Calling Scottish Mums- Would Love your Opinions

[colette]

We have been considering moving out of Glasgow- at present we live in a flat in the southside and would quite like to upgrade to a house but cannot do that here without moving to a grim area iykwim. Also we are a bit dissillusioned with Glasgow generally.
We have been considering Stranraer , see my other thread - sorry have not managed to do a link. It is in travel/ general advice. The replies have backed up what I was worried about.
Also have considered Stirling and the surrounding area, but the problem is the best areas are too expensive for us and Cambusbarron looked like a great contender until we looked at the primary school hmi report! Also there seemed to be a lot of wild kids hanging about on the street- really like the location otherwise. Dh lived in Stirling for about 7 years and we used to visit it a lot when we first met.
Anyway to cast the net wider I would really like your opinions on these and any other areas in Scotland that ;
1- have good schools but reasonable houseprices eg. 3 bedroomed under ?150,000
2- are semirural and have a good community feel iykwim
3 are commutable to a city or major town easily
4 have less drugs related problems, crime and violence than glasgow.
5 are good places for kids to grow up but have some things for adults too - sports centres, cinemas , good restaurants . Beautiful countryside
I know cheaper house prices usually means less desirable. So I know I am asking a lot .
I am hoping your insights will give me an insiders guide to living in different places- and this will help us to broaden our search. We are really stuck in a rut and are going round in circles and would really be grateful for your input

thaks trixiymalixi that makes me feel better as after my crazy cleaning I have not seen any more of them and they will find absolutely nothing to eat here.

iftwobysanta I can't believe I guessed where you live, ironically the most amount of council houses seems to be there so we would probably get housed really quickly there, but the flags do make it seem quite oppressive and backward eeh hope I'm not offending too many people, is brilliant that your children go to school in linlithgow. i wish I had home educated instead of enrolling my ds at the local school as there has been quite a few problems. Nice that there is a mumsnetter in the local area

Jenny, you might have a second wave of the larvae, but persevere with the bug spray and you'll get there.

Joke McConnell.

Hi Collette - we moved back to Glasgow at Easter and moved to Helensburgh. Absolutely love it. Brand new secondary school being built within walking distance and primary school just passed with flying colours. Lovely people and scenery. Not sure about house prices - not too bad I would think - though there are a lot of big houses - some smaller ones too. As far as I have seen - not much crime around here - but rainy - but hey its Scotland.
Lots of water and sports facilities - only no online supermarket shopping or David Lloyd!!
half hourly train service to glasgow - 40 mins.
Also nearby Cardross or Rhu - have nice houses - but not many come up for sale often but are cheaper.

Jenny if you do get offered a house in Armadale and it happens to be in Mayfield, under no circumstances take it, even in Armadale it has a bad reputation. Ironically it is also where they are building a lot of new houses, £140k to live next to Mayfield, well, they didn't want the burglars to have to go to far to work!

I live on the outskirts of Armadale, best thing in Armadale is the road out. It is a very backward town, of the people who moved here and were in my antenatal class none remain, but born and bred Armadillos (my nickname for them) stay here for some odd reason.

(Are you getting this Colette, put a big red x over the name of the town, make sure you and yours never end up here.)

TwoIfBySanta yes I have put in never ever pile
tracyk - we had friends lived near Gourock - didn't look that great but I have never been to Helensburgh so that can stay on the look into further list . Thanks

Ayrshire is a lovely place to be I think, near the coast. That's where I am.

Thanks for posting on one of my other threads colette - decided to post it on here too since it is Scottish based.

You may have seen this on the STV news but if not, click on the here and watch the video on the top of the page

Please help if you can.

no armadale is not one of our 15 areas so no chance of being offered there

Colette - Gourock is nowhere near Helensburgh. Well as the crow flies it is - but it is the other side of the water and would take almost an hour to drive to. We sometimes joke that the pretty lights you can see over the water is the cars burning in Gourock!!
I feel much safer here than I would in the city. I regularly leave my car and house unlocked - tho am prob tempting fate!

tracyk sorry
After Xmas I will look through the thread and start a bit of research- like finding out where places are in relation to others to start with. Then facilities, house prices schools, employment etc

Colette - drove past this on the way home! It's a bit of a fixer upper, but would be worth a small fortune once improved. It's next door to our local primary school, 5 mins from Drymen Only 2 bedrooms though

Milton of Buchanan

Bobsmum - thanks a lot for the link. I can't access the details , so will look later when ds and dd are in bed ,
Thanks for keeping an eye out, I am really chuffed. We have got caught up in all the usual seasonal stuff and the clearing up/ decluttering but are still wading through toys. Have a feeling that may be too ambitious but will show dh.
Thanks for keeping an eye out