Where to relocate to in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas?

[RhubarbandCust]

I am hoping to move back north with my husband and two children (6 years and 3 years) after living down south for over 15 years.
We’d like to live in Edinburgh but my knowledge of areas is quite dated. We’d be looking to rent in the first year and then hope to sell our London home to buy a house once settled.
Ideally we’d like a house with a garden and a home office as my husband will be working from home with the occasional trips to London for work. I’ve got extended family members in SW Scotland and a few relatives in Edinburgh South. We could afford Morningside but it would be a stretch and I’ve heard that schools in the local area are over subscribed. Therefore, we are looking to expand our search areas.
Colinton, Crammond, Bonaly, Trinity, Portobello sound nice, but I know nothing about these areas. We are also debating whether to look further afield at areas such as Haddington or North Berwick - perhaps we could get more house for our money there?
Any insider information would be gratefully received. Thank you!

Presume that you would want to rent in the area you are looking to buy so as to save school changes? Any idea of budget? What do you like to do or see? Would you rather have easy access to the sea or the hills?

There are lots of lovely areas that would probably fit in all parts of the city and surrounds so I'd narrow it down by the atmosphere and access to facilities you'd use. If you are not going private then as mad as it sounds, it's worth thinking about the type of high school you might want. Appreciate that view might change as your DC grow.

We started with secondary schools and worked back. It narrows it down.

I think even if you rent first you probably want to find something in the school catchment you plan to buy in. Out of catchment requests in many schools are virtually impossible. A lot of children are privately educated and in that case you would have a lot more freedom to move about.
Choosing a secondary catchment and then a house is what we were recommended and it narrows down the house choices.

@WaxOnFeckOff - Yes, that’s right, we’d want to rent in the area that we will ultimately buy in. If we were to sell our house today we’d have 750-800k to spend. As for scenery, that’s a tough one but I’d think the sea has the biggest pull.

In terms of schooling our preference would be for state but would maybe consider private for secondary.

I love Portobello, great community vibe, lovely beach with a proper promenade and I believe the primary schools are good. I’m not sure about Porty high though. The downside of housing near the sea tends to be a lack of parking and gardens. Some of the streets are awfully tight and narrow if you want to be really close to the beach.
Cramond has nice houses but I find it a bit cut off. There’s not much in the way of shops, cafes etc and only fairly infrequent bus service. The main roads can also be a rat run for traffic trying to avoid queensferry road and it’s in the flight path for the airport. On the plus side I think it’s zoned for Royal High which has a very good reputation.
Trinity has some lovely old houses and being higher up you might find something with a sea view.
Bonaly is nice but about as far away from the sea as you can get. Very handy for the pentlands although that can be a downside with day trippers trying to find parking spaces. It always feels a bit cut off and out on a limb to me. I’ve heard favourable things about the primary school though.

I'd avoid portobello because portobello high isn't great. Cramond a better option school wise but depends what your priority is.

You'd definitely like north Berwick - good community feel & right on the beach; the high school has a good reputation (better than Knox in Haddington).

There are some nice houses in Cammo, Barnton & Cramond, but you have to be aware of the flight path; there's not much of a focal point to any of them (a few shops at Barnton & a pub in Cramond which isn't popular with locals as doesn't take card payments).

South Queensferry has a pretty high street & there are beaches in Dalmeny estate.

You have a healthy budget - this one is in Cammo (off the flight path) & in Royal high catchment, needs a bit of work:

Have a look at this great property I found on ESPC - "Craigendarroch", 4/4A, Cammo Brae, Edinburgh, EH4 8ET espc.com/property/35876422

Have you thought about Blackness( on the coast) or Linlithgow? We stayed in Linlithgow on holiday and it was lovely. There was lots of shops, bars , eating places, The palace and loch in the city centre are lovely( as is the beescraig park) and it has a station and good transport links into Edinburgh. There seemed a lot of young families there too.

In terms of access to the city, we realised we were better off further away but on the train line. Getting to the centre from the outskirts of Edinburgh is a nightmare. Take a look at places within 30min on the train.

Linlithgow is lovely, good school but no seaside.

There’s some good data at simd.scot on the maps. Lots of info about deprivation in different areas. Personally we chose somewhere with mostly low deprivation but not all, and have been really happy with it. But it depends what you are looking for in an area. Good luck.

Also check out the local development plan for each council. There are a lot of new houses being built in some places (eg cammo that was mentioned by pp).

This one in Cammo is lovely too, only minutes from the Cammo estate & river almond walkway.

White Lodge, 2a Strathalmond Road, Cammo, Edinburgh EH4 8AD
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82733065.html

The pub in cramond always isn’t popular with locals because it serves diabolical food and the landlord’s approach to customer service is “interesting”! It used to be an amazing traditional pub with great food and people queued waiting for it to open to get a table but now it’s just awful :(
North Berwick is lovely if you want seaside.

Portobello is fab! Nice school, great community, lovely family-friendly businesses, lots to do including the beach and it is one stop on the train from Waverley if you want to get into town.

With the budget you've stated you'd be able to afford a family home with a garden. Parking can be a bit mental but if you look towards Joppa where it's quieter and the crazy Porty parking is less of an issue then you'll be fine.

Portobello 100% has my vote. Good luck!

I think it will depend on the lifestyle you are looking for.

North Berwick is lovely. Schools fantastic. Very much a more 'relaxed' pace than more central to Edinburgh. But still very good links into the city

Thanks everyone for your replies and for including the links to properties. From what you have said it sounds like Trinity, Portobello and North Berwick would be worth investigating further. Living by the sea would be the cherry on the cake but to be honest, I think we’d be fine if the compromise was to live inland as I imagine the commuting distances/times in Edinburgh will be much more manageable than London. House and schools are my main priorities and also living in an area where it will be easy to make new friends. Are people quite friendly in the three areas mentioned?

Trinity Primary is a great school but it is crammed to the rafters. Wardie might be slightly better in terms of catchment. Both feed to Trinity High School which is great. I agree with pps to avoid Cammo and Cramond, I just do not understand why people pay a million pounds to live under a flight path.

I love Portobello and would definitely consider moving there, it's a great community feel. It's too expensive for me though but your budget should be fine.

North Berwick is hugely popular and you won't get more for your money there, it's as expensive as Edinburgh. It's not for me, I find it a little chi-chi and have heard a few things about the primary school I didn't particularly like. But everyone else seems to love it!

If I had your budget I'd look right in the city centre - Bellevue, Broughton, West End, Stockbridge even if you'd look at a bloody gorgeous) flat. Houses are flying off the market at the moment but flats are hanging around for longer and so aren't quite as stupidly priced. There's also Comely Bank which is mostly bungalows without a huge amount of kerb appeal, but they are lovely family homes in good catchments. But that's all my fantasy house areas...

Trinity academy is not that great; certainly compared to the Royal high or Boroughmuir. A fair percentage in that area send their children privately for that reason.

Broughton High might be a better move, but still not as good. Craigmount high & royal high perform similarly. You'd only be a mile or so from the beach in the latter catchments.

It will also boil down to what kind of property you'd like to buy; as a rough guide, the city centre has Victorian/Georgian stock, and as you travel outwards, it's more 30's bungalows & eventually more modern houses in the fringes.

With a 3 yo, I'd be very tempted to go for the sea and North Berwick as your initial rental, especially with this pandemic. In usual times though the city has the museums and lots of playgrounds. All of these options are viable, once you've rented and got a feel for whether the train is a pain or the sea makes it all worthwhile.

Somewhere between a quarter and a fifth of secondary-age children in Edinburgh are at private schools, personally I don't believe you can say that is down to the individual performance of a school - it's a cultural thing. (And the difference in highers result (which is the only measure used in Scotland) was 4% between Trinity and the Royal High last year...)

The OP didn't ask about private schooling; with that budget she will be in a good catchment for a good school in Edinburgh, imo.

Just popping on to say I could cry with envy that you are making this move! I did the opposite move years ago and we are still in the South East, (Home Counties now, not London). Crammond and Portobello are great. I used to live in the New Town. I would live there again if budget allowed or maybe Stockbridge.

Enjoy, good luck take me with you !

Went for a walk round Cramond, Barnton and D mains at the weekend, some decent houses. Pros - close to the Forth, fresh air, green space and views to Fife. For me anyway, the noise of a plane overhead is no worse than the noise of people passing by at 2am and the sound of traffic all night when you stay centrally. There is always a compromise. Not much on the market though. Have friends with kids at royal high, they are very pleased with it.

Be careful of anything that is close to or under the flight path. The airport (in non-covid times) is very busy and operates 24/7. At busy times there are flights taking off and landing every couple of minutes. Would be handy for travelling back to London though. Just now it's extremely quiet so not representative of normal times