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Rural living

Looking to relocate to the countryside? Find advice in our Rural Living forum.

Original poster

moving to the highlands

67 replies

Londonflatroofingservice · 30/12/2018 14:07

Hello everyone brand new to this site so please be kind.
I am here looking for some advice and guidance really I am looking to move my family and I to the highlands of Scotland either Fort William of may be the Isle of Skye and would love a little feedback from people that either know the areas of live there we have 4 children 2 boys and 2 girls ages from 16-10 yrs old we currently live in Peckham south east London and i hate it its an unsafe area and do not feel i can let my children out with out worrying all the time how they are. Anyway I am a flat roofer and have also run my own small handyman business while my wife cares for the elderly but has also worked for many years as a teaching assistant.
What is the work situation like in Fort William & Isle of Skye ?
What is life like. e.g. slower or the same as london ?
and in general has anyone made the move from a major city and wish they had not ?

OP posts:
Original poster
Londonflatroofingservice · 30/12/2018 18:32

Well thank you to all of you who have given much to read through and many things to think about i shall go over all these comments with my wife and we shall see what we come up with.

Many thanks once again

OP posts:
PaulHollywoodsSexGut · 30/12/2018 18:37

Jesus fucking Christ don’t move from Peckham to the Highlands....don’t. I say that as a Scot as well.

Any Scottish city is within easy reach of the countryside. Please consider a city move first, Aberdeen has the same population as Peckham you know.

bridgetosomewhere · 30/12/2018 18:41

Fort William is a wet, dull and miserable place. There is a huge council estate feel about it. Sorry folks wholive there! Blush
Yes it's nice for a visit if you are going up the Ben but there is nothing in the town for teens....drug problem too.
Skye is lovely but very rural and not a lot of opportunities for teens. Where will they work/study? If you want to be a crofter or crafter you might be okay.

I'm a northern highlander and we are moving 40 mins south to Inverness next year so our children have things to do, access to leisure centre and cinema and bowling etc. Access to better work and study opportunities.
And still rural and able to go skiing in aviemore, walking in the hills, cycling....
It's a fab place to live so much going on yet still so safe and minutes from beaches and mountains.

The roads to and from fort William and Skye are a nightmare - they are day trip places rather than somewhere to base yourself.
Aviemore lovely to visit too but bloody expensive to buy a house and is more a tourist destination than anything else. We love going for a day or a weekend but it's again not a place to base teens.

PM me if you want any more info I can give you lots as dh is police and covers all the areas you are considering....

We found living so far from major facilities meant we were in the car all the time; to school, to activities, to doctors, to friends houses....zzzzz

Deepfriedchips · 30/12/2018 18:46

I live rurally in the highlands, have done for over 10 years, was wonderful when kids were young but not now. They are bored. Rely on us their parents to take them everywhere and will grow up in the next few years and move miles away to access college or work. Really think hard. Weather is rubbish so your dream of great outdoors will be tougher than you think. It’s expensive and jobs are very limited. Wonderful life for young kids with young parents, hard life for teenagers and older people. Crime free maybe, danger free not so much. Alcoholism and boy racing through boredom are huge and I agree underlying drug problem in most of these rural villages.

OnlineAlienator · 30/12/2018 18:49

Zwischenwasser sums up the realities really well

bridgetosomewhere · 30/12/2018 18:53

Rural living does have its advantages tho don't get me wrong.
I can't remember the last time I locked my car. Don't always lock the house either.
Kids benefitted massively growing up here running around outside from age 1-9
It's perfect for little kids when your garden is an acre and you can run about the fields and make dens and have a pony, ride your bike, walk to grandads by yourself, pick fruit and veg and eat it before you get inside....

But that's little kids. Teens not so much.
Unless they are very horsey and want an equestrian property and pony club etc

Also depends on your budget too - can you give us an idea of that?
We are looking at spending 300k in Inverness for a 3/4 bed house.
Obviously that goes way further out west.

kayakingmum · 30/12/2018 18:56

If your kids like the outdoors I recommend they try white water kayaking. Fort William is probably the best place in the country for it. Fantastic rivers a stone's throw away.

Deepfriedchips · 30/12/2018 19:09

Just wanted to add though that the schools in my area are fantastic. They make huge efforts to ensure the kids get the opportunity to visit cities etc as often as possible and if you hang around long enough the cinema, library, bank, butcher all come making life a little easier.

Silkie2 · 30/12/2018 19:28

I don't think, if you live in the south, you can imagine how much colder and wetter it is in the north. You can get out and about but it will be in rain, with you struggling to see where you're going with the rain and wind.
I remember someone moving near to me in Aberdeenshire. They'd come from the Thames valley and thought they would build an organic veg business - hahaha, lucky to grow a field or turnips!

Original poster
Londonflatroofingservice · 30/12/2018 19:56

thanks for your comments again lol
to (bridgetosomewhere) unfortunately im finding it a little harder to reach a budget anywhere near yours i have a few problems in place such as if im looking at buying in the highlands then i have to have a job to go to and conformation of such a job for both my wife and I
also as it will be a new job the mortgage lender will be unsure of how long our employment will last so the only option for us is to borrow less and buy a property as a holiday home for the starters with a view to move in it to in few yrs to come thats the advice we have been given anyway. As for price im looking at £150,000 max as the lenders have to take into account our rent in london

OP posts:
Moonstoned · 30/12/2018 20:54

OP, I think you need to stop jumping ahead to thinking in terms of mortgages and jobs if you’re planning to move to somewhere you’ve never been, and which you seem to think is far more like London than it is. Listen to what people are saying.

I spent ten years living in central London but grew up somewhere remote, rural and with very wet weather — which attracted a lot of people looking for peace and beauty. As a pp has said, the majority couldn’t hack the isolation, lack of services, climate and dependence on cars, children often travelling long distances to secondary school, and having to leave for jobs — they left within a few years.

It’s a different world to London. You will need to dress differently, shop differently, socialise/conduct your leisure time differently. You will have to deal with getting cold and wet every time you leave the house for large parts of the year — if this bothers you, it’s not the place for you. You will have to drive your children everywhere. Internet and mobile phone reception can be very spotty. You could be ten miles from the nearest place where you can buy a pint of milk or the paper. It is pitch dark outside at night. You may not be able to see a single other house’s lights. You are thrown far more on your own resources. It can put a lot of stress on relationships.

Zwischenwasser · 30/12/2018 21:10

Oh god, yeah,

How can I forget about the shite Internet (up until very recently we had dial up speeds, no Netflix for us!)

And sporadic mobile phone signal. Yay. No bargain hunting for a cheap network. You got the one that worked. Or none.

OnlineAlienator · 30/12/2018 21:56

Why not look somewhere up the m1 or a1? Still within easy reach of london/cities but also the national parks and empty northern bits for mountain biking. My sister got a lot for your kind of budget around nottingham recently....

3out · 31/12/2018 20:26

I think you’ll love the move, but definitely visit first, and visit soon. It’s very important that you experience Scotland during winter.

We live in the north of Scotland. We went to a wedding in Stoke in late September a couple of years ago - it was boiling! All the locals were wearing coats, but we were in our t-shirts. What I’m trying to say is, don’t underestimate how crap our weather is, or how windy it is, relentlessly windy. Our hottest day of summer last year was 14deg. (which we thoroughly enjoyed, it was fantastic!)

Carers will always be highly sought after. Handyman is always in fair demand too. As a pp said, we don’t really ‘do’ flat roofs here, they just don’t work.

Be prepared to be a 2 car family, you’ll miss the London public transport service. Also, factor in driving lessons for as soon as your teens turn 17. It’s pretty much a must for kids to be able to drive, it’s quite a life line.

We do have crime locally, but it’s negligible compared to London.

Will your kids be staying on locally once they leave school? If they know roughly what career they’re likely to follow research if that job can be done anywhere locally (that’s if they’d rather stay close to you and your wife once they leave home).

It sounds an exciting move though!

Silkie2 · 02/01/2019 05:42

With children that age the most important thing is school so you need to visit a few schools and get a feel for them. Drugs can be as big a problem in the countryside as in the town, some areas have better schools than others.

Sleephead1 · 02/01/2019 06:26

Hi would you not consider renting first then you will have jobs and already live in the area and be sure you are all happy i think it will be alot easier to get a mortgage and you won't have London rent to consider. It seems alot more sensible than buying as a holiday let and moving in a few years plus is your 16 year old going to come with you then ? My dad worked in Ardgay on a estate he got live in acomodatiom my mum spent some time there and some at home as it's very remote and was too isolated for her , it would be 20 mins by car to small shop then 20 mins back so if you forget milk it's a 40 min journey. He did get online shopping delivered and started to make his own bread, the area was stunning and he's very outdoorsy so loved it but some days wouldn't see anyone. We visited and loved it but it was incredibly remote. He did make some good friends who lived very rurally and loved it that's just the way of life they prefer. I think my dad could very happily live very really but my mum couldn't. I think try and visit all the areas you would consider for a decent amount of time and rent first then if you are all happy then buy I honestly wouldn't buy without living in the area first

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