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Original poster

Calling Scottish Mums- Would Love your Opinions

237 replies

colette · 08/12/2006 15:56

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

OP posts:
nailpolish · 08/12/2006 16:53

Freuchie and Kirkcaldy?

what a shame

my dd's were born in Kirkcaldy, they have a lovely old fashioned maternity hospital there. not a doc in sight

expatinscotland · 08/12/2006 16:53

Lochgelly is now no longer cheap. People have twigged.

Again, there, you HAVE to drive.

OMG! There is NOTHING to it.

We'd not have found it at all except for following my pal.

She's a nurse, though, so she drives for work anyhow.

expatinscotland · 08/12/2006 16:54

My work colleague's from Kirkcauldy. He calls it Kirkdruggy.

MrsSpoon · 08/12/2006 16:56

Cupar is quite nice but a bit out of the way for comuting. When DH and I were moving I liked the idea of Star because it was nice name but I was a bit disappointed when we drove round and discovered there was nothing particularly special about it.

FiveGoldenFIMBOs · 08/12/2006 16:56

Was Gordon Brown's daughter not born at Forth Park? When I lived in Newburgh you had the choice of giving birth there or at PRI. My dd wants a t-shirt like Ewan McGregor "born in PRI" (they want to close it and his mother spearheads the campaign)

I am full of useless information me

nailpolish · 08/12/2006 16:58

i think gordon browns children were born at ERI fimbo, they live in S Queensferry where i think the choice is St Johns at Livingston or ERI

nailpolish · 08/12/2006 16:58

he is MP for Kirkcaldy tho i think

FiveGoldenFIMBOs · 08/12/2006 16:58

Ah now talkin of Ewan what about Crieff?

nailpolish · 08/12/2006 16:59

oh yes crieff

FiveGoldenFIMBOs · 08/12/2006 17:02

I found a bit here - didn't want to post the whole sad article:-

Jennifer was delivered at 1216GMT on Friday 28 December at the Forth Park Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, near Mr Brown's Dunfermline East constituency home.

nailpolish · 08/12/2006 17:03

oh right

sorry fimbs

she must have been considered high risk after having jennifer and had her 2 boys at ERI maybe ?

FiveGoldenFIMBOs · 08/12/2006 17:04

I'm off - good luck Colete!

santasaltire · 08/12/2006 17:14

Mrs spoon, do you really think Cupars nice?

poinsettydog · 08/12/2006 17:29

Watch it. I spent half my childhood in Cupar.

Original poster
colette · 08/12/2006 19:51

Thanks FiveGoldenFIMBOs - hope I haven't made you made too homesick . You get much better summers down there

OP posts:
FiveGoldenFIMBOs · 08/12/2006 19:57

I'm back just for a moment. I like Cupar too, quite a nice A & J Stephen estate there. My mil and pil live just down the road. My mil is chuffed because they have just built a new massive Lidl and they now have Argos! Oh and you can get domino cake at Stewarts the Bakers!!

TinsellyRhino · 08/12/2006 19:59

You might like Annan, thats all, I live there (but don't let that put you off )

I don't really know anywhere else in scotland well enough to recommend or tell you about but wanted to post

tassis · 08/12/2006 19:59

colette, think you should re-consider stirling. it really is lovely here. shops are pants, but only 35 mins to glasgow on the train.

MerryMellowmas · 08/12/2006 20:02

What about over this way...

The Borders, is that too far? Very nice, low crime, drugs.

Or Midlothian, some of which is nice (just outside Edinburgh)

Or if dh does not like Falkirk how about Bo'ness (big chimneys, lots of smoke), South Queensferry (nice), Linlithgow

seb1 · 08/12/2006 20:04

What about North Ayrshire?

seb1 · 08/12/2006 20:08

Sorry bit of a hijack here, posted this on the Xmas threads but thought you fellow Scots would enjoy
irnbru snowman

Original poster
colette · 08/12/2006 20:11

FiveGoldenFIMBOs - I don't know what Domino cake is , have led a very sheltered life
Tassis , we would love to reconsider Stirling. What areas do you think are nice but not too expensive ?
TinsellyRhino - I don't know much about annan but prefer the accent to Glaswegian accent iykwim

OP posts:
Jbck · 08/12/2006 20:26

Haven't seen Domino cake in years, I'd move there just for that. I'd vote for Callendar or East Coast but both expensive.

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 08/12/2006 20:33

fife equals racists that time forgot, well from my experience and in my opinion only. they still call it the kingdom of fife you only know that if you have lived there, and dunfermline is dying a slow death , check out the town centre if you don't believe.

Broxburn is nice and linlithgow, south queensferry and posh areas of livingston, eliburn has a good school in livingston and there are posh areas but look at the school league tables, want you children to go to one of the top ten high schools in scotland? Linlithgow academy? move to linlithgow or winchburgh, and check out info on Lowport school - looks great is in linlithgow, in livingston there is livingston village , murieston and deer park and elburn posh bits with nice schools. Broxburn in 20 mins from edinburgh centre on bus, oh and bathgate has good bits and train ling to edinburgh, erm avoid whitburn and FIFE. clackmannan is beautiful and better house prices than west lothian

Original poster
colette · 08/12/2006 20:39

Thanks JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa , I am going to drink some wine. I have a lot of information to digest. Schools are important but we don't want to move somewhere just for better schools iykwim it is really hard to get the right balance. Unless money is no object of course

OP posts: