Moving to Scotland from York, but where should we look?

[EHAlba]

Hi,

We currently live in York (which we absolutely love) but for various reasons, work and family, we're planning on moving to the central belt in Scotland in the next 1-2 years. The reason for choosing the central belt specifically is to be either in, or close to, Glasgow and/or Edinburgh for work reasons. My husband works from home but in my industry I'm going to have to commute to one or the other.

My husband is Scottish, but from the Aberdeenshire area originally, and so doesn't know the central belt very well, and I'm Spanish. We love the idea of being closer to family etc, but we're struggling to find anywhere that will come close to York in terms of environment, activities, shops and restaurants etc. Edinburgh is obviously an option that could tick a lot of our boxes, but comes with a significant price tag, so we haven't considered that (yet!). We'd ideally like to be somewhere that has the feel of York with good access to the countryside, but within 30ish min train commute of Glasgow. We’d also like to have good access to good schools as our son will be starting school around that time.

Places we've looked are:

Stirling - some lovely suburban areas but the centre felt pretty run down and not what we expected

Bridge of Allan - Really nice, although not sure if it has all the amenities we'd need without having to go into Stirling a lot

Dunblane - Lovely but possibly a little too quiet, and on the very edge of commuting distance

Bearsden / Milgavie - Some really nice houses, but felt a bit metropolis/suburbia if you know what I mean. The centres of both were just 'ok' as well (I appreciate Glasgow city centre has loads to offer and is just down the road)

Linlithgow - We haven't been yet but are visiting soon, feels like it might tick a lot of boxes

The list probably gives you some idea of what we're aiming for. We're probably going to be spending between £500-£600k for a 4 bedroom house, which we thought was fairly reasonable. But it feels like that's not going to get us what we're looking for these days!

So, any tips on places we haven't thought of, or anywhere on our list that we should be paying more attention to?

Thanks!

Oh and the restaurants in Glasgow are spot on. They've had Italians living there for generations so obviously all the fresh made pasta and fierce coffee shops yadda yadda but also there's loads of great curry places too. Indians and Scots both like spicy food, sweet food and fried food so it's a natural match, and in Glasgow you've got some good fusion going on.

Another vote for Glasgow, the west end is lovely and your budget would get 4 beds (but a flat probably rather than a house)

Nowhere except a central, village-y part of Edinburgh like Stockbridge or Colinton will come close to downtown York in terms of amenity and historic feel. I’ve lived in both Edinburgh and York for a number of years and I’m from the west of Scotland, so know all areas well and can compare. If you are Spanish, central Edinburgh is much more cosmopolitan than anywhere except - possibly - the west end of Glasgow.

I think you need to work out exactly what you want and whether it’s a walkable city with cafe culture like York or a more village feel like Dunblane or Linlithgow. It’s about your priorities.

EHAlba, just wondered where you decided to move to? I have a similar dilemma and can't decide between Stirling and Linlithgow. We're relocating from London and have a similar criteria to you! Have you relocated yet?

Hi @Zebrazo thanks for reaching out! we've had to postpone our move to next year but I must say that after doing a tour around the central belt, we were underwhelmed by both Stirling and Linlithgow. We've established that we value the look of a place more than we initially thought and although Linlithgow has easy access to Edinburgh, we felt that we would be compromising quite a lot living there. We've now started to consider some villages and towns in East Lothian with easy access to Edinburgh and we're doing another tour to get a feel for the area. All going well we'll move up next year. If you haven't already, I would take a few days to visit the areas you're considering, this has helped us massively. I'd love to hear what your plans are. Good luck with your search!😊