Moving to Edinburgh from the Midlands

[Zbra]

We are a family of 5; we have kids aged 12, 11 and 6. We are hoping to move up to Edinburgh from the Midlands before Easter this year.

Are there any English people on here who have also done this and could offer any advice on the process? Also any advice about making new friends / building networks would be of great interest.

Thanks in advance,

Zoe

I'm not English, I'm from Edinburgh originally but lived in the South East of England for about 18 years and moved back to Edinburgh 3 and a half years ago.

It is a great place to live and to raise a family. I have found in much easier to make friends than I did in the South East, possibly as so many families are incomers and open to meeting new people and building a social network. There are loads of groups/classes/activities around, which can make it easier to meet people as well.

The practicalities of re-locating for us were:
Both parents getting jobs that paid enough to make it do-able.
As house buying is different in Scotland, if you own your own home in England you will probably need that sale to complete before you can start the buying process in Scotland. You'll probably need to rent short term.
Property in Edinburgh is not as cheap as some people in England believe! ESPC.com is the best property website. Like most cities, you get more for your money further out, especially West Lothian.
You can't really get your children into a school till you get here. The most desirable schools have waiting lists, even if you live in catchment. You need to contact schools directly to find out if they have spaces in the years your children will go into.
We shortlisted schools before we moved, got him into one, then decided where we'd live based on that.

We love some school chat on the Edinburgh board. If you look back a few pages you'll see quite a few threads from people looking for schools when they move here.