If you moved to Edinburgh , why did you do it and how did it work out?

[cherrytrees123]

Planning to move back to Edinburgh after many years away. Living in a lovely rural area at the moment, but feeling under stimulated and adrift, don't fit in with the people etc. Not sure I am ready to be in a busy city with all the traffic though! Several reasons to move back, but i need encouragement!

Oooh, how about this house in Longniddry? Easy travelling distance to Edinburgh but not quite in the city, and with the seaside as well as countryside.

Houses do occasionally come up in Portobello, and whilst you won't get anything like the same bang for your buck as you would a bit further out, you may be willing to make the sacrifice to live in Edinburgh-by-the-sea. I can't find any houses for sale at the moment apart from the Joppa one (which will probably go at far more than the oo price) but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

I moved to Edinburgh from NZ 11 years ago, basically because as soon as I stepped foot in the city it felt like home. I've lived in Gorgie and Leith and we're now in Musselburgh. I love it here. You'd get a really good house in this area for that budget, cherrytrees, and there are some lovely seaside villages here in East Lothian that are wonderful too and connected by a good train.

What do you want to do while you live in the city?

Why not make a total change and try city centre, walk everywhere living? You won't get a detached house though... bits of the city centre can be very quiet - Dean Village, the side streets in the New Town.

Also think how your needs might change as if you have fully grown children retirement is probably looming. This will undoubtable depress you but my friends and i are currently mopping up some fairly disastrous parental retirement plans.... retiring to a rural village and a charming period property with a really steep staircase, no bus service and where you need to drive to even buy bread is not compatible with having a stroke....

I would consider renting for a bit though to give it a try though as it will be a big change.

I'm from Edinburgh and can think of nothing worse than moving back to suburbia (the place I'm from has been named on this thread as desirable....).

I would agree with renting. We rented for two years and the area we ended up wasn’t on my radar while we were looking from afar.

I agree with freak

We moved somewhere beautiful outside Edinburgh, detached with views. We've lived here 18months and now we're moving to near central Edinburgh (in a quiet flat in a quiet backstreet) as I now have bad health, plus the two small DCs get restless and bored where we are and I am sick of all the traveling everytime we need to do anything (as we have to go into Edinburgh for it anyway).

We are renting and will rent again. I will only buy when I am sure. We thought we wanted detached, spacious and commutable in to Edinburgh. But I realised a flat in a better location is for me.

We moved from South East England

Actually we are retiring, so some of the comments above hit the nail on the head.(opinion). I thought i wanted rural and peaceful etc. We have ended up renting somewhere like this by fluke (its a long story). No bus service, bored to tears, no community etc. i love the birdsong etc but endless walks are not enough.
We can't really afford to continue renting but I think we may have to. It means another move and then another one, which I really can't face.
I am from Edinburgh so know it well, but I do find the traffic a real pain when we go back. East Lothian was our first idea, and we nearly bought there, but have an adult son who doesn't drive who needs to find work. He has work here, but can't afford to live on what he earns. So it's all complicated. Son is very isolated here, and I am feeling cut off. OH would prefer country living, but once he is properly retired I don't think it will be enough. Plus daughter is moving to Edinburgh and I have other family there. I do wonder if I will be able to cope with the weather again though and there are far fewer places with access to the countryside. We moved back in the nineties for several years and I found it hard to adjust initially.

I also think opinionatedfreak is on to something; there are lots of lovely, quiet spots in the city centre (little mews streets for example can be incredibly peaceful) where you are still in the middle of everything and which would be great places for retiring IMO. We live very centrally (less than 5 minutes to Princes St gardens) and it's brilliant and tbh the traffic isn't that much of a pain because we have so much on the doorstep - we do drive, but it's not vital to everything in the way it probably would be a bit further out.

Perhaps the suburbs are a better option for you? Easy access to both city & countryside. But period properties are fewer; or you may need to compromise on semi detached.

East Lothian is stunning. You can have very rural and small or seaside or a larger town. Commute pretty good and best of all worlds now.

Edinburgh is very busy now. So different from the city I grew up in

Yes, love E Lothian. That would be ideal.

What about somewhere like liberton? Great acesss to the centre via bus, but quite rural feeling with lots of little hills on your doorstep