Moving to Perth

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Hi there. DH has just been offered a job in Perth so we are thinking of relocating from Manchester. We have 2 children aged 5 and 7. Can anyone give any information on good areas to start looking to live in, recommended schools or any words of comfort !!

Hi

Hopefully I'm not hijacking Workinprogress's thread? I noticed it hadn't been posted to in a while, so hopefully it is okay.

We are in the process of making the same move from North Hampshire/Surrey border to Perth(shire) or Perth & Kinross. So if anyone has any nuggets of information they would be gratefully received.

So far we?ve looked in and around the Blairgowrie area as the North most point and Kinross, Dollar, etc to the South. I like both areas, especially around Loch Leven, Milnathort, Balgeddie, etc.

I'm from Edinburgh originally and know Perth/Blair a little from attending college in Dundee what feels like centuries ago, but I think it might be too far North for DH job. Perth and Kinross is a completely new area to me, however.

Please send you mumsnet and local wisdom my way.

Where in Perth will he be working? Quality / speed of the road and how it comes into Perth counts a lot round here. The A93 / A94 are pretty slow and come in over the bridges and into the town centre. Fine if he is working centrally but if not then takes longer to get across town than if you live west or south and can use the M90 and A9.

Some really nice small towns and villages, and yes local council seems to do a good job with schools.

We moved up 10 years ago and rented for a year until we found what we were looking for. Scottish property system / sealed bids takes a bit of getting used to! Have a look at Dunning and Abernethy areas too.

Hello - hijack away !
We made the move and generally very happy - the quality of live is better up here and the children are very happy.
If I did it again I would consider Perth itself rather than one of the villages. The countryside and beautiful areas are on your doorstep whereever you are and it might have been less of a culture shock moving to Perth from Manchester rather than a village. Rural services are being run down at the moment ( eg after school club being closed).But it depends what you are used to.
The house buying system is awful. Sellers seem to expect you bid over the asking price (even if there are no other buyers). We lost out on a few houses and had to buy in a hurry when our landlord wanted his house back. I regret buying where we did.

I hear conflicting reports on Blairgowrie, I think there are nice bits and not so nice bits, handy if you like skiing. Not really investigated Kinross, although I hear the secondary school is good.
Good luck and maybe see you for a meet up !

I live near to Kinross in a small village, also used to live in Perth town centre, ask any questions you want!

I'm another one thinking about moving back up. I'd like to move to a village/town on the west of Perth as my friends live over Stirling way. If I get the job I'm going for, I'll be working at the hospital. It's me and DD (6), where would be a good place to live?

I lived in Blairgowrie for years, am now in Perth. TBH, I wouldn't recommend it (Blairgowrie.)It looks like a pretty little town, but it is actually really rough, often violent in the town centre at the weekends. I certainly would never have gone out on a Saturday night. There are several well known families that caused a lot of the trouble, but were never reported to the police due to the reprisals that were dished out.

I would say the same of most of the small towns in the surrounding area. Its very much the kind of place where you will only ever fit in if your grandparents were born there, I also found that attitudes towards women were from the stone age. Parties where the men drank in the lounge and the women stayed in the kitchen. There was also a very strong anti-education vibe - the locals considered you "up-yourself" if you went to uni. Most of the kids who achieved academically left and didn't come back. Oh, and the High School is pretty awful.

Can you tell I was very very glad when we moved out?

The villages close to Perth are lovely. Dunblane is a bit further afield, but really beautiful with an old fashioned high street and good schools. It's a bit pricey though.

Out along the A9 or the A85 is great for the west of Perth. Some lovely communities. We rented in Dunning for a year and it was really welcoming and friendly. Muthill is nice and Crieff and Comrie (although further out) are too, all have strong community trusts / active community groups which is always good imo.

Plus the A9 & A85 are priority routes for snow clearance, which matters in the winters up here lol.

Sadly have to agree re Blairgowrie. Shame as is a nice place to day visit / lovely countryside round about.

Bankfoot is another nice one......tbh there are loads. Best thing to do is come up for a long weekend, hit the PSPC www.pspc.co.uk/ before hand to get an idea of what is about and spend some time driving around and getting a feel for places.

Ideally, if you can afford it, rent for a while - then you can be sure.

Wow. Blairgowrie is that bad now? Thanks for the info. Shame, so many villages feed to the High School there, too. Still good to know and be warned.

christmasmum - do you have any view on Milnathort? I've looked there and at Powmill and Dollar. Looked very briefly during half term. Had lunch in the cafe in Milnathort, etc. Did a drive through Balgeddie (hope that's spelt correctly and loved the "Reading Room") and in the general area of Loch Leven. Countryside very pretty, etc. Seemed a good selection of houses, etc.

Cumbrianlass2 - my husband would be working from home, but needs to be an hour (give or take) away from Edinburgh or Glasgow airport. Also need broadband and this is proving depressingly difficult to find at a reasonable speed in some of the villages. Wondering if BT have been a bit neglectful North of the border.

Ah yes, that leads me to another question - the weather. Just how cold, snowy, rainy is it?

Grandhighpoohba, I recognise what you say about the violence and drinking from a lot of the market towns down here in the South West. There are many I would never live in, partly because I would worry about DD when she becomes a teenager.

Having lived in Glasgow for years, I really recognise that anti-education and 'who do you think you are, you're not special' thing. I found it quite dispiriting and is one of the reasons I moved in the first place.

I'd been looking at villages more than small towns as I have a horror of suburbia. Anyone know what places like Hightowntower and Ruthvenfield are like?

Well the last 2 winters have been very snowy and cold. I've been told this is exceptional! Everyone copes with it very well though. I've found the rest of the year generally OK - bright and rains less than I am used to ! But I didn't come from down south.
We looked at Milnathort, the primary school there is supposed to be good. I did feel it was suburbian rather than villagey though.
Sorry to rehijack, but what is the general view on Crieff. Does it stuff from the same issues as Blairgowrie?

I know that Dunblane is probably not quite villagey enough, but it is really worth a look. Really good train links to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Stirling, and near the A9, a proper old fashioned high street with butchers and greengrocers and some nice shops. Good primary schools and a very good high school. It has a good sense of community too, lots of things going on. Oh and a beautiful Cathedral and parks. The Ramoyle area behind the Cathedral still has a village feel to it.

I don't know a huge amount about Crieff, but nearby ST Fillins is jaw-droppingly beautiful, and definitely still a village, the houses are built round the shore of a loch. Its a wee bit isolated for my tastes. Dunkeld and Birnim are worth a look too if village life is what you are after.

The thing to consider when going for the little villages is that if we get a hard winter,some of these wee towns get absolutely cut off, not so good if you absolutely must be at work in Glasgow!

The last two years have been very snowy, but they have been exceptional. Winter does last longer up here though, snow still a risk in April, but not as heavy. It does rain a fair bit, but the West coast is much wetter than the East, although it's warmer in the West. And Midgi-er. You get used to the weather. It's been a while since we had a long hot summer, but they do sometimes happen.

If you want to be an hour from Edinburgh and Glasgow then you want to be west. I'm just outside Abernethy and is 40 mins to Edinburgh airport outside of rush hour, an hour during. It is just over the hour to Glasgow but again outside of rush hour, can take much longer during.

Dunblane and that area is a good suggestion. You could hit Edinburgh down the M9 and across to Glasgow much easier. The Strathearn (Earn valley) which runs from Stirling to Perth is just lovely, although a bit pricier than elsewhere because of the good links.

I love where we live, so pleased we made the move up (6 years of London & the SE, 2 years of Birmingham before that) - the quality of life is so much better. I can be in Edinburgh or Galsgow within an hour, or go an hour north and am in the start of the highlands, 45 mins east and the Fife coast and St Andrews beach.

I'd suggest Muthill or Comrie too. Crieff is nice but don't know too much about it. Comrie more villagey.

And good luck with broadband lol. I just checked mine and I got 5.3 Mb tonight. A little above average, although I could probably get better if I wasnt wireless from a router using 4 extension cables ......the sceptic tank and oil rather than gas are bigger problems round here imo.

OMG I know, the fuel costs and supply problems are kind of worrying. We viewed one house on LPG gas at which the home owner was paying £200 per month all year round. My jaw just about hit the floor. At that cost, investment in heat pump and wood burners would seem to be prudent!!

Milnathort is nice but nothing too special, just a small village with a decent primary school. Loch Leven and the wee villages around it are all lovely but you'll find broadband a problem (I get 0.5mb!!) anywhere but towns I should think. I love it this way because of the ease of getting around, I'm 30 minutes form Edinburgh airport (not in rush hour probably though) but also near the wonderful St Andrews, Perth and within 2 hours we can be in Aviemore.

If you want villagey, I'd suggest a look at Falkland for sheer loveliness, Dunblane for ease of access to the airports or Comrie if you don't mind a bit of remoteness. Dunkeld is also very nice if you don't mind being a bit further from Edinburgh/Glasgow. Don't forget Dundee airport also goes direct to Birmingham and London though.

I'd also recommend thinking about renting, the Scottish property system is a bit odd if you're used to the English way of doing it and renting with your money in the bank puts you in a strong position, especially in a falling market.

Hello - I'm new here, but just wanted to say I moved to Scotland from Manchester 10 years ago and wouldn't consider moving back now for all the tea in China. I live in Glenfarg, which is 20 mins south of Perth and 45 mins North of Edinburgh, motorway all the way. There's a wee primary school and thriving babies and toddlers group. I disagree with the previous posters comments about buying property here - the system in Scotland is much more civilised and because the market isn't great at the moment most properties don't go to closed bids, you just make an offer in the same way you would in England. There's not much ethnic diversity, which for me, took a bit of getting used to. Weather is colder but sunnier than Manchester. However, there is no gas so heating is very expensive. But, we have very little crime here, so your insurance is much lower, hardly any traffic and life in general is 100% less stressful. If you need to get back to Manc (my parents still live there,) it's a very nice four hour drive.

Hello, hope noone minds if I pick this thread back up again. Same old story really. Edinburgh girl born and bred, ended up in London with family etc. Considering move back up to Scotland for quality of life/good education etc etc. We're looking at Fife/Perth/Dollar areas. Need to have good access to Edinburgh airport as DH would keep his job in London.

I'm puzzling over secondary schools in the area. Some excellent private ones, I can see but £+++++ - what is the lowdown on state secondaries? Any outstanding ones? Any do's and don't's re travel for DC?

We've seen a house in Newburgh which we love, might even drive up this week to view. Trying to think with head, not heart!

Kinross High School is supposed to be very good, as is Bell Baxter in Cupar which I think would be the high school from Newburgh? It's lovely up here :)

I live just south of Perth and quite close to the M90 and it takes me about 30 minutes to get to Edinburgh Airport as long as I avoid the rush hours. Perth is a lovely and surprisingly cosmopolitan place for its size, Dollar is lovely but I find it a bit remote, Fife is a mixed bag, some lovely, some not so nice. Newburgh is nice though, I always think it has everything you need from a small town (except a decent kids playground which is a pity!) but I personally find it a bit far from the main towns.

Thank you christmasmum! Will look up those two schools on OFSTED equivalent.

Perth itself does look good, I love the idea that we would be so close to the beach, hills and winter skiing. Do you have any info/views on Perth High or Perth Grammar?

Are there any decent beaches on north coast of Fife? I know St Andrews and the Pittenweem coasts well but not the north.

Curses, was in middle of reply and lost it! Anyway, I'll try to remember what I just wrote...

Perth High is supposed to be better than Perth Grammar, though possibly more to do with the area they're each in rather than quality of teaching etc.

Not many beaches along Tay Estuary, best ones are St Andrews and Tentsmuir (near Leuchars), and if you go further north, Lunan Bay is amazing.

Perth itself is a great town, lots of very good restaurants, a few bars and a really good concert hall. The swimming pool is also great for kids! I'd definitely look closely at Perth for being central to everything.

Did you look at the house in Newburgh?

Hope it's okay to refresh this thread again. I've been considering a move back to Scotland too and am looking at Kinross as an alternative to Edinburgh. I don't know anyone in Kinross but it has a great newly rebuilt secondary school and houses with decent sized gardens. Would you recommend living there? Or do you think that as a previous city dweller (Edinburgh, Glasgow and Amsterdam are my previous addresses) I'll find things too quiet? Any advice welcome.

Hi hope your research is going well. I moved up to Perth from England in 2002 and love it! Lived in dunning not too far from Perth but a lovely friendly village. Good school and auchterarder high school has a very good reputation. We were made very welcome in the village. Nice location but easy access to Perth for all the amenities. Some of my kids are grown and have their own families and settled around Perth with their children. Good luck with the move I don't think you will regret it

Hey! Scone would be a really good choice to live! Lots to do for babies/ toddlers! Its really popular for familys to live! Really good primary school, big children's park! The buses go into Perth every ten minutes all day, which is nice and handy!
Don't know if I would move to Almondbank, my granny lives there, dont get me know it's very nice and very very quiet!
Good luck! X

HI, I'm thinking of relocating to perth/kinross area. Just me and one older child. I am looking to find a job too, can anyone help with the qualification system please? I have just completed a foundation degree in supporting learning, but I'm not sure what this is relevant to...I wondered if it was SCQF 7??? or am I being too advantageous! If anyone can help with areas to live, jobs, and the qualifications I would be most grateful x

Hi there, I'm not sure if I still can continue to this talk even after such a while. But we are going to move soon (from the west coast) to the area as my partner got a job in Dundee (western part). We don't want to live in city and are considering something smaller maybe between Dundee and Perth or Perth itself. I am looking for somewhere with a good school (primary so far) and some after school clubs. Would it be ok to commute from Pert to Dundee?