Move to Scotland, town suggestions pls

[Minervamink]

My husband and I are thinking of moving to Scotland, feeling a little restless and fancy a change.
We live on the Devon/Cornwall border. It is pretty perfect, out in the sticks but close to beaches and a town, children have horses and can ride for miles off road from our doorstep.

My concerns are that there is very little here in ways of opportunity for the children when they are a little older. It’s always at least a three hour drive to an airport. I’d also quite like quirks that being close to a city has, theatre, giggs etc - no one ever comes this far south.
I was born in Glasgow and lived there till I was ten haven’t been back much though.
Does anyone have any “middle class” towns suggestions that are countrified but within easy reach of a city. I really love Edinburgh and think it might be less of a culture shock for the kids than Glasgow. Possibly even Stirling outskirts so it’s easy reach of city’s and the Trossachs.
Has anyone made a move to Scotland. Would love to hear experiences and suggestions.

I wouldn't advise going much further north than Glasgow or Edinburgh if you don't like to be far from an airport. Aberdeen has one but it's not got the choice of Glasgow/Edinburgh.

Posted too soon. I don't know much about towns in those areas (I know naice areas within the cities but that's not what you're after). North Berwick is one I can think of though. It's a really pretty coastal town. Not too far from Edinburgh.

North Berwick is the first place that jumped to my mind too. Beautiful beaches, solidly 'middle class', easy journey to Edinburgh but houses are pricey as a result. Linlithgow is also a popular town within commuting distance to Edinburgh.

Wow had a quick google. Does look pretty amazing :)

Maybe try Perthshire Dunkeld is countrified, overwhelmingly middle class in a nice way. Lots of horse owning people. Decent amount of stuff going on locally and in surrounding towns. Glasgow/ Edinburgh airport 90 minutes away.

Kelso/Hawick/Peebles - the Borders in general has a solid middle class population and tons of outdoor/riding stuff going on. Edinburgh near-ish and airport not much further.

Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Dollar. First two on rail line so quick to get into Stirling, Edinburgh or Glasgow.

If you want a similar lifestyle you could try St Andrews. Loads of beaches, pretty rural surroundings. Decent riding schools. Just over 1hr from Edinburgh airport. I travel between there and Glasgow regularly which takes me 1hr 40min. Dundee is the handiest city, 20min away and there's plenty going on there too, I go up quite regularly for gigs now.

Gosh OP we moved our kids to west Cornwall from London at the end of their primary years and honestly? It didn't stymie their lives
at all. One is now (ironically) living in Edinburgh, having gone to Cambridge uni, and the other is finishing up her Masters at another great institution. Both have travelled widely and are perfects me
To cope with the big wide world. The only problem is they can't just 'pop home'. But at least when they do they have beaches and gorgeousness

Perfectly able I should
Have said
They did loads of stuff in Cornwall -
lots of music in their case. And made some wonderful friends who are also now far flung.

If you really want opportunities do do stuff without major journeys I would say stick very close to Glasgow, or possibly Edinburgh. Preferably near a station. Don’t be fooled into another rural place that’s just a bit far away. I speak as someone who’s made s the mistakes. 😃

Newton Mearns, close to Glasgow, quite up market, not too busy.
Also I would say parts of East kilbride are very nice.
How far do you want to be from the city? Do you want to live in a town or a village? And what amenities do you want to hand (that you can walk to)?

I live in an area close to Glasgow, don't k ow much about areas surrounding Edinburgh though.

Avoid the Borders. It is seriously economically depressed and while that is good for house prices, it is a pain to get anywhere from there and the people are very insular. I lived there for too many years

Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. Stirling is nice and has decent transport links. Aberdeen is lovely, but I am probably biased about that since I was born there.

I'm just sitting here waiting to see my hometown mentioned it won't be, but I'm having a quiet afternoon. Having left Scotland in 1990 to move to London, there's no way I could move back.

I agree, look for somewhere near Edinburgh or Glasgow. North Berwick is lovely. Maybe somewhere in Fife?

One thing to consider, especially coming from the South West, is the difference in climate. Work on the basis that, no matter the time of year, it will always be at least 10 degrees colder than where you are now. In the West, it'll be wetter. In the East, it'll be even colder. And Scottish winters are long and dark.

East Lothian. North Berwick/Longniddry/Gullane are all lovely.

This be a bit to far and quiet for you, but Inverness has an airport 20 mins from town. We're flying out from there to Amsterdam and then on to the U.S. Weirdly it's cheaper for us to fly from here than Glasgow !!! Access to outdoor amenities is within minutes drive of town. The Cairngorms and Loch Ness 20 mins, loch Morlich about 45 mins and beautiful.

I put that I wrong order. Cairngorms and Loch Morlich 45-60 mins drive. Smaller satellite areas such as Nairn, Ardersier, Auldearn, Drumnadrochit, Beauly, Kirkhill, Kiltarlity, the Black Isle etc. All within 30 mins drive. Country living within a short drive of the city centre.

Services, amenities and infrastructure are much better in the Central Belt than in the rest of Scotland. If you know Glasgow a bit already I’d be tempted with that, and it’s changed a lot over the years.

Are you bringing the horses with you? I am on the west coast and having horses here is hard work! It is very wet and difficult to d=find good yards with turnout that isn't completely waterlogged. My yard has great fields and this year we are really struggling with the constant rain.

As others have said North Berwick is very nice. Portobello is lovely too and very close to central Edinburgh.

Somewhere like Balfron or Killearn immediately sprang to mind. Out in the sticks a bit, but not far into either Glasgow or Stirling. Excellent local schools. Lots of horsey stuff going on.

Aberdour, North Berwick if you want central belt. Coastal villages round Inverness too - Black Isle etc.

Definitely east coast - drier and sunnier.

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. I’ve been googling them all. Going to try and see as many areas as we can next month.

I grew up in Bishopbriggs and know this area and Springburn, Lenzie, Twechar, Cory etc well but they are not areas I would want to return to.

We did see amazing houses with lots of land in the Scottish boarders. Jedburgh was one place that had a few crackers but as suggested it’s quite a depressed place so probably not for us.
Inverness - I have some lovely romantic ideas about it but think in reality it will be too far north and we would have similar problems to where we live now.

@ Theoneandobi. That’s me fear exactly - my children are all teenagers and already talking about going away for things. I don’t want to end up so far away from them all with everyone scattered around the country. They have lots of friends and are in pony club etc here but even they know there is lots going on elsewhere.

Linlithgow. It’s beautiful and very middle class but only 20 min on the train to Edinburgh, also close to Glasgow and Stirling, lots of opportunities to get out and nearish to highlands, bit further from beaches though.

If your dc are likely to go to uni bear in mind that it is more normal to live at home here (seems to be less funding available for living costs, although no fees) so that may be a reason for staying in the central belt.

We opted for central belt partly as it increases the chances that our dc will settle nearby in future (I grew up very rurally in England and didn’t want that for my kids).

We didn’t opt for Linlithgow as it is too middle class for us, and the prices reflect that too. There are plenty of nice pockets in areas that were traditionally considered downtrodden, with a nice mix of people. If you search for the community/town name you can get an idea of what sort of things are going on locally to get a feel for the place.

I would opt for somewhere within walking distance of a train station to a major city. The teens round here have loads of freedom to roam the countryside but also hop onto a train to three cities in 1/2 hour. I think it’s a good choice!

Prestwick/Ayr/Troon - easy access to Glasgow. Beach, very horsey area, Various sailing, kayaking clubs.