Which area of Edinburgh to live in (on a budget)?

[sleepingdragons]

We're moving back to DP's hometown (Edinburgh) and we've just started looking at houses.

I know Edinburgh only from visiting so I have a visitor's eye view of the city and I can see we can't afford to live in any of those nice central places, sadly!

DP has suggested:

Balerno / Currie / Juniper Green
Leith
Musselburgh
South Queensferry
I also found some nice houses in Willowbrae

What are schools like in these areas? My eldest is not long off secondary, and my youngest is primary age. I know Currie's a good school but there's a bit of a question mark over school provision in the SW of the city at the moment (anyone know what's going on with that?) but I don't know much about the other areas.

We have a budget of about £300K, or maybe up to £325K at a push which feels like a lot to me, but obviously - not in Edinburgh.

Are there any other areas you'd suggest? DP hasn't lived there for a couple of decades at least!

Thanks :)

Also, I forgot to say - which would you go for, from that list of places?

I'd probably go for Musselburgh or S Queensferry from your list as they're by the seaside and have their own distinct community as well as having access to Edinburgh. I'd add Portobello if you can find something the size you need in your budget. Leith is very mixed - nice bits and not so nice, often right beside each other. Balerno and Currie feel too far out for me.

TheGirlOnTheLanding thanks, that's interesting.

I like the look of Balerno / Currie / Juniper Green "on paper" and Currie High school sounds great. But I admit I've never actually spent any time over that side of town. Are they more commutersville, then?

I've spent time in Portobello and love it, but not much comes up there in our budget.

espc.com/property/15-ladywell-gardens-corstorphine-eh12-7lq/35614965?sid=641564

This will give you an idea of the best performing schools but that doesn't always mean that they are the best schools overall as it's not always about the exam results.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/how-well-your-kids-school-5407127

I would always prioritise the secondary school over the primary.

I would imagine S. Queensferry and good for your budget. Linlithgow should also be a good option. Don't know a lot about East Lothian but many years ago when I had to make a similar choice I found parts of East Lothian too expensive (including Musselburgh). Also worth checking out train links to Edinburgh if that is a factor.

South Queensferry is lovely. But the morning traffic can be busy.

Musselburgh to Waverley is really fast by train, 8 minutes.

Currie and S Queenferry are further out, both about 20 minutes by train.

WaxOnFeckOff that's really useful thanks! :)

I live in Currie albeit away from the main body of it, and have lived here and Colinton and like both. The future of Currie High is uncertain at the moment, but it is a fairly well regarded high school. A further decision on the options consultation will be taken at the end of June. The Lanark Road is an utter nightmare for commuting and ongoing house building will exacerbate that. The local doctors is equally overstretched (but doesn’t sound in quite the state of catastrophe that Musselburgh PCC is).

I love being ten minutes away from great walks in the Pentlands, and a reasonable time into town. There is good community here, and not much in the way of trouble.

Horses4 that's good to know, thanks :)

I've been following the news of Currie school a bit. I know the first plan was to dissolve he school completely, and from afar it looks like what happened is everyone basically went - are you mad?! Why would you want to close a successful school at the heart of a community?

My understanding is that none of the three new plans involve closing Currie High now, although it might change in size, is that right?

What do you think of the new plans? Is there an option that Currie people generally want? Or does everyone just wish they'd leave the school alone?

Kazplus2 I don't know much about Linlithgow, what's it like?

I put it into a property search and a load of places in Bo'Ness came up too, what's that like?

I don't have personal experience but I understand Bo'ness is a bit on the rougher side. I think some places are better as a local than an incomer, and I think Bo'ness can be a bit like that. We moved (briefly) to Denny (i'd say a similar vibe) from Penicuik and found it really hard to settle there though we had no problem setting into Penicuik 5 years earlier from Edinburgh. It's hard to put your finger on it exactly, not specifically unwelcoming, just felt like an outsider from the get go.

Linlithgow & linlithgow bridge are lovely but expensive - school very well thought of, great commuter links & pretty.

Bo'ness has a nice part but it's very run down generally & has a very not nice part - lovely community stuff though & steam trains!

Falkirk might be a good fit - cheaper but good road/train links.

From your OP i would pick Musselburgh
Or South Queensferry (but Portobello seems to male people happy!)

Bo'ness has very distinct 'nice' and 'not so nice' parts to it. Always seems a little run down.
Linlithgow - lovely, lots of independent shops (best bookshop in Scotland award I think). On main train line Ed to Glasgow. Lovely castle and loch to walk around. Good schools apparently.

SQ - nice seaside place. Community feel. Lots going on. Easy commute to Ed.

Linlithgow Academy has a good reputation and commute from Linlithgow to Edinburgh is 20 minutes on the train and as it is on the Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh route and the Dunblane to Edinburgh route you get regular trains. Linlithgow is expensive though. In Bo'ness you would get far more house for your money but public transport links aren't so great, so you would most probably need to drive to Linlithgow to get a train, there is a bus from Bo'ness to Edinburgh but every so often the bus company withdraws that route and then there is an outcry and the route gets reinstated but I know it's a worry for the locals. I don't know much about the academic statistics of Bo'ness Academy but neither have I heard anything bad about it.

Stats for Bo'ness.

You can look at these for any school.
education.gov.scot/parentzone/find-a-school/falkirk/5758734

The original proposal was to close CCHS and the WHEC and create a new “super school” at either Curriemuirend Park (adjacent to Wester Hailes Road and the bypass) or the rear of Baberton. The communities shot that down.

The current proposal involve a refurbing or rebuilding the existing schools, boundary changes, possible building on Curriemuirend or Muir Wood Road. Most are pushing for option one involving the existing sites, but the council keep running away with the goalposts and playing school catchments off against each other to try to get what they want. www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolsreview

The majority of the community want option 1.

How about Fife? Dalgety Bay is nice, your money would go a long way and it's an easy journey in on the train.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73492169.html

I grew up in south Queensferry and would always choose currie over sq or similar as it’s on the Lothian bus network and night bus network.
As a teenager in sq we hated being so limited by buses, even a late film in town risked missing the last bus home, never mind actually going to the pub when we hit 18.

Personally I hated commuting into Edinburgh and I now live in the city. Have you looked at fairmilehead or Swanston for firrhill or liberton (houses cheaper as school not quite as well thought of - though not at all bad).

Dalgety Bay

All I know about Dalgety Bay is MIL says it's where all the English go to live. She always says Dalgety Bay to with a mock SE English accent, dropping the T

(She's Scottish, I'm English - well, I have an English accent anyway).

I have noticed some lovely houses we could afford in Fife.

But we have friends and family in Edinburgh, and that's where we want to be really - or not too far away.

museumum that's really useful info, thanks.

I used to live in Linlithgow, lovely place. Air quality was an issue for us, with it being near Grangemouth. That would apply to Bo'ness too.

I wouldn't fancy the traffic in from South Queensferry.

I would look at the bus network and see what journeys you need to do, as the buses are great then look at areas. I'd also look at Liberton, Joppa, etc. There's loads of interesting areas. Miss living up there!

Have you looked at Midlothian or East Lothian? The Borders rail now links up lots of Midlothian and East Lothian is just beautiful. Dunbar is probably too far out for you but it would be on my list (excellent primary & secondary schools), or Haddington?