Advice on where to live in Edinburgh

[FlyMeToDunoon]

Hi I am hoping to move from the deepest south east England to Edinburgh soon.
Despite my name I am not from Dunoon. I am from Edinburgh but I don't have much experience of trying to find primary and secondary schools for children there.
We would be renting at first but to save disrupting the children I would prefer to rent in the same area as we would eventually buy in so as to keep them in the same schools. So If we were looking to buy in the future a 3 bed place for around £200,00 what areas could you recommend?
I have been looking at the espc site for a while and have seen flats available in Saunders St, Stockbridge for example to rent or buy and would imagine that to be a great place but what other possibilities are there?

Buckstone is 'up the hill' from Morningside. I don't know it well but I used to know a family who lived there and tbh it is very different to Morningside in that it is street after street of houses rather than the hustle and bustle of somewhere like Morningside or Stockbridge. Probably better for DCs though as they can go out and play on bikes, have a garden etc whereas you're limited somewhere like Morningside unless you are able to afford and find a flat/house with direct access into a private garden. I admit that I am a fed up living in a first floor flat with DCs who are too young to go down to the garden themselves, I dream of having a kitchen door I can open directly into a garden but I personally wouldn't move to Buckstone even if it got me my dream! It's personal preference though so can only suggest you go look.

Gullane is lovely but echoing someone else's earlier post four words - golf and old people. I was actually there on Saturday and while it's absolutely lovely for a day at the beach it's quite bleak in the winter and is a pretty rough commute as you're quite far from the A1. North Berwick is great with really excellent schools but property is extremely expensive. Dunbar has become very popular for families wanting decent sized properties without paying Edinburgh prices, it's further east but right on the A1 so 30mins to Edinburgh and has a train station. We looked very closely at moving to East Lothian a few years ago and actually offered on some houses in North Berwick but were outbid and ended up staying central. As it turned out it was a good thing as with hindsight the commuting to Edinburgh for both our jobs would have done us in. If one of you is either staying at home or can work locally it's worth considering as quality of life can be great.

Should also say that I know someone with a young family who lives in Aberlady (near to and even smaller than Gullane) and he loves it! Direlton between Gullane and North Berwick is absolutely gorgeous too. Next sunny day you must go and visit East Lothian (along the coast road) once you get past Prestonpans and the monster power station it's really lovely. Another plus point to living in Edinburgh!

thanks bellebelle and yes you have actually said what i expected about both places..
am personally very torn between wanting to live right in Edinburgh and living the city life and actually living somewhere rural with loads of space. i grew up in the middle of nowhere in devon so kind of dream of that kind of space for my dc. but then there isn't much to "do" in the middle of nowhere and i wouldn't want to wish that on my ds when they are teenagers!
its a tough one..
but i totally get what you say about needng a garden outside the kitchen door - really that is my primary criteria in househunting at the moment! our dc are too little to play out without me too and at the moment we have a little garden which is great for them and i don't think i could lose that..
when we next come up we will go along to north berwick and through all those villages etc.. but we currently live about 350 miles away so it might not be on the next sunny day
was mostly drawn to buckstone because the primary feeds into Boroughmuir and although high school is a long way off for our dc i wouldn't want to end up in an area with a terrible secondary.. there are so many things to consider!
thanks for your advice though.

In my dream life I would live in North Berwick - I am ever so slightly obsessed with it. Unfortunately DH works crazy hours (is a chef so often finishes at midnight) and we like to keep his commute as small as possible.

Gullane is nice but very posh. I think there is more to do for young families in north Berwick.

DH has family in Gullane pretty much golf and OAP but it is a lovely area and more young families do seem to be moving into the area. Also very posh.

thank you. so maybe not Gullane then..
and yes north berwick looks gorgeous and i can just see us living there but there is nothing even vaguely in our price range for what we are after there at the moment..
am turning my thoughts very much back towards Portobello at the moment. But we will have to see!
Am mostly a bit panicky that we won't be able to find a home in an area with a school that we like or vice versa, especially when most nursery places will probably have been filled up by now (our oldest will be nursery age by the autumn). But it will all work out i am sure! (my current mantra..)

btw this is fairylights in election mode!

I grew up in North Berwick, my mum always described it as a middle-class ghetto . The one drawback to the East Lothian coast is that whenever you get a couple of days of nice warm sunny weather the sea fog rolls in which is very depressing!

There are some nice areas inland especially if you like hills, Gifford is lovely.

I don't think you can go wrong with Portobello, it's lovely and pretty affordable.

We have thought about moving there but the only thing which puts us off is parking, there is very little, especially at the weekend.