Where to live if your job is in Livingston

[susanjc9]

My husband may have a chance to take a job in Livingston. We would be moving from the US. We don't really want to live in Livingston and would prefer Glasgow or Edinburgh. We have family in Glasgow but Edinburgh is closer. We also want to only have one car so would need to live someplace with good public transportation (would prefer an urban area not the suburbs) and with a good state high school or possibly private school. Our daughter would be going into S3.

Does anyone know what the commute would be like from either city? Area's of Edinburgh you would suggest that offer easy access to Livingston? How hard is it to get into private school in the if we moved in late summer or autumn? Thanks!

Edinburgh is amazing to live in with a great choice of private schools (and I'm from Glasgow)
You would have to look asap for private school entry. Barnton/costorphine and Murrayfield are close to the west end for the M8 but many places in edinburgh have connections with the bypass.
If you want any information on schools you can PM me. Edinburgh has great choices

I second everything the above poster says,also look at corstorphine. Clifton hall is a private school outside the city or if you were to chose barnton/ ravelston/ Murrayfield/ corstorphine redline Melville is on hand. Also St. George's which is an all girls school. You could also look at ratho outside the city so less like city living but on the way toward Livingston.

Currie/Juniper Green/Balerno are all easily commutable to Livingston and on good bus routes to Watsons and Heriots schools, with decent state schools locally as well.

Live somewhere around the perimeter of Edinburgh.

I did this commute for a few years from Leith many times and it all comes down to being on the bypass before 7 AM. I could get from Leith to Livingston in 40 - 50 minutes. From West Edinburgh (Barnton / Costorphine) it would be even shorter.

But traffic is crazy bad around the bypass from 7-10AM and 4-7 PM every weekday. If I didn't leave at around 4PM i would work till 6PM as it was more productive than sitting in traffic. I would suggest using ESPC website to look at the properties you can afford and making sure its close to the bypass.

Currie and Balerno have excellent state schools so that's worth looking at. However its outside Edinburgh so starts being rural in character and people.

Linlithgow is lovely to live in too.

Live in Linlithgow or South Queensferry, both excellent and lovely towns outside the city which have great train links.

Otherwise you're going to end up in the 'burbs which (for me) is the worst of both worlds. Barnton, Currie, Juniper Green etc aren't urban, they're suburban. Better to go the whole hog and move somewhere more villagey, imho. A proper 'urban central edinburgh' experience would be a horror of a commute.

Live in Morningside! It's lovely and not far from the centre, but also has its own restaurants and cinema etc. It is catchment for the best state school in Edinburgh (Boroughmuir High School) and also has George Watson's College within walking distance if you want to go private. It has a road straight out to the bypass so commuting to Livingston isn't bad either - much quicker than from Leith.

Have you thought about ratho village ?

I live in Livingston, DH works in central Edinburgh. I used to live in East Edinburgh for 14 years before that and travel out to Livingston. Of all the places I like Livingston most to live in and its 20mins into central Edinburgh by train. My observations are avoid any journey that involves the bypass like the plague. As someone upthread says if you can't travel to work bfore 7 or after 9ish it can take hours to get out to West Lothian. Same in the evening. DH always leaves home after 9 and work after 6pm. I lived in Linlithgow for a bit and hated it. Livingston is muc more friendly. Ratho, Kirknewton, South Queensferry are options.Currie, Juniper Green I think are very burby without having any of the pluses. We angsted over loads of places before we decided to move out to Livingston.

Thanks so much for all your responses. If my husband accepts the job I think we are going to live in Glasgow to be closer to family. telecommuting 1-2 days a week is an option so hopefully it won't be too bad of a commute if he leaves a bit later.

@greedygorb Hello, are you still living in Livingston? Can you share what it is like to live in Livingston becaseu I am considering to move in? Would you mind to share which districts to avoid if you know? Many thanks.