How does Scotland differ from England/Where should I live?

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I'd like to hear from people who have lived in both!

At the moment I'm considering moving to Scotland but I'm not sure if I'm totally romanticising it. I'm planning a year ahead of time so I'm going to be doing lots of visits and research but just wanted to get a feel for things ahead of time.

I work from home so commutes etc aren't a problem. Shite weather isn't either as it's my favourite kind :-D

How does Scotland "feel" different from England?

At the moment my thoughts are all over the place and pretty vague. I'm quite drawn to Edinburgh but I'm also drawn to Inverness and places like Forres.

I'm 32 with no children. What I'm looking for is somewhere either in a city or with good access to a city. I like open mic nights, I'm a writer so would be great to have a creative community. I'm really looking for somewhere that has a bit of energy but isn't necessarily a big city. Somewhere where people are friendly. Glasgow doesn't appeal. I'm looking for something like a Scottish Brighton

How does Scotland "feel" different from England?

That's a really daft question, with all due respect. Just as Brighton is different from Manchester which is different from rural Lincolnshire, every part of Scotland is different too. You can't start with generalisations about Scotland in the same way that you can't say all English towns are X, or Y.

If you are looking for somewhere like Brighton you're going to struggle. Brighton has about 230,000 people living in it. In Scotland, only Glasgow and Edinburgh are bigger than that. Aberdeen is 200,000, Dundee 150,000. Other places are much smaller. Stirling, for example, is a town of 40,000 people. You are just not going to get the same trhirving, creative community in a smaller place. You mention Forres which is lovely but TINY compared with somewhere like Brighton.

I really think you need to start writing a list of what sort of things are a "must" and which you'd be prepared to compromise on. Do you need to be near good schools, healthcare, transport hubs? What's your budget for accommodation? Do you drive or would you be relying on public transport to get around? etc etc etc.

If you work from home I would imagine a reasonable internet and mobile connection are necessary - so you probably don't want to go too rural.

And even if the coverage map for your mobile phone company says it is good doesn't necessarily mean it is - check that you phone works in any property you visit.

As others have said it really depends where you move from and to! The lovely bit of Scotland I live in now feels friendlier, more open, generally happier than the Midlands shithole I used to live in but that's because that place had what I can only describe as a cultural predisposition to being miserable arseholes.

Can I suggest doing big rightmove searches for your budget and number of bedrooms and using that to plan some visits?

Edinburgh is very expensive so you might rule that out straight away. Inverness is lovely and I'd move there like a shot if it didn't threaten to give DH a nosebleed from being too far north. You might also want to consider Perth and Stirling which have their own small city vibes but are also very well connected to bigger cities.

I meant to add, moving to Scotland was the best thing I ever did so don't let the scale of the project put you off!

Yeah you're not going to get open mic night in anywhere other than Glasgow and Edinburgh (Aberdeen/Stirling maybe?!) I wouldn't have thought.

Although Inverness is technically a city it still retains its small town mentality.

I don't think a Scottish Brighton exists either - purely for scale and range of people. I think creative communities tend to be more remote than city based in the highlands anyway.

West End of Glasgow is probably the most Brighton-y thing I can think of.

Most seaside towns tend to be heavy on the retirees.

Have you ever been to Scotland?

If you like Open Mic nights/theatre/creatives area and want train/cycling access to city then Strathbungo/Shawlands/Battlefield in the Southside of Glasgow is a bit of a hipster area. Its cheaper than the West end and slightly less overrun with students.

OP has said "not Glasgow" though or I would have suggested those places too.

Well as someone who works in Inverness and lives along the Moray Coast, let me try to redress some of the comments about there being little to do and us all having a small town mentality...

Not true 🙂.

Inverness is a rapidly growing city with plenty culture and opportunities to meet like minded people, and I know several writers who have moved or grown here over the years... it's also full of people like you who have relocated from various other parts of the country and have found it friendly, affordable and vibrant. I wouldn't say it's like Brighton but if you want a bit of holiday resort vibe we have Aviemore on our doorstep - busy all year round. And actually Brighton is about 2 hours away via plane and train 😉.

I agree with other posters that if you're looking for a bigger city, Perth and Stirling might suit the bill. I also wouldn't discount Dundee which has loads of regeneration going on, and has nice seaside towns nearby too.

Hope that helps a bit!

Also someone mentioned mobile phone signal and broadband speeds - the coast around Inverness is fine for these, and many communities on the west coast (as in, Ullapool area) have super fast broadband too.

Life is slower paced and people are friendlier in Scotland imo. Before anyone jumps in, this is person experience for the purpose of the thread and I am in no way saying that everyone in England is horrible.

I have lived in England (near to but not in London) and I now live close to a Scottish city. I'm a regular visitor to London now and the rudeness, pushing and shoving and everyone rushing about makes me grateful that I live in a place where it is the exception rather than the rule.

Why not Glasgow? The west end sounds right up your street. I think you'd love Edinburgh but do your research as it's very expensive.

Why not Glasgow?
I think there's areas there that would suit you really well.

Did you post the same a few weeks ago? I’m sure this question esp the Scottish Brighton was mentioned previously and lots of advice given.

@Superjaggy having been born and brought up in Inverness and still living within a stones throw of it - I'm going to disagree - and I didn't say "all have a small town mentality" 😉
Whilst I agree it is a rapidly growing city I stand by my assertion that the town itself (council and some of the community) has a small town mentality.

And without meaning to be a pain - large parts of the west coast have little mobile signal/4G and the fibre broadband is patchy and or extortionate!

TrollTheRespawnJeremy

Shaw lands isn't cheap anymore 3 bed ground floor flats are going for £300,000.

Edinburgh is your best bet, if Glasgow is out and you're looking for literature, culture etc. It's quite low build, so you don't feel hemmed in in the way you might in a more skyscraper city. It shares that with Brighton.

I don't think Scotland feels different to England, perhaps different to the SE due to the sheer volume of people in the SE, but it's hard to notice when you cross from Scotland to Northumberland, for example. Glasgow is probably more similar to Newcastle/Liverpool than it is to Inverness and Edinburgh is quite like Bristol/Bath.

I've lived half my life in Edinburgh and half in London.

Edinburgh is expensive, but offers what you are after. I love Edinburgh very much. I would also look at, or at least visit Dundee too, because it has a thriving arts scene, and great access to beaches, hills and other cities. It is also a bit edgy in places, much like Brighton. If you stick to the west end of the town (some lovely Victorian houses and flats), you'd probably tick most of your boxes.

There are roughly 10 open mic nights a month in Ayr

There's a lot of creative stuff going on in Dundee; open mic, creative writing groups, Pecha Kucha nights. Creative Dundee website is good, take a look.

Affordable housing in Dundee, and plenty of life in the Perth Road area, which has Dundee Uni and the art college in it.

It might help to know why Glasgow is ruled out in terms of picking other places.
Dundee might have some of what you are looking for but might be too like Glasgow?
Stirling might be possible?

You might like miserable weather but remember that it's darker as well in the winter (and lighter in the summer) the further north you go. It makes the winter feel much longer - February North of Perth is like being stuck in purgatory.

I'd consider one of the cities - although smaller places have an arts scene if you don't fit you might struggle. Less likely to happen with more people. Edinburgh has the festival but Edinburgh is expensive and other cities do better local arts festivals.

One big difference I felt when I moved back up was that it's so much easier to get into countryside than it was in London.

I'm sure there's other feel stuff, but you're also going to have to deal with practicalities : the legal system is different (house purchases, rentals, wills etc), the benefits system is about to be inhoused, the NHS operates slightly differently, the income tax rates are different, education systems are different (if you do ever have kids), etc

I suppose there's a bit of me wants to say "of course it feels different, it's a different country". The politics here has a huge unresolved indyref2 element to it. Don't underestimate how quickly you can alienate people by being insensitive to it.

Have a look at Portobello. It's technically part of Edinburgh but was a resort of it's own, has a long beach with lots of activities and definitely a community feel. I think there's quite a creative vibe and it feels quite continental down on the prom on a nice evening.

It's not far to the city centre and all it offers.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64915971.html

Glasgow would be my recommendation if you like music, open mic nights, comedy, etc. Always something going on and some nice areas in the west end or south of the river. Would say its the most 'vibrant' city. Also worth checking out Dundee, it has gone through a lot of regeneration lately so has a nice range of shops, bars, restaurants and a recently opened V&A museum. Edinburgh is beautiful but expensive and although you have the museums and history, for me it's more somewhere to visit than to live (just my opinion). Stirling/Perth are quite central if u think u will be travelling around Scotland a lot but I don't know what they are like to live in.

Glasgow is cool, but more spread out where Edinburgh centre is compact and quite beautiful. My Ds is at Uni in Dundee and, while there are great things to do, I find that many of the locals appear very socially deprived and walking around can be quite unsettling. We always seem to find drunken people shouting at each other when we go into the town.

I'll stick by my suggestion of Portobello. I think it's closest to the Brighton vibe, yet close to the busyness of the city.