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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:
MerryMellowmas · 14/12/2006 12:43

very true np.

Had the bought house, lost it, not gonna get the house I want anytime soon (well until I win lottery) but... I am well, my boys are well, and me and dh are fairly happy with no real big problems, so I am trying to be thankful.

nailpolish · 14/12/2006 12:45

looks like im going to be moving back to Ed soon mellowmas, we could have that meet up with expat!

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 14/12/2006 12:45

MerryMellowmas thanks for that, we are on all the housing associations for both regions for the bits we like and have to be on 15 areas in west lothian because of the homeless thing, so we picked as best we could to avoid the really bad bits, but had no chice over the temporary house which i realise could be worse,at least it has 3 bedrooms and is okay inside.

feeling a bit ill and cleaning ocd style as this weeks have seen 4 little odd beetle things with wings and anettae and this is a 4 in a block with the poeple upstair living 8 people in a 3 bedroom property and they eat lots of rice and stuff so I'm worried they have left food lying around and what these bugs might be......or it could be one of the other 2 houses, I know it not me. the people uptairs also work in a restaurant mmm want out of here NOW!!! (panic) am off to lidl later to get bug spray . want out of flats now forever

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 14/12/2006 12:46

ill be the one at meet ups covered in bug and washing my hands every 5 minutes...mmm maybe I'm overreacting

MerryMellowmas · 14/12/2006 12:53

Np that would be great. That would def be something to look forward to, if you move to Edinburgh I could help you settle in and show you the sights/shops etc.

Jenny - that sounds horrid, get onto your council and ask them to some see about it.

I get a bit obbsessed with cleaning at times too

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 14/12/2006 12:54

Will phone them the now...can;t stop wiping stuff

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 14/12/2006 12:57

she said she will phone environmental health to see if they can advise me and she took my number

nailpolish · 14/12/2006 13:55

mellowmas i lived in edinburgh for 14 yrs from the age of 18 to 32

therefore i know the pubs and shops, you will need to show me child related stuff! lol

nailpolish · 14/12/2006 13:56

er i mean 16 to 30 (god i cant even count today)

am looking forward to the joys of softplay and nursery schools in edinburgh

FiveGoldenFIMBOIDs · 14/12/2006 14:00

Oh Naily you are not moving surely? Edinburgh is soooooo expensive (but you know that anyway).

Can you come over to my hair thread in style please.

Sorry for hi-jack

nailpolish · 14/12/2006 14:02

fimbo im moving cos dh is changing jobs, he is miserable and i am too although i love staying here

it isnt all location location location when you get down to the bare bones

and tbh its surprisingly not that that expensive

ive done nothing but look at the espc the past 2 days!

MerryMellowmas · 14/12/2006 14:04

Oh I am a still a bit of learner at all the school/nursery/children stuff but shall try to help as much as possible

Which part of Edinburgh are you thinking of?

FiveGoldenFIMBOIDs · 14/12/2006 14:10

It must be exciting too NP, at least your m & d can visit for the day and stuff. >>

nailpolish · 14/12/2006 14:12

within our price range most property seems to come up in Carrick Knowe and round Piershill.Leith

i know piershill and leith pretty well but i dont know carrick knowe/corstorphine well at all

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 14/12/2006 15:05

Corstophine has a lovely villagey bit round the back of it that is hidden and a little pub etc and a tesco nearby don't know if that helps lol

MerryMellowmas · 14/12/2006 15:26

hmmm different ends from each other.

Piershill would be good because you have the fort and ocean terminal and the other shopping bit at KFC at Meadowbank.

Don't really know Cortsorphine too well. DH had some friends in Clermiston which was nice too. I am sure you will find something you like.

bobsmum · 15/12/2006 15:18

Colette - it's mainly G&S round here - the Bearsden branch. I think they've got offices in Milngavie too.
Savills is around too but they tend to sell the posher stuff over £300 K. I found our house (2 years ago now - eek how time flies!) in the Herald property section which is the same as S1 homes online.

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 15/12/2006 16:34

not roaches at all have checked on websites and those things are definately not what I have here, think is actually some errant beetles

amicissima · 15/12/2006 17:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
colette · 15/12/2006 18:15

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa we have a type of beetle yuuuuk that comes up thro' the floorboard , does not have antennae or wings. We live in a tennement that is over 100 yrs old - think they have been living in the building a long time.
They are horrible. Hope yours go quicker than ours
amicissima - we do like Ayr but the best bits are quite pricey

OP posts:
TwoIfBySanta · 15/12/2006 21:38

Jenny I don't live in Bathgate! DH have graded the towns in West Lothian and even Bathgate is better than where we are.

Does Whitburn "Children's" Gala Day involve the adult population rolling about drunk by 3pm too?

I have to say I've only passed through Whitburn.

West Lothian Council can be complete incompetents with housing. We went on the homeswap site in January 2005, and also handed in application to the council offices, only it went missing and we didn't find out until this January so have lost a year on the waiting list.

You will get an Applicants Newsletter which makes for interesting reading. So, what you need to be to get anywhere in West Lothian is homeless or have lots of medical points. There were just over 1,000 houses sold on right-to-buy leaving just over 8,000 houses in the council and I am sure it also said ha stock! Fairly disgusted by this as you can probably tell by the rant.

Private rents are out of our league, house prices are a joke. And I feel stuck, stuck, stuck. At least I have a roof over our heads but no life beyond that!

(((Wanders away muttering to herself and scratching at the thought of insects)))

Oh and Corstorphine is nice, our friends lived there until they moved up north (Elgin) and wish they were still there!

EllieHsMum · 15/12/2006 21:44

TwoIf Your post certainly brings back memories. We lived in West Lothian until Jan 2001, Bo'ness. Which I am sure you know has the Bo'ness Childrens Fair Day. Not fair on the kids when the adults are in the pub at 11.00am

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 16/12/2006 01:14

Thanks for the reassurance collette, I was feeling very bad about the wee blighters. Oh I see Twoifbysanta, I would live in Bathgate myself i think it would be okay, just thought that is where you meant, lol the gala day here was an experience EllieHsmum! I used to go to the Broxburn one as my Mum lived there when ds was small.

iftwobysanta I am on homeless points and it is not much better I have 400 points but we know people need over 500 points to really get offered anything so I'm am so stuck too.that newsletter is the pits it tells you basically there is no hope for your my child, or even nae chance of a council hoose!
I know someone in Deans who was in temporary accomodation for 2 and a half years then got offred a complete hell hole refused it and then got asked to leave so had to buy a house in deans for nearly 100 grand and just an average ex council area. A taxi driver had us in despair a few weks ago his ex and their ds were in homeless temp accomodation for 6 years and then she got rehoused to knightsridge in livi 2 years ago only to be now told she will be moved again as they are demolishing her current house for the new second rail link extension. We have been here 6 months and were told originally it will take on average 4-6 months it will be soon, now they just go 'its a waiting game I'm afraid it depends on your areas' and they try to get us to put more areas like boghall, armadale and whitburn, dedridge, craigshilll , hharthill, polbeth, and I keep saying we have to be near transport links ! have to refrain from ssaying Armadale? we'd be lynched I tell ya! think that would be even less mixed than Whitburn judging by all the scary sectarian flags etc when you pass through there . are your kids young? mine is a primary 3

trixymalixy · 16/12/2006 15:05

Jennyleeves, we had beetles when we moved into our new house. It was absolutely filthy, (think dried weetabix all over the lounge floor and on the ceiling, WTF!!?!?)

We got rentokil out and they said they were larder beetles due to the previous tenants being so filthy and bits of food on the floors. They were going to charge £150 to get rid of them!!

We just bought loads of bug spray from the supermarket and had a massive clean up and eventually got rid of them.

make sure all the food in your cupboards is in sealed plastic containers rather than in bags, and that you sweep up any dropped food.

if there's nothing to eat in your flat then they'll move to somewhere that does.

they're very common apparently so don't worry about them too much.

TwoIfBySanta · 16/12/2006 19:47

Jenny, you managed to guess where I lived. And yes, the sectarian crap that goes on in Armadale is one of the reasons I am desperate to leave and why my dts go to school (primary 1) in Linlithgow!

Didn't want the first song they learned to be "The Sash My Father Wore" it would have been downhill from there.

I have complained to the council about the flags asking if the same rule would apply if someone decides to fly a Nazi flag as their meanings are similar in their hatred of one particular religion. And as wee Jack McConnell (Hello Bovis, its Jack, quote me happy) keeps going on about ending sectarianism I thought I stood a chance. Nope, no hope as they have every right to spread their hatred.

Poor colette, have totally hijacked the thread but she now has ample warning to steer well clear of certain towns. And sorry to say but to get into Linlithgow you need £120k for a tiny 2-bed ex-council house!