Moving from South East England

[FrostyGirl66]

Hello all. My family and I live on the south east coast of England our whole lives, and have been thinking for a while that we'd really like to move to Scotland. We've been looking at the Northern area of Moray and Aberdeenshire and the Highland East coast. My partner is actually currently up there at the mo checking out the areas and viewing some houses.

He's been wandering around Inverness because that's where his hotel is and chatting with the locals. They've all been lovely apparently, but some have said that the Scots and north English people have clashed recently due to the pubs being open earlier in England and some Scots going into England for this reason, and northern people not liking it. This has got me thinking, are we (my family and I) going to be ok in northern Scotland? Not safety wise of course, I'm thinking in terms of acceptance and getting along. Especially my children being primary age and making friends in their new school.

Tell me I'm talking absolute rubbish if I am! It wasn't even a thought that crossed my mind until my partner got up there and started chatting.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I’m assuming you’ve looked into the income tax, LBTT differences, economic facts about independence and are fine with all of that risk should Scotland go independent?

I can’t speak for that area in particular, I love Scotland and have found most people here wonderful, but it’s certainly a bit uncomfortable if you are someone who sees themselves as British rather than English. I’ve never felt so over identified as ‘English’ since I moved here. I’d think hard about it if I were making the decision now.

Soon my parents are driving up to see their gc and I see on Twitter there have been yet more protests at Berwick about ‘keep the English out of Scotland’.

You hear so much pish about English nationalism being nasty, Scottish nationalism is better, scotland never elects any tories (not true) etc etc. The debates themselves are tiring and alienating.

Yes, come up! I know a ton of English Scots that came up for a better quality of life.
I'm not sure how people in Inverness would know about the goings on in the Borders apart from reading it in the media who definitely like to stirr things!
Anyway, I know the areas v well so happy to help! You might not have realised that you'd be closeish to Aviemore/ Loch Morlich which is a stunning area for walks/ sports of all types if you 're interested in that sort of thing!
Further East - Royal Deeside is stunning but could feel too remote. I'm sure The Sunday Times has Elgin as one of the best places to live in 2020. I'd go for 20 mins outside to the town of Fochabers- beautiful walks etc and a primary and high school too. Anyway, I won't go on but yes it's a great area for families.
Just now you only pay 5 per cent land tax/ stamp duty on anything over £250k. PM me if you have any questions or would like further advice. 😀

@anon444877 thanks for post. yes we've looked into income tax, LBTT is now 0 as we won't be going over £250,000 and am loosely familiar with the independence situation. I guess I see myself as English, but I really don't care if Scottish people would prefer I was English or British. I don't want to offend anyone!

@MumofHunter thank you so much. we've been looking lots around Elgin and Huntly area. My partner is actually looking at a property in Forgue tomorrow. Do you know this area? we're looking for a rural property with no immediate neighbours but not too remote iyswim! Thank you for the offer of me messaging you. I may just do that!

Yes sounds like you’ll be fine then, I find it in general best to avoid speaking about independence with people in real life as most people have firm opinions one way or the other, so sticking to not talking about identity and politics definitely helps with friendships.

My parents are English and despite having been born and living most of my life in northern Scotland I sound more English, at least to Scottish ears! I have never experienced any prejudice or racism and neither have my parents. The quality of life in the Highlands and Moray is very good in my opinion. Friendly people, wonderful scenery and good schools with almost no private schools around to create a two-tier system.

We lived in Glasgow and Inverness both lovely. Scottish people are wonderful.

Oh and the coast by Elgin has a microclimate so its warmer and dryer than Aberdeen weirdly. It is cold if you are used to the southeast weather.
The long summer days and wildlife is amazing though.
Well insulted new builds are a very good thing!

Royal Deeside is a place I'd recommend (I'm from Winchester originally and now live here). The locals are used to incomers due to the oil industry and there are many English people (and other nationalities) around.

If you're looking for space, this house is a lot for your money. House prices are tumbling here due to the uncertainty with the oil industry which would be a bonus for you.

www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/389475/St-Finans-Barn/Banchory/

The weather in Royal Deeside is amongst the best in Scotland too which is an important consideration.

thank you all for your help and suggestions. the weather will be a bit different to what we're used to being in the south lol. but I love colder weather and cant stand the blistering heat we sometimes get down here! the longer summer days will be lovely. its reassuring to hear that English people are welcomed

@Aurea thanks for the link. what a lovely property, but a bit beyond our budget unfortunately!

Royal Deeside looks nice, but a bit more expensive, don't think our budget would stretch!

@anon444877 good tips, thanks I'll keep them in mind.

Anyone know what Golspie/Brora area is like? looking at couple properties in that area tomorrow.

I don’t know much about Golspie and Brora but Dornoch is up that way and is lovely. Huge sandy beaches, interesting local shops and a very good secondary school. The Black Isle area is also definitely worth considering and is nearer to Inverness if you need a larger place nearby for work.

I don't know Forgue, sorry.
Golspie and Brora are nice. Golspie close to Dunrobin castle which is stunning! I think they're both on the NC500 trail so could be busy with tourists in summer.

We are Scots living in England and have just returned from a trip around Scotland to visit various relatives.
Dornoch and the surrounding area is absolutely beautiful.
The beach is stunning and their idea of ‘busy’ will not be the same as yours, living on the south east coast of England.
Relocating to Scotland depends a great deal on what you do for a living.
For us, moving back is out of the question until the independence question is settled ( once and for all).

We noticed that almost every Scot we encountered was at great pains to tell us that they had abided by the rules of lockdown unlike the English.
On the one hand, they were trying to reassure us but on the other, we realised the influence of the media/ Scottish govt as portraying the English as being feckless and not following the guidelines was stoking the feeling of ‘other’.
Hopefully, we reassured people that everyone we knew in our rural area of England had taken lockdown seriously.

Some folk were friendlier than others.

I think you could have a great quality of life but unless you work in the public sector so much depends on the economy and sadly I think we’re all in for a bumpy ride north and south of the border.

@BusyDreaming thank you. Definitely some things to consider. When you say you definitely won't move back to Scotland until the independence issue has been sorted, would you mind me asking why?

I'm a sahm and my partner is a bricklayer/foreman. He can work anywhere - he's not travel shy and willing to work away. We've even considered him still working in England for the time being as the pay is better.

We won’t move back to Scotland until the independence question has been settled because of the uncertainty surrounding the economy.
As wealthy ‘expats’, I suspect we would be hammered with tax and would prefer Scotland to remain within the Union.

It’s a strange dilemma because we love Scotland but the national psyche has changed so much since we left around 30 years ago.
The issues we have as Scots who left are different in many ways to English families who wish to relocate.

I think your partner would find work more readily than many and depending on where you settle you could have a great quality of life.
I know there are issues within the Scottish education system, it isn’t what it was.
The Highlands and Islands are very different from the more densely populated central belt.

We met some very interesting Scots in the Golspie/ Dornoch area who said they’d prefer to be governed by Norway than Edinburgh or Westminster.
Make of that what you will!

We moved from North Manchester to Aberdeenshire in November and it couldn't have been a better decision. Its lovely, the weather is like our childhood (winding back 30 years of global warming) and everybody is lovely.

Schools have been great with out children, who have numerous issues.

@BusyDreaming thank you for sharing that.

@Hawkmoth thank you. That's reassuring. I'm pleased it's worked out well for you and your family.

Just note, I am working hard to learn the local language (Doric) as oftentimes I can't understand conversations!

@Hawkmoth interesting. Thank you.

I moved from the south of England to Elgin 19 years ago at the age of 20.

My parents lived on the Moray coast for years and I have moved between there and Edinburgh a couple of times.

It's beautiful up there and I have only experienced one incident of 'anti Englishness' and that was from 2 people ridiculously drunk!

My husband is from Elgin and we still visit to see in laws. I would say go for it. You won't regret it. I know the area very well as I travelled all over for work when I lived up there so feel free to ask if you want to know about places.