Relocating from England to the Scottish Highlands

[winterbabyrose]

DH and I are in the very early stages of potentially relocating to the Scottish Highlands. We love it up there, the way of life, the locals etc and want to bring our DC up with an 'outdoorsy' lifestyle. Current house valuation is booked for next week, so first of all to get an idea of what our house is worth!

Just wondering if anyone has also relocated from England to the Highlands and how did you find it? Any tips etc? We know if we did it in one go we would have to get two solicitors as the property laws in Eng vs Sco are very different. Or we might sell here and rent up there for 6mo-1y until we secure jobs and find our new house and then start the buying process when we are already up there.

Hoping to be able to continue at my current job (already WFH, so shouldn't be an issue, although too early to have the discussion). DH would need to get a new job - engineering.

I am 27, DH is nearly 31 and our DD is just over 1.

Just wondering if anyone has done anything similar and has any tips / nice areas / advice etc. Many thanks.

Have you spent much time there?
I would imagine there is a need for engineers but might not actually be in the highlands, more the coast or Aberdeen for offshore wind etc.

Roughly where would you relocate to?

@Tots678 I have been up there every year since I was about 5 (27 now), bar the COVID years.

@coodawoodashooda We are looking at the area no further north than Inverness, no further south than Glencoe, and including the Isle of Skye - so mostly Inverness-Shire.

We did it 2 years ago, not regretted it for a moment.

Renting while you find somewhat to buy is a good idea in theory but you might find it difficult as there are very few rental properties available in the Highlands, especially in the touristy areas. A lot of the rental properties are now air b&bs. We had the same idea but nothing was available.

Yes you'll need a separate solicitor for each transaction. I knew nothing about the buying process in Scotland but our solicitor was great, talked us through each step.

Regarding the actual move, we did it over two days. Packed up the old house on day one, the movers set off up north, we followed shortly after, stayed over in a hotel en route and met them at the new house the following morning. This worked well though we were exhausted by the end of day two.

Best of luck.

@Whisper23 what area in the highlands did you move to, if you don't mind me asking? Trying to narrow down areas to look at more intently at the moment, but opinions on certain areas seem a little hard to find!

@winterbabyrose Were on Skye.

We're

I grew up in the highlands. Firstly it’s fucking enourmous. Aberdeen is very different to Inverness is very different to Kyle of Lockalsh, is very different to the islands etc…

Id personally spend a winter there first. They can be brutal.
I’d think the east highlands (Cairngorms area) would be a better way of easing into it… you’ve got Aberdeen and Inverness in drivable distance but also some amazing wilderness, the west highlands are STUNNING but very remote

I’d second Lastqueen , OP. Rent for a winter before buying. It gets dark at 3pm and isn’t light until 8.30am, and the temp with wind chill can get down below minus 18C in a bad winter. Even the main roads can be blocked by snow - the police close the snow gates to stop drivers using them and getting stranded.
If you are in a rural area of the highlands, you can be over 90 miles from the nearest supermarket. Many online retailers charge extra to deliver to highland postcodes.
Health care can be a problem, with many areas struggling to recruit GPs and dentists.
And finally, if you earn over £28K per year, you will pay more tax than inEngland, thanks to the SNP. Not to mention the threat of independence and finding yourself suddenly an expat in a foreign country.

I second wintering first before buying.

Also research the extra costs of living remote and rural, living in the highlands and living in Scotland (extra tax etc).

I can't stress this enough - have you been in the winter? And stayed for at least a month to really feel what its like?

I live in North scotland, was bought up here. It is lovely, don't get me wrong. April to October is glorious, there is no where I'd rather be than in a Scottish summer. Winter it's like a different world. Everything is muddy (like, seriously muddy!), it's dark all the bloody time. The kids go to the school bus in the dark and it's pretty much dark again by the time they come home. It really can be bleak, and not in a romantic way. Just in a depressing way.

Try a year renting or go on holiday for two weeks in February. The rain is brutal and it’s dark at 3.30pm. I couldn’t get over the wet. Wet everywhere. There are days you just can’t go out. Also Schools. My kids go to a school of about 15. It’s great for them but there is not really any such thing as after school activities and the nearest pool is 50 mile round trip. However, the kids swim in the sea/rivers. Also, not so many friends to make yourself but I’m self sufficient and can’t be bothered with making close friends.
if You don’t want to be so remote, try being closer to a city/large town. It’s also brutal trying to get anywhere if you are remote. Especially with weee ones in tow.
I would say, if you enjoyed lockdown then being remote is definitely for you. If not, don’t even think about it.

Inverness (or rural/coastal within reach of it) would be an excellent choice on every front; for work, outdoor pursuits, kids , climate, good transport links.

You will definitely need two solicitors and (for sanity sake) I recommend you sell in England first, then rent while you househunt in Scotland. Make full use of your Scottish solicitor 's advice on the property system here.

Your other big adjustment will be the Scottish education system. In a good way.

OP the highlands are huge, surely if you have been up almost every year for 20 years you have a better idea of an area you like?

also as others have said being on holiday up here is a world away from living here. It’s dark from October to March almost, not everywhere had great internet, online deliveries take longer, public transport is more limited etc.

Scotland is a great place to live but it comes with its difficulties.

If wfh make sure you pick somewhere with good broadband access and mobile signal.

We relocated from England to Scotland, 20 years ago. But we moved to the Central Belt. The winters here aren't so bad at all. After 3 years of being here, my marriage ended, but I stayed here, so that the children would remain close to their Dad. I'm now married to a Scot, the children have grown and flown the nest, and we and moved to the seaside (still classed as Central), and it's truly lovely here. We live on the seafront. Still only 25 minutes in to Edinburgh, where there are lots of opportunities in Engineering (my son is an Engineer there). 5 beaches, 2 amazing Primary schools, a real community feel, gala days, summer fete's, festivals etc. It's a wonderful place for children.

And if I could just say as well, if you do Highlands, your children will most likely leave when they are older. Much more to tie them to the Central Belt, as it isn't remote.

Maybe I’m missing something but I’m from Inverness-shire and the winters aren’t that bad? And mobile signal and broadband connections are very good.

We have inside toilets now too 😂

@Christmascracker0 I'm also wondering whereabouts the poster is who talks about it being so wet she just can't go out sometimes?
Inverness and the moray coast is very dry!

Forres, Ballater, Oban, Kingussie, Perth are all nice with easy highland access but not too isolated/remote.

I’d look to move within east distance of a decent city/road network at first.

Rural Perthshire is beautiful and only 1.5 hours from Edinburgh and Glasgow

Have you calculated how much more income tax you'll pay here yet?

You need to fully sell on England before buying in Scotland because you legally commit much earlier in the process.

What is it you want from an area? I think the problem with saying Highlands is people interpret it very differently.

Winter on the coast is very different to winter in the hills. Similarly you could be within a few miles of Inverness but still be pretty rural which is totally different to 60 miles each way to your nearest supermarket.

You also need to consider the distance to go anywhere else. I love living up here but to go anywhere else you are spending a long time in the car or on the train. Flights from Inverness or Aberdeen are limited and tend to be more expensive (certainly direct to holiday destinations). You either do a transfer or drive to Edinburgh.

I consider my location to be rural but not remote. I travel 30 miles to work on days I'm in but it only takes 45 minutes. It still takes adjustment. It is getting used to the fact you have one city (which is the size of a small town in most of England) and that's it. There are no other centres to go to.

It would be an easier move to somewhere like Nairn or the black isle or beauly firth than it would to be to Spean Bridge.

Rentals are no massively abundant so you'd probably need to move to Inverness or a town in the first instance, which might not be a bad thing to give you longer to get to grips with what you like.

Personally I would want to be in commutable distance (even infrequently) of Aberdeen or Inverness for work rather than relying on it always being remote

You may also want to consider Aberdeenshire or even Angus. The east coast is much under rated but fantastic for kids and still very rural and scenic.

Do you want coastal or inland?

fort william is the wettest place but not the coldest, Nairn has a lovely beach and is generally quite dry,
education is a mixed bag, the curriculum for excellence is not excellent by any stretch of the imagination but generally your child goes to nearest school unless in a city there's not much choice anyhow, No- one gets sent home for having the wrong colour or style bag shoes socks or jumper. University tuition is free but places harder to get than if from EU or England and fee paying.
in small schools composite classes ie more than 1 year group are common but are limited to 25 kids school transport if you qualify is free until 18 outside of cities school catchments can be 100-200 sq miles, generally kids have more freedom at a younger age
Glencoe has its own primary school but secondary is in Fort William, Skye only has one secondary school so does Oban Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit