Moving...Dunbar vs Dunfermline?

[MandTHoff]

My family and I are hoping to move from Carlisle to the Edinburgh area within the next 6 months. We are considering doing a part exchange with one of new home developments happening and so we have looked at several areas, mostly outside the bypass of Edinburgh City. Obviously, housing is more expensive the closer you are to the city; I work for the university and would need to commute into Waverly Station daily.

After having searched several areas and housing developments we are focused on East Lothian and Fife, specifically Dunbar and Dunfermline. The main reason for us moving (beyond reducing my 100-mile commute) is to help find a better school for my 13-year-old daughter. She has “additional support needs” with dyscalculia and dyspraxia and is really struggling with the lack of support in Cumbria. So, another important factor is a school that has good ASN for its students.

I welcome any thoughts about the community and the local high schools. In Dunbar is Dunbar Grammar School and the areas in Dunfermline fall with the catchments of Queen Anne High School, Inverkeithing High School and St. Columba’s RC High School.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Hiya,

I live in the Dunfermline area. Personally, I would say to avoid St Columba’s, bad reputation for behaviour in the area and even as a practicing Catholic, I will not be sending my daughter or son there.
The best of the 3 you mention is Inverkeithing, and it has good transport links to Waverley.
Another option would be Cowdenbeath, had a reputation when we moved to the area years ago, but is up and coming now. High school is Beath High which is under new headship and making progress. Plus good transport links and housing in the area is lower priced, with a nice new build estate almost next to the high school

I would choose Dunbar over Dunfermline but I don't know much about the schools. I would just prefer to be in a smaller town by the sea. I love that area. We used to have a caravan along the road in North Berwick and came to Dunbar for the swimming pool. I also think that not having to contend with the Forth bridges in any way to get into Edinburgh is always to be considered.

Trains from Dunfermline to Edinburgh can be a PITA - lots of cancellations and overcrowding. Also traffic has become worse over last few years, largely due to the eastern expansion.

That's quite a commute. Dunbar really is far, though I've only ever driven not taken the train. More shopping in Dunfermline, more sea in Dunbar. I like both of them actually. Is Edinburgh definitely out of consideration?

Commuting from Dunbar to Waverley then getting to the uni will be a long commute. Which campus? George Sq or KB? Be aware that trains pass through Dunbar constantly but not very many of them stop. Check the timetable carefully as depending the time you are wanting to head hone there may be a wait for a train

Is North Berwick out of the question? Lots of developers there too.

The Fife Circle trains are notoriously over-crowded, so expect an unpleasant commute.

Dunbar is gorgeous with amazing scenery, fantastic community of people and lots to do.
I would choose it over Dunfermline for sure. The schools are great

Would you think about Aberdour or Dalgety Bay?

The former is definitely prettier, with a lovely beach & a good community feel. Kids could go to Inverkeithing high or Balwearie in Kirkcaldy.

Dalgety Bay is more of a commuter town & there's no real centre as such, it also feeds in to Inverkeithing High.

If I commute to from Waverly to Dunbar it looks like the train is around 20 minutes. I'm a 10 minute walk from Waverly to Teviot Place (near George Square Gardens).

Basically the areas we're looking at are dependent on which developer is offering a part exchange.

Currently in Dunbar it's:

1. Albany Grange (Taylor Wimpey) off Yosemite Park
2. Newtonless (Avant Homes) off Bowmont Terrace
3. Castle Bay (Cala Homes) off Edinburgh Road, Belhaven
4. Fair Acres (Robertson Homes) off the A1087 near the golf course

Same applies to Dunfermline… we are looking at new home developments in the area that are open to part exchange. So we are somewhat limited to these three areas:

1.	Meadowlands (Taylor Wimpey) Off Aberdour Road in Dunfermline; this is the St. Columba's R C High School catchment area

2.	Lapwing Brae (Miller Homes) off Lapwing Drive, Dunfermline; this is the Inverkeithing High School catchment areas

3.	Pitdinnie Grange (Avant Homes) in Cairneyhill, Fife; this is the Queen Anne High School catchment area

I'm with @MakeMineALargeProsecco - check out Dalgety Bay/Inverkeithing, it's a lovely area, handy for everything, DB especially is a very nice community with a good rotary club, young ones have scouts, sailing club, Dunfermline just up the road 15 minutes and it's easy to get into Edinburgh by either train or the coach style buses

Unfortunately there are no new home builds in Dalgety Bay. There's a Spencer Fields (Taylor Wimpey) off Hillend Road in Inverkeithing KY11 and does feed into Inverkeithing High School. Would that be a decent area?

The trains from dunfermline to edinburgh are a bloody nightmare, cancellations, skipping fife stops when running late.
Main train route through fife is better. Markinch, Kirkcaldy, inverkeithing. I wouldn't want to commute regularly from any other fife train station.

No.1 below can't be correct as no area only has a catholic school as catchment school. Every house has a non-Dom and a catholic school for their catchment schools.

oh that's good to know, I'll have to check with the council which catchment area it is!

So I'm hearing again and again that the commute from Dunfermline to Waverly is bad. We were looking at Dunfermline because the houses were less expensive and it seemed closer to Waverly than Dunbar. However appearances must be deceiving! Although areas in East Lothian appear further away, the actual travel time is reported as being less.

Have a look along the train line that goes to Kirkcaldy- these trains are more reliable - so yes that development you mentioned in Hillend, but also Dalgety Bay, Aberdour, even Burntisland or Kinghorn.

What kind of budget are you talking?

South Queensferry, Dalmeny are nice & on the train line but much more expensive.

St Columbia's HS is almost next door to Woodmill HS which is the school that had a significant fire earlier last year. I think there will be significant upheaval at that school. At the moment most of the pupils are dispersed over other schools. I would avoid that area as it would be difficult in terms of integration for a new pupil joining. In fact all schools on the Dunfermline area will be impacted to some extent as they have had to accommodate Woodmill pupils.

I’d avoid QAHS - happy to elaborate if you DM me. Younger Woodmill pupils still are still displaced and as well as affecting them it’s impacting other schools in the area. Inverkeithing has a good timetabled service to Edinburgh but cancellations and overcrowded trains where you can’t get a seat are regular occurrence. DH needs to get to station before 7am to make sure he can get a parking space. Dunfermline parking is better but far fewer trains.

ideally a 4 bedroom home under 300K

That is all very helpful information! After checking the catchment areas, they all see
to be going to Dunfermline since August 2019 (presumably due to the fire).

The only development that would feed into QAHS is the one at Cairneyhill. It sounds like there's some issues with the school.

Overall the main message is that commuting from Dunfermline is a real hassle.

Visited Dunbar Grammar School yesterday it it seemed ok. The headteacher was amazing, although the building was fairly average. Not a great first impression as we arrived when school let out. However I think the school is decent.

4-beds for 300K is a pretty decent budget if you're not in Edinburgh itself.

I'll take a look & see what I can find and post some links.

All Dunfermline addresses go to a high school in Dunfermline. There was a short lived attempt to rezone the current Masterton primary catchment (which includes your option 1 and 2) to Inverkeithing but it didn't go ahead, they now go to Dunfermline High. Woodmill has a really good additional support unit, it's just at Blairhall for now til they sort out the replacement accommodation to replace what burnt down in August last year. They are all due to be back on the Woodmill site by August 2020.

I'm in Dunfermline and what I like about it is that lots of places are very accesible from it - at the weekends we can be in St Andrews, Dunkeld, Callander, or Peebles within an hour. You are kind of out on a limb a bit in Dunbar.

But yes, the commute into Edinburgh is a bit shite at the moment. They keep saying it's going to improve - longer trains! - but it never seems to happen.

OP please feel free to PM me with specific qs on Dunfermline and surrounding area if you wish.