come and settle, but probably more for the simple retired life (which they may give up on) or for a few years on a specific job (which may or may not result in committing to settle)

For a family it does need to be experienced for more than a holiday before committing to a move

I also recommend watching Highland Cops - it helps to put some of the more romanticised portrayals of the lifestyle in remote parts of Scotland in perspective. Admittedly not the islands, but an eye-opener.

Visited Eday a few years ago and it's truly remote and quite small even by Scottish island standards - it has no GP even

I looked up the population just now est 140 people so only 20-30 under 18 yr olds - that's a very small choice of peer group for your son

Who is this child that you’ve been through it with? Not your own!

@NewStartFamily what do you and your DP do your work?? Very relevant t but you never answer

Yes, my own.

So you have another child? Are they not to be considered in the move?

What do you and your DP currently do for work????

My past history isn’t actually relevant but I have other children who don’t factor in this decision.

What we do currently isn’t actually relevant to my question and I can decide for myself if it’s sensible to try and integrate into a community with the skills I do possess or not. Suffice to say we’ve both worked in various different jobs. DP has more practical and useful skills than me.