Anyone live near Inverary?

[dizzybiatch]

Been house shopping and this is one area that we are thinking might fit the bill.

Anyone live any where remotely near there?

I don't live there but I know the area pretty well. Would you be commuting to work?

Hope you have deep pockets and earn a lot, because there's FA out there and it's going to cost you a bomb to access the most basic of services.

Beautiful place but can be isolated, especially if the road gets blocked with landslides.

Pretty much FA where we are currently too I would say!

Husband covers whole of Argyll and Bute with work and we have family in Glasgow so thought it might be a good spot.

We are currently much further north.

Pockets def not deep and survive on p/t wage currently! Is it house prices in this area that would make it costly or general cost of living?

Well, if he's travelling all over Argyll it's probably not a bad location.

Inveraray's about 40mins from Lochgilphead which has a high school. You're and hour and a half from Glasgow, but the Rest & Be Thankful road isn't reliable (v landslide prone) and the detour is substantial. Just over an hour to Dunoon and a bit less to Oban - it's pretty central in Argyll terms.

If you're used to living up North anyway then the distances, lack of local amenities etc presumably won't be a shock.

Because of the proximity to Glasgow it does probably suffer second home price inflation, but there are plenty not-so-pretty parts.

sleepyhead you sound like you know the area quite well. Are there any places that spring to mind as being nice places to live and bring up kids. $0 mins drive to secondary seems a lot. Currently 20 mins from good secondary school but 2.5 hours north of Oban and 4 hours from Glasgow.

20 mins that should say!

If you want to be within 20 minutes of a high school then that limits you to (within 20 minutes of)

• Dunoon
• Lochgilphead, or further down that road Tarbert and eventually Campbeltown
• Helensburgh
• Oban

I think that's it.

It's cost of living, IME. Yes, we live in the area. The pass slides a lot and/or has accidents and then that means, as stated, a substantial and costly detour. Dunoon, you're reliant on the ferries. And they are not cheap. If I had the chance, I'd move over the water, tbh - Tarbet, Arrochar, Rhu, Cove, Helensburgh. That way his job is accessible, but so is Glasgow.

YY to secondary house price inflation. That's even the case here. It's just not as cheap as you'd think with there being FA and any real services being quite an expensive trip away.

And don't get me started on the living hell it becomes if you or a loved one develops a serious health problem - you have to move.

Sounds like an even bigger pita than where we live now! Perhaps I will crack on with my summerhouse and just encourage visitors from down south!

Funnily enough i did look at some houses in Cove and Tarbet but they just didn't have what i was looking for in terms of location. We are in a lovely spot with very little traffic and great walking on our doorstep unfortunately family and work are miles from here. Cant have it all i suppose.

What about Balfron or that sort of area? Again, not cheap because it's commutable to Glasgow, but rural, closer to your dh's job than 2hrs north of Oban.

What about Colintraive/ Glendaruel way- high school on Bute is fairly quick( admit you need to go by ferry but it's only 5 mins!)

Don't live there but godmother does and inlaws near helensburgh

Inverary is nice but fills up with bus parties and pensioners from April to September. I'd stick to that general area though if your DH has to travel throughout Argyll as it is central. I'd probably look south of Inverary though. I think there are quite a lot of second homes in Inverary but fewer as you go south into mid Argyll. Fewer tourists too. May want to google any primary schools that you are looking at as the council were talking about closing quite a few. I can't remember which ones they closed and which are still under threat.

Oh, if you are interested in Lochgilphead Primary you may want to google Martha's Meals.

I'd not look at anywhere north of Inverary that is in the Lochgilphead High School catchment area. The kids from Inverary used to get a school bus that left at about 8am. THe kids who lived north of Inverary had to get there earlier to make sure they got the bus and had very long days. Quite a lot of Loch Aweside is also in the Lochgilphead HS catchment area and I'd imagine that kids from Eredine would also have long school days when they are in high school.

cloutiedumpling thanks for suggesting I google Marthas Meals, very interesting read , quite inspiring really. Terrible meals I have to agree. I would be outraged if I was spending 2 quid a day and this is what was being served up to my child.

No way I'd live on Bute! Then you are really reliant on the ferries. And they don't run as late as those to Gourock from Dunoon. And they are £££.

Plus, you run into all the problems of not being on the mainland.

Having a Highland postcode is trouble enough, IME.

Looking for my long lost daughter.She was adopted to a family in Inverary some 40 odd years ago by pressure on Her Mother from the Parents and i never got the chance to see her not once.The baby then was registered as Jaquiline Craigan daughter of Ann Craigan whom i can't find anywhere.I am 74 years old now and would lo e to meet my daughter so much. I pray someone i their 40's may remember or know a young woman who was adopted or even think they do and let her know william her biological Father has been looking for her si nce she was a baby.