Where to live in Edinburgh?

[Blu]

No, not me, but a friend.
She needs to re-locate, work in the city centre. Has 2 small children, and I guess will look for a 4 bed house (so we can visit) with garden. And good primary school. They are 'bohemian professionals', enjoy access to the great outdoors, but also the odd wine bar. They are used to a gritty area of London, but would like a freindly neighbourhood.
Any ideas?

Bump

Depends very much on the budget up here. There are lots of nice areas up here, Trinity is fab, morningside lots of others though. the ESPC website is good most edinburgh houses get sold through that. 4 bed houses in nice areas are pretty expensive and not that many of them depending on how close she wants to be to the city centre.

Also make sure she uses a scottish solicitor for her purchase we do this very differently up here. Offers over can mean considerably more. Once you have signed the missives (house contract signed very quickly after the offer has been accepted) it will cost you to back out.

I live in trinity and it is very friendly lots of nice baby/child activities. Lots of good independant schools in Edinburgh too some good state ones and some nightmares.

Comley Bank is nice, but expensive

I'd love to live anywhere in Edinburgh, but h has a friend who lives in a really nice area beginning with M - not much help. I know it's not Murrayfied.

Posts crossed baba - that was it - Morningside.

I agree with Baba. A LOT depends on budget. The council is also redrawing catchment areas b/c, as down south, good schools can be VERY over-subscribed.

4 bed house in an area like Morningside, Newington, Stockbridge - you're talking big money. Detached? Even more. As Baba pointed out, they're arent' many 4 beds in town and detached ones are even rarer.

Needless to say, the suburbs are less expensive.

Schools is the key...Edinburgh is littered with fee paying schools and a much greater proportion of people pay for the kids education....no idea why. Consequently the state schools vary a lot. Finding a good school is the first step...finding nice areas to live is pretty easy because it's such a great place....don't live there any more so not sure the latest info on schools. Sorry I can't help more.

morningside, bruntsfield

Oh and the older houses have very thick walls so sound isn't the probelm that yiou have in newer attached houses IYSWIM.

Also flats are more common in the centre of town, in New Town...not idea with kids I know and they can be very expensive

robin3, it's really interesting to hear that. My much-loved GP moved to Edinburgh about 5 years ago, and her reason was that she thought the state school system/schools in Scotland were so much better.

Over all I think that the system of education is better in scotland (lived there for years now teach in england). Kids aren't forced to specialise so soon as they do in the rest of the UK. This is also true at university level. Standards of university education in scotland are excelent

In Scotland I that that's true but in Edinburgh and enormous number of kids go to private schools...many are only as good as the average state school but people pay. I really have no idea why and not sure how much schools cost compared to other places. I'm not saying you have to go private....sure there are great state schools but location is key.

True, I once read that there are more chilren in fee paying schools in Edinburgh per head of population than anywhere else in the uk. Fettes, the almamata of that champion of the state sector T Blair etc!

I just think that the highers are a better, more rounded sysrem of eaminations than A levels

People commute to Edinburgh from here

Hello Blu!

As FF says, Bruntsfield, definitely. Good schools, near the Meadows, good wine bars, lovely neighbours .
Feel free to email me, or give her my email- I could discuss Edinburgh schools for hours

I think they should go and live next to Tamum and then we can all go and visit

Absolutely Mind you we have plenty of room so you can all come and visit anyway, hem hem.

Yeah, i love Bruntsfield... it is a great area, Stockbridge too but both pricy! Also both very near town.

What are offers over going for currently? Is it 15-20% ++ over the asking price? (sorry to hijack, but dh and I are thinking of returning to Edinburgh too - maybe )

Some parts of Portobello can be very nice and quite 'bohmenian' but cheaper than Morningside or Stockbridge. Other parts can be a bit 'seedy' so you've got to be careful. Duddingston Primary gets a good name, there are nice parks, a High Street with lots of individual-type shops, a swimming pool plus the beach, good transport links (bus & car) and you're not too far from the city centre. Tried to get a link with the espc to show what you could get there for your money but it kept timing out, but if you're interested go to www.espc.co.uk
Chonky, I don't think the market in edinburgh's quite as mad as it was, say a year ago, although it depends on the area/house. A lot more flats & houses are going for a fixed price.

Brilliant info, everyone Thank You, keep it coming. I am to see that prices are neck and neck with London!

I don't think they need to be right in close to the city centre, and by 'bohemian' I sort of mean that they would probably go for a victorian terrace on the city outskirts, rather than a new build deep in the suburbs, IYSWIM.

Edinburgh really is fab, isn't it?

Chonky,
Try 30-50% over the offers over price. That's more like it.

PILs live in Trinity. LOVE the area, but it's way out of price range. They moved there from New Haven in the 80s when it was a lot more reasonable.

But beansprout's right, there's lot of baby/child friendly activities in that area - DD goes to playgroup, TumbleTots there.

Blu
One of my work colleagues just bought a semi-detached Georgian cottage in Portabello. Granted, it's . . . well, it's a lot of a fixer-upper (my colleague's husband is an architect), but they got a deal for £300,000. Don't think it has 4 bedrooms, though. But if your pals are interested in developing, it could work.

fimbo, dalgety bay is not a good place to direct someone too! there are nicer places nearby (fume)

morningside and bruntsfield are definitely the nicest parts. stockbridge too, although thats a little cramped i think. portobello is ok, used to live there, but it gets a lot of trouble from nearby not so nice places. (had the police outside the pub i lived above every night)

liberton is nice too, and is a bit nearer the city centre than morningside or bruntsfield, which can be a bit studenty

leith is also fab now it has undergone a major redo. if i was to move back to edin i would live in leith. brilliant nightlife, restaurants, mixture of townhouses that are really old but have been looked after and new modern flats/penthouse thingys