Anyone relocated from busy part of England to rural Scotland?

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Has anyone ever made the move the a fairy rural and northern part of Scotland, and if so, how have you found it, and what are the positives and negatives, please?

We currently live in a village about a 45 minute train journey from central London. Although technically rural, I can be in a motorway within ten minutes, have all the big supermarkets within a twenty minute drive etc.

DH, however, has been offered a job about thirty minutes outside of Aberdeen. It’s a slightly more senior role than he currently has, and the company have offered more than he currently paid, and will contribute towards distance travelling for the trial and relocation if it works out. This would means we could fulfil our dream of owning a cottage with land and animals, and that we could significantly reduce DHs commute. (Although we can get into London very quickly, he has a longish onward journey from the station to the part of London he works in).

On the face of it, this seems like a great opportunity for our outdoor living family BUT I can’t decide how I feel about living in northern Scotland. I think I’m most anxious about the weather and just being so far from everything.

If anyone has experience of a similar move, I’d love to hear your experiences/ advice.

TIA

Anyone mention the NHS yet? Although not perfect NHS Grampian has shorter waiting periods and more efficient and I believe statistics reflect that.

The Cullen skink and the butteries are definitely worth the move !

Im not Scottish but my experience living here has been very positive. People are generally polite and friendly but with the perfect balance of British reserve.

Be cautious of ye olde cottage, walls feet thick and a stone floor - very hard to heat.

I grew up in Aberdeen moved to Bristol in 2003 which I love but I'd still move home in a snap if I could. I'm back there 4-5 times a year to see friends/family.

Yes it's remote, it can be cold, despite the oil money there's quite a lot of social deprivation in the city but it's definitely somewhere people can come to and make home.

Any ideas on where you'd look to live? House prices also less than they were so good opportunities to be had

Thanks everyone for replying. I really appreciate seeing the different side on the SNP debate/ independence etc - always good to understand different perspectives.

Figgygal, I think we’d be looking in the Inverurie area. We have no specific plan, though, and will look much wider. Is there anywhere in that area that we should look/ avoid?

The ASPC property website is the one you need. I'll let others answer about places in the shire because I'm northern Aberdeen suburbs. I hear Inverurie's lovely though.

Joining because we're doing this (pending house sale). Not from London, different city. Can't wait.

I lived in Aberdeenshire until my early twenties. It's an amazing place to bring up your children. Have you thought about the Banchory area - excellent schools, primary and secondary - 25 mins to the airport and 20 mins to a train station which goes to London. And the main road either goes direct to Aberdeen or up to the mountains to ski.

Definitely check out aspc for house search

I have friends who live in inverurie it's got a nice small town feel some nice restaurants (great steak house on outskirts) and other facilities, Trainline just been upgraded having the train station there makes commuting quite easy depending on where jobs are.

NHS Grampian is awful if you're planning more children. They've downgraded Elgin's maternity and children's service to a skeleton staff. As a result Aberdeen and inverness are now totally overstretched.

Agree with indyref ugliness. It was not pleasant I'm just glad it obviously wasn't in all areas it seems but please stop poohpoohing the idea it ever happened previous posters. It didnt happen 'to you'

Generally very happy here, just beware of areas that have houses brung thrown up willynilly as the impact on education provision and doctors etc is awful.

Weather... no better or worse than elsewhere in UK. BBC et al regularly have us as 15c tops when in reality it was more like 25c

Agree with indyref ugliness. It was not pleasant I'm just glad it obviously wasn't in all areas it seems but please stop poohpoohing the idea it ever happened previous posters. It didnt happen 'to you'

Likewise just because it happened to 'you' doesn't mean it was widespread or commonplace.

@30not13 I have to disagree, the wind is fierce and bitterly cold off the north sea.
There's a reason swimmers and surfers always wear wetsuits!

The Beechgrove garden programme is always a few weeks behind Monty Don's programme in terms of soil germination temperature. It's a tad colder.

It’s much colder. I moved from central belt Scotland to Aberdeen for uni and I couldn’t believe the difference. After uni I moved to London and tbh it was like the tropics. Aberdeen is cold but it is dry and sunny and a fantastic place to live.

Thanks ladies. Cold and dry I can cope with (it’s the rain I get fed up with!).

Thanks ladies. Cold and dry I can cope with (it’s the rain I get fed up with!).

Then avoid the West Coast. A round here we don't reckon it's really raining till it's horizontal and coming from at least two different directions at once.