Couple with Older Children Moving to Edinburgh

[RhonasMum]

Hello there

We are a couple in our mid-50s (husband from Glasgow many moons ago - but he's actually OK - and I'm a Derbyshire lass) looking to move to Edinburgh from the South of England. I'm asking - where? on Mumsnet as I'm a mum of two - 20-somethings - and where we move to we'd like to suit them as much as us. But clearly we don't need to worry about schooling - though older children have their special needs also :)

We also want an area that our friends from down south will love coming to visit - handy for the history/culture/social/food that Edinburgh in great dollops. We'd also be interested in renting out our flat from time to time (maybe to escape the festival crowds)

We'd like to be within a mile of the City Centre; are used to living in cities/towns; are not ready to retire to the distant suburbs, and we want as bit of buzz and want to be handy for cafe's, restaurants, local shops etc etc

We would prefer a period property - and there are many areas within a mile of the city centre that seem to offer us what we want. A first look suggests somewhere like Stockbridge, Bruntsfield, Marchmont, Morningside or indeed the New Town (though bits of that seem a little 'sterile' despite the beautiful architecture).

Looking for 2-3 bed tenement apartment/flat/house conversion and have a budget of up to £550k. Don't need a garden and off street parking not essential

Thankyou in advance to all the lovely, struggling, joyful, frazzled but grateful and proud mums out there.

All those areas will be fine and that's a reasonable budget: choosing between them mostly means deciding how much of what kind of buzz you want. Bear in mind the Festival when the world descends; personally I wouldn't want to live too close to the centre (most of Stockbridge) because it gets crazy; south of the Meadows gives you a bit of insulation. Bruntsfield and Marchmont are fairly studenty which you might or might not like. Visit and see what you like!

Many thanks. We very much liked the look of Stockbridge when we visited two weeks ago - it gets crazy during the festival? Also I liked Dean Village. Morningside looked nice (my husband has an aunt live there in a lovely Victorian terraced house - sort of thing way out of our budget). Didn't look at Broughton and never looked east side of Calton Hill. South of the Meadows between there and Morningside def. possible. North of the Botanics seemed to be getting a little further out than we want.

Dean Village is a wonderful place to live. Peaceful, beautiful walks along the river and very central. I would live there again in a heartbeat. How lucky you are moving to Edinburgh! Good luck.

I don't think Stockbridge does get crazy during the festival, I mean it's busier than usual but that's because it's the kind of place people go out during the festival because it's quieter than the city centre

I wouldn't let 'festival business' influence your choice really, it's just a few weeks of the year - you either go with the flow or rent your house out and go somewhere else.

Stockbridge/Dean Village are beautiful and would have a good balance of being easy to live and being buzzy. 10 minutes walk to town too. Morningside very quickly starts to feel suburban to me, I prefer Bruntsfield. There are also some nice pockets around Murrayfield. But with that budget and a willingness to look at flats/tenements you'll be spoiled for choice really.

or you could become a West End Wendy

This is a terrific flat Bellvue is just at the edge of the city centre down Broughton Street, which is a brilliant street full of good bars and restaurants.

a nice Morningside one but I warn you parking will be a pain in the hump up there.

The actual centre may not be what you need to get to for the buzz - can't remember when I last went to Princes Street but love to go out/meander in places like the Shore, Stockbridge and the university area.

Morningside is lovely but a bit "older" than Stockbridge or Bruntsfield. Your children I think will prefer trendier Bruntsfield to further into Morningside.
Stockbridge is great but really self-contained, not easy to get out of town from.
Trinity is a good option if you want to walk to Stockbridge but be on more bus routes and park your car.

This is a good location near Bruntsfield. espc.com/property/8-3-abbotsford-crescent-edinburgh-eh10-5dy/35505267?sid=9667275280

Leith/The Shore if you want food and atmosphere! There's nothing more 'edinburgh' than Leith. Trinity is lovely and green and very close to the sea!