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.

Would recommend Aboyne or villages nearby. Can be expensive though.

Laurencekirk/Auchenblae in South Aberdeenshire?

The west of Dumfries and Galloway has some stunning scenery, beautiful beaches. Very active sailing club near dalbeattie. In the east lockerbie has lots of families, near main transport links. Ae village has lovely family community feel and access to competition grade mountain biking trials. I think secondary school wise our schools are all small enough that if your kids are achievers they will achieve.
It really is s place worth visiting and getting a feel for as you can be very remote in the far west or east of the region. Or be in Dumfries town a 20 minute drive from, mountain biking, sailing, hiking, beaches, horse riding orienteering etc etc. 1h 30 minutes to Glasgow (an hour by train from Lockerbie) 45 minutes to Carlisle and 6 hours by train to London.

I'd love you to choose somewhere along the Moray coast and I love an opportunity to advocate for the area I live in!

However neither Findhorn or the places you mention around Inverness meet all your criteria. Findhorn is really expensive and that's because it's mainly populated by retirees and holiday home occupants. There's no primary school in the village either, and public transport is poor. It's a stunningly beautiful village however!

Culloden is ever-expanding and prices for land are high as a result. Black Isle is fabulous but land is becoming scarce there too.

Have you thought about... slightly further inland from Findhorn? Between Elgin/ Forres and Aberlour, and around Speyside, you'll get much more for your money and land with spectacular views. Perfect for outdoors activities... but internet can be an issue.

Or heading south from Inverness you have places like Tomatin and Farr with lovely wee schools and access to another part of the Findhorn/ Spey valleys, including Aviemore. They are very small villages though.

FWIW I don't think the rankings for secondaries tell much of the picture at all - most schools in these areas have similar catchments in terms of SIMD ie a very wide spread. Some are in fantastic new buildings, others are not.

Hope that helps a little bit and good luck with your search

Wee correction to a PP

Dollar isn't in Fife

Are you relocating from another part of Scotland OP

@Superjaggy thanks for the local knowledge. Yes the bit between Elgin/ Forres/ Aberlour looks good, some nice houses in little villages/ hamlets a short drive from town, perfect. By Speyside do you mean Fochabars/ Garmouth area? I can see some nice places there too. Does Speyside include into Banffshire? I just checked there and some nice barn conversions near the coast in Banffshire. I'm not familiar with Banffshire at all though yet.

What's the best way to check internet availability? Rightmove have an 'average for this postcode' but I don't know how big the postcode areas are! would it just be a case of asking estate agents if we are particularly intrested?

Tomatin and Farr look lovely but the stuff available now is a bit more expensive.

With schools- it doesn't have to be super-academic, but I want one where they aren't held back if they are academic (as dh and I were at our separate secondary schools in England by teachers doing more crowd control than teaching). I've been looking at the data on parentzone to see if the school meets it's virtual comparitors for SIMD and reading the HMIE report (if available), is there any other way to find out about schools? I guess best way is to ask local people (who all say that their local school is good!).

Do you know in Morayshire if out of catchment placement requests are usually approved? One thing I like about Dumfries is that the schools are undersubscribed so according to a friend there out of catchment requests are always approved, so if we didn't like the secondary down the line we could just choose another (although would be responsible for transport then, which is fair enough)

@umberellaonesie thanks for the tips about D&G. We would like to be outside a town, ideally in a village/ hamlet but able to drive into town easily. Although if we rent first would likely rent in a town. I like the little villages around Castle Douglas/ Dumfries/ Dalbeattie. I haven't looked so much at the east side but will take a look. I was actually a bit put off by the motorway as I don't like motorway driivng (although it must be a plus point for many people) although looking again I think you would only need to go on motorway if leaving the region? How do you find the driving around the local area there? I want somewhere quite relaxing to drive, so quiet roads and sensible other drivers. I grew up in countryside where people sped through our tiny village on A road round blind corners and it was scary at times!

Would lochmaben be a nice place to live? Any other villages in the east side you know? I will look at Ae village too.

We are in England at the moment, so we will be relocating to Scotland.

Villages around Peebles - for mountain biking at Glentress.

Or around North Berwick- right on the coast & a real community feel with good schools. Plus on train line to Edinburgh.

Agree that Balfron, Killearn are good choices too.

If you want to ask anything about Elgin then feel free to get in touch :) I've been here since 2006.

Primary here but plsci g requests are mostly granted I do believe you can search for how many are granted on moray.gov.uk

I'm a bit tiddly just now 🤭 will see if I can find it tomorrow.

Re Academy vs High school. The town is pretty much split in half and there are kids from either side who go to the opposite. Both schools are newly built and fantastic facilities at both.

Weather... we appear to have our own little microclimate. Can get the best of the summer weather and relatively little snow. Last big dumping we had was 2010.

Lots of new housing being built on the north and south sides. Two new primaries too one almost done, the other not started yet.

Lochmaben is lovely and a busy wee school a d community. Has an active sailing club on the loch. However the road through it is busy.
Yes only need motorway to leave the region.
The roads are ok generally. The A75 is a main transport route so lots of lorries etc as it is the route to the ferry. It has bit of a reputation but i drive a small section daily to take kids to school and it is fine. Castle douglas and dalbeattie are quite small, and have a definite village feel to them. It really is a lovely region to bring a family up in.

the problem with out of area placement requests is not so much whether granted or not but it can be more difficult for children to make friends in the village if they don't go to the same school as everyone else, especially in places where there is only really one school

in many rural areas the next nearest secondary could be 20-30+ miles away
some places like inverness have a choice drumnadrochit Nairn etc have no choice at secondary and drumnadrochit no real choice at primary level either
we used to live near Inverness we now live in Argyll, I don't think any town in Argyll has a choice at secondary level, if you live close enough there is a choice of the Catholic secondary school in Dumbarton, there is a choice at primary level in some of the larger towns ie Helensburgh, Oban Dunoon and Fort William

Does Speyside include into Banffshire? I just checked there and some nice barn conversions near the coast in Banffshire. I'm not familiar with Banffshire at all though yet.

Banff and surrounds are in Aberdeenshire so different local authority and different schools - I'm afraid I have little knowledge of the area but I do have friends near Portsoy and they love it there - they have young children too

What's the best way to check internet availability? Rightmove have an 'average for this postcode' but I don't know how big the postcode areas are! would it just be a case of asking estate agents if we are particularly intrested?

I don't know the answer to this and the postcode areas for rural IV and AB are pretty huge... I think it would be a case of making friends with the locals and asking! Generally speaking, one of the big providers will give you decent 4G if there isn't great broadband, but I know that's not really sufficient for working from home.

Banchory Academy can be great for high achievers and the local property market is struggling at the moment due to low oil prices. You could pick up a bargain. The area is lovely and geared to the outdoors. Also people are friendly and welcoming and are used to newcomers due to the dynamic nature of oil jobs.

Thanks I will look at Banchory area- the prices on rightmore are still quite high though- I'm not sure how much under sellers might consider?

Does anyone have any experience of the towns in the Cairngorms- Aviemore, Kingussie, Grantown on Spey etc? They tick a lot of boxes.

Yes I'd prefer to use the local school even if it isn't the 'best' due to friendships, transport etc, however I'd prefer to have the option of getting an out of placement school as a backup.

Cheeky offers would certainly be considered by many. Before the oil crash there were around 1500 properties in the Aberdeen area on the market at one time. There are now around 6000!!! If people want/need to sell, they should accept an lower offer. Some less desirable properties go for 20% under valuation price.

Look at www.aspc.co.uk

This ones under offer, but could fall through I suppose.....just look at the views from the land!n

This is what you could get for your money if the solicitors don't over inflate the price.

www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/386029/Mill-Of-Tillygownie/Banchory/

My sister lived in Aviemore and brought her DC up there. They really liked it and although they've moved away now, the adult DC still go up a lot to see friends etc. I've holidayed in the area and Aviemore is the biggest and Granton on Spey is lovely. I don't know much about Kingussie other than that's where the High School is. It's quite small I think and sits just above halfway in terms of academics. None of my sisters DC were particularly academic and couldn't wait to get away so I can't really help you there :)

Moniaive in Dumfriesshre won one of the best places to live 2020 in The Times. It's small but has a shop, subsidised by windfarm money, and 2 pubs!

Have you had any further thoughts in this? We’re in a similar dilemma and it’s between Galloway and Borders. I’d be keen to know your thoughts too. Thanks

The Borders has cycling/walking/kayaking, an hour from Edinburgh, lots of small towns and villages and you should easily be able to meet housing/land requirements. There is quite a big music and arts community, lots of people from outside the area.