Where to live in Edinburgh / Lothians?

[howmanyleftfeet]

Please can you help me narrow the areas we're looking at?

We're planning on moving to Edinburgh this summer. DH is Scottish and lived in Edinburgh for many years as a young man but has never lived there as a child or as a parent, so I need some help with choosing good areas to live in as a family.

Our budget is "only" £325k (seems a lot to me but I know it's not much for Edinburgh). So we're looking at areas on the edge of town, or possibly out of town but a small commute in.

We've been looking, online, at Musselburgh, Linlithgow, Portobello when the occasional one comes up, Leith, Juniper Green / Currie / Balerno, Ratho, Gorebridge and lots of villages.

We're spending Easter visiting places with fresh "do we want to live here" eyes.

If we could choose anywhere I'd chose the centre and DH would choose totally rural! But we're both open to compromise.

Our eldest will be going to secondary soon.

Have I missed any places off the list? Where would you choose?

Thanks :)

I’d recommend the firrhill catchment. Swanston, fairmilehead, caiystane, bits of Comiston etc. £325 should get you a 3bed semi in decent condition but not a flash one. 30mins into town by and easy access to the hills, views and feelings of ruralness.
Good school. www.firrhillhigh.org

Buckstone would put you in the Boroughmuir catchment, as would some bits of fairmilehead. Nice primary school. Excellent bus links, near the bypass, and the countryside isn't too far away!

Linlithgow, Bo'ness, Winchburgh all easy commutes and plenty House for your ££
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74074556.html

That's where I went museum though it was a bit rougher back then. :o

It’s a good school now waxon with a mixed intake but really inclusive and ambitious. Personally I think a mixed socioeconomic intake is a good thing.

I was one of the rough ones :) I thought it was a good school even when I was there and really enjoyed the mix and I did well academically considering. It was great mixing with people from "posh places" like Colinton Village etc. I'd never met people who did things like ballet and played the viola :)

I've watched it go up and up in the rankings and always feel a bit proud of it even though it's nothing to do with me. It's a lot smaller now than it was in my day too.

Even when I was there, they were still hiving off some of the brighter pupils to Boroughmuir but i think that stopped round about then (late 70s early 80s) though I may be wrong.

coolwalking, that's good to know about Roslin, thanks.

I spotted this, mot far away, a few weeks ago which I love the look of (not surprised to see it's under offer now).

How easy is to get into Edinburgh from around there on public transport? (Thinking especially of the DC as they become teenagers).

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70894691.html

Thank you everyone for your help. this is really useful.

DH knows a lot of these places well, but not as a parent, his encyclopedic knowledge of Edinburgh nightlife of 15+ years ago isn't that handy for this task!

I'm going to set up an alert just now on ESPC for each of the school catchments mentioned here.

Groovee, Corstorphine comes up a lot in searches as within our budget. What's it like there?

I grew up in dunbar, less than half an hour on the train and 40 mins in car from Edinburgh. I loved it. On the coast beautiful beaches and lovely main Street. I have looked at moving back a couple of times as it is a great place for kids to grow up!

Added South queensferry to the list.

DH says he thinks Kirkliston isn't great for transport into Edinburgh - unless that's changed recently?

justanothernameonthewall I'll bear it in mind

Cherylshaw I've got a friend not far from Dunbar as it happens... It feels a long way out but as you say, it's got the train hasn't it.

What are the schools like?

My little sisters went to lammermuir primary and i went to Dunbar grammar, schools were amazing but bear in mind that was 15 years ago. We did alot of sport and cross country on the beach etc. Lots of open space and fields farms etc working harbor rnli lifeboats. It was a real sense if community and lots of festivals, fairs and get togethers

@howmanyleftfeet roslin has a really regular bus service into town (Edinburgh!)

It is zoned for Beeslack High School

You don’t say where either of you will work. Some of these areas are traffic hell at rush hours, others cyclable, others virtually eliminate the commute entirely. Don’t underestimate the value of being home from work in 20minutes!

@howmanyleftfeet we like it. It's fairly quite. Local Facebook group usually whinges about foxes and the police helicopter (which hasn't been seen in ages).

The only thing that makes me sad is we don't have a thriving Main Street like Morningside or Stockbridge. My friend opened a shop but her rates were double the price of what they had been in Morningside. So it became impossible.

I agree with museumum that knowing roughly where you will be working would be helpful.

I worked at the Edinburgh business park end near to the airport and my commute was 45 minutes to an hour door to door from Kirkcaldy.

You don’t say where either of you will work I work freelance and will take my clients with me, so I can be anywhere - although I'm not averse to taking a job if something interesting comes up (arts sector).

DH will be looking for a new job, he needs to be near relatively large organisations / institutions or creative start ups to find the kind of work he's looking for.

South Queensferry is lovely, and good train and bus links to city centre as well as a nice high street.

What's are the schools like near South Queensferry?

Dalmeny is a small school, Echline is medium sized and Queensferry is very big. But all 3 have good heads and have nice feels.

Queensferry High is pretty good, and is getting a new campus built right now, will be ready 2020 (I think)

We did the same England- Scotland move. Considered the whole of Edinburgh/Fife/Lothians and quickly narrowed it down to East Lothian. Hard to beat it here for quality of life, good schools, close to Edinburgh. We say we shouldn’t advertise it (!) but Dunbar is truly an amazing place for families and the primary and secondary schools are great. Looking at your budget you’d be hard pressed to get anything closer into the city with ‘good’ schools that would be a similar size to what you could get in Haddington/East Linton/Dunbar. And yes, the buildings haven’t got character but new builds can have great communities. Good luck, it’s daunting move but well worth it, we’ve been surprised how many ‘ex pats’ there are!!

I second corstorphine. Grew up in a different part of Edinburgh and hadn't really considered it but it's lovely.

Agree with @Groovee about the local fb page moaning about the police helicopter as soon as there's even a hint of it having left the ground 😂. Good schools, great for transport links and close to the bypass.