Suggestions for places in Scotland with land and active community

[MeridasWisp]

We are researching online places to visit with a view to seeing them once lockdown lifted. We have primary school aged kids. We can work remotely as long as reliable fast internet.

I'll describe our ideals, we are prepared to compromise, I know all may not be possible!

My husband's ideal is a house with an acre of land around and some outbuildings that he can develop, with beautiful views and surroundings. Nice walks from the front door.

My ideal is in an active community where we can integrate, and able to do outdoors activities year round with other people (don't mind if bad weather, but I don't want to be the only person hiking/ kayaking in the rain, I'd like a place where others are out too). I'd also like good schools where more able students can progress well.

Ideally under 350k for a 3-4 bed, but could go up to 450k for somewhere great.

My husband would be happy somewhere really remote halfway up a mountain without another house in sight. I don't mind being far from shops/ restaurants/ cinema, but I want to have people and an active community around- for playdates, sports clubs, community events.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Places I'm currently researching

• outskirts of Inverness and surrounding villages eg Culloden, Beauly, Black Isle villages- suits me but hard to find anything with enough land for him. He likes Drumnadrochit surrounds but I'm not sure
• around Nairn/ Elgin- some older properties with land but I'm not sure about the schools- Elgin Academy good but catchment small- the others perform less well in rankings and no HMIE reports online so hard to tell how they are!
• villages in Dumfries around Castle Douglas/ Dumfries/ Dalbeattie- I like these
• Kintyre Peninsula around Tarbert- I'm not sure if has much of a community feel - I can't find much info online
• islands- I wondered if islands might be a good way to get space but still great community facilities and feel?
• north Aberdeenshire- some great barn conversions with land (I'm thinking around Banff/ Fraserburgh) but I'm again not sure about the schools

Open to any comments/ suggestions!

We will of course visit once lockdown lifted......

From word of mouth I believe that the secondary schools in Dumfriesshire with the best results were Wallacehall Academy in Thornhill and Moffat Academy in Moffat.
I'm not sure if Galloway was included in that, conclusion, perhaps Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright schools are good, you need to check out.
The weather is wetter but milder in the SW than Aberdeenshire and the East coast.

A family that was local to us found exactly what you are after on Arran. I don’t know how much their house cost, but it is vast and has land, or about schools - but they have nursery, primary and high school age children, and one of the parents is a teacher, so I imagine they considered schooling.

Try around dollar in fife.

Dumfries band Galloway definitely ticks your boxes.
It is a great place to bring up kids. Schools are good, and loads of outdoor activities on our doorstep.
The only issue is probably internet access. There are definitely pockets of very poor connections.

There are plenty of places were you will get good house for 350k you need to be in a village as fibre cable broadband won't be available too far in the sticks, we are a mile from village and the best speed we get is 11mbps it can't be better by paying more.
mainly kids go to local school this is essential for play dates and getting to know people, you will need a car as public rural transport is often poor. The west coast has lots of rain but is relatively mild with midges, east coast largely midge free but drier and much colder.

As children get older remote living will make you a taxi service there will be a school bus for school but you have to ferry them if after school clubs etc social life etc it is often safer so make sure it is somewhere where kids can walk into village at least

Arran, Arisaig, Findhorn are the first places which spring to mind.

Highland Perthshire - Pitlochry, Aberfeldy, Dunkeld and the surrounding areas. Broadband is patchy but definitely there - obviously you'd need to check! Definitely fits the outdoors lifestyle you're after and there's a real sense of community in the area.

Rural Stirlingshire? Good schools, plenty going on.

Villages around Helensburgh.
I don't rate the high school but there's an independent school and Dd's boyfriend did brilliantly at the state high.
They were just rubbish with Dd who is (undiagnosed) autistic and needed extra support on top of that due to me having a chronic illness/disability.

Ardnamurchan?

To be honest, half of Scotland is empty and once you get a few miles outside the big cities and even less outside the smaller ones, you'll find properties with land. There are active communities in most areas and the sports involved will vary depending on the terrain. I think you need to narrow down what activities you really want. If it's sailing then near the sea or canoeing by decent lochs or white water kayaking or mountain biking etc. Some of these things will be available together. E. G. Aviemore area good for skiing, mountains for walking and biking as well as some water activities on Loch morlich.

If mountain biking is your thing, Innerleithen

I was going to say Ardnamurchan. Or around Braemar/ Ballatar. Stunning area. I find weather in West a lot worse than East but you said you 're ok with that..

My first thought was Peebles/ Innerleithen sort of area too. If you can get on BBC iplayer, they did a documentary called 'The River' which focussed on stories of people and places along the River Tweed. There was plenty going on like what you are looking for, with families who had moved into the area as well as families who had been there for generations telling their stories.

Thank you for all the suggestions.

To be honest, half of Scotland is empty and once you get a few miles outside the big cities and even less outside the smaller ones, you'll find properties with land. There are active communities in most areas and the sports involved will vary depending on the terrain. I think you need to narrow down what activities you really want.

This is true, and in honesty we are really struggling to narrow it down.

Currently we run, cycle, walk as we live in an urban area (saving money with job here). In the past we've lived in places where we've enjoyed surfing, windsurfing, sailing, kayaking, hiking, camping so any of those would be a bonus, but happy to not have all of those locally.

Things we definitely want

• strong state schools. If schools strong in maths or foreign languages that would be a bonus
• safe roads for driving- not hairpin bends with too fast drivers/ icy in winter
• walk into some countryside from front door
• sense of space eg open vistas
• some kind of outdoor water sports nearby, but could be on a loch or the sea
• fibre internet
• village/ town with lots of families with young children, not a place dominated by retirees/ holiday homes
• some form of off-road cycling from front door- eg cycle tracks or paths (cycling on safe quiet road to get to tracks ok)
• drive into really spectacular countryside
• good public transport would be a bonus, but we wouldn't mind relocating again if necessary when kids are teens if lack of public transport becomes an issue

If a 3/4 bed house with land under 300k that would be amazing, could go higher if needed.

I really like Pitlochry, thanks for the suggestion.
Findhorn and Arisaig also promising.
Arran looks a bit more expensive.
Dumfries area I really like. So far haven't seen any houses that dh likes but I'll keep looking. He is more 'meh' about it, as I think he prefers highlands scenery to lowlands, but I think Dumfries has a lot of positives.

Yes very good point about the internet speed being best IN a village/ town, not out of it. I need to speak to dh about the acre of land he is requesting as it is limiting choice.... if he'd be content with half an acre or similar we would have more options.

The problem is that the market is not really normal at the moment so it's hard to see what is really available as houses will not have been added etc.

If academic schools are a priority, here is the unofficial chart of the results published last year. As always, stats don't tell you everything but in your case it's something to start with:

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/4020266/scotland-secondary-schools-results-chart-worst-best-glasgow-edinburgh/

safe roads for driving- not hairpin bends with too fast drivers/ icy in winter

This could be a problem op 😁 you do get used to it, though.

Kirkcudbright and the villages near there. My dad lives there, there is a thriving community.

Ardnamurchan secondary it sounded like the school was struggling with teacher retention from reading the previous HMIE reports? Although the most recent assessment said they had improved.

In Stirlingshire, Dunblane, Balfron and McLaren (Callendar) consistently do well academically, the other Stirling schools do pretty well except for Bannockburn. You could have rural living for any of the first 3 and places like Gargunnock which might be Stirling high catchment.

The problem is that the market is not really normal at the moment so it's hard to see what is really available as houses will not have been added etc.

Yes that's true. Will have to wait....

Kirkcudbright- looks great thanks for the tip.

Although if we choose an area that has suitable rentals, we might move into rental first when possible, then look to buy next year or year after. We are renting now.

Sounds like a plan :)

Kirkcudbright is a lovely town.