Moving to Ayrshire

[Scott50]

Hi all I’m a single parent in Northumberland hoping to move to Ayreshire as looking for a nice little coastal town. Just wanting to find out what it’s like there really and if it’s quite community orientated etc and meet some mums before i hopefully move

Depends on how big a town you want to go. Some of the smaller ones feel more like villages, some of the larger ones feel like satellite towns for Glasgow

You'd be better to get this moved to the Scotsnet part of the site.

Ayrshire is quite a big area with a lot of different towns of varying sizes Where specifically are you thinking of?

It depends where but most areas are ROUGH. Lots of unemployment, anti social behaviour & cliquey. Where have you looked & more people will be able to help?

We're just going to move this thread over to Scotsnet, OP. Best of luck with the move

Ayr, Prestwick and Troon are the nicest options if you want to live on the coast. They're on the main train line to Glasgow.

I like Largs, but I can't say what it's like from the point of view of a parent with children at school there. It's a small town which is busy in the summer mostly with day visitors, but in normal times also some holiday-makers from abroad. Schools are on a new campus on the edge of town, backing onto hills and the national sports centre.

I went to school in Ayr, and it was a good place then but seems to have gone down hill considerably. Prestwick and Troon would be better options.

I'd avoid Saltcoats and Ardrossan - sadly the town centres very run down, and looks like there's significant issues locally with drug addictions. Don't even think about Stevenston.

I do have some family in Girvan, and they seem happy there, but again, there are significant social problems and I'm not sure how easy it would be get involved in community as an incomer.

Do you like in Ayrshire friendnextdoor?

Not anymore @Beesh but I do still have relatives there. I don't mean to offend anyone as I'm sure there are lovely places hidden amongst some of the towns but in my experience they are a little behind the times and as other posters have pointed out there are significant social issues.

Thanks so much. I think I’m going to just move not too far from where we are already are and head to Berwick upon tweed for now till I get across the border to north Berwick as I have a friend there who says it’s nice there. Thanks so much for your help snd responding.

Not so sure about the "rough" comment, nor the behind the times bit. There are plenty of places in Ayrshire that are very expensive to buy a house in and I doubt they are rough. Troon is expensive and it's a favourite for retirees. Prestwick similar. Ayr has a wide mixture of housing. Saltcoats and Ardrossan have few industries left and theres little opportunity if you have few qualifications to your name. Especially since ICI left many years ago. However they have access to brand new colleges in Kilwinning and Kilmarnock. The Kilmarnock one is new and state of the art and has their own restaurant that the public can go to and be served by students learning catering. The food offered and service offered is top quality. People are shopping in Glasgow or Ayr and therefore the smaller town centres in Ayrshire are not what they were. That's true. Ayrshire is divided into East, South and North Ayrshire. Decide on your budget and then look at Rightmove would be my advice. There are plenty of tiny villages as well.

There is an air-traffic control centre with plenty of high paid jobs, in Prestwick.

Prestwick airport is here too.

North Berwick is lovely but it's quite expensive, on a par with Edinburgh property prices.

Hi yes I saw that when looked with regards to north Berwick. It’s ok for now I’m headin to Berwick upon tweed my friends in Eyemouth nearby who can give me a job cleaning for her ad means my daughter can still cross the border to the Scottish secondary school from there. I’ll be rebtinf private but maybe at some point I will get offers housing across the border if I’m lucky