Help! Thinking of moving to Scotland - but where?

[Dasher789]

Considering a move to Scotland. Both DM+MIL live in Scotland and DH and I are TTC so it would be beneficial to us to be closer for help with childcare and also nice for DM+MIL to be involved in DGC life. DM+MIL don't live in same place. One east of Edinburgh and other, west of Glasgow - both in villages so we don't want to move specifically to either. Depending if we choose east/west/a middle area even being 1.5hrs ish from one DM is a lot better than 4hrs ish as it stands now. Have been looking at rightmove but not entirely sure where to look as we are so open and limited knowledge of places. We both WFH although DH work have an office in Edinburgh so it would be good for him to have the option to go in every now and then to help make some friends. We have been looking at school league tables as an indication of nice areas - is this premature given we don't even have a DC yet? Other reason for looking at this though is thinking a good school might help the house hold value if we decided the area wasn't for us and wanted to resell. Is it generally nicer in the east or the west? We would like easy access to the closest city by train/car and to live in a town with a community feel. Ideally bigger than a village with some shops and restaurants. We have looked at linlithgow and North Berwick on the East and on the West, clarkston and Newton Mearns. Also looked at portobello and falkirk - the schools in these two places don't seem as good but they look good from a location point of view. There is not a lot for sale in any of these places - is this down to covid? Are these areas nice, would you recommend any over others or suggest some new places? Budget of up to £450k for min 3 bedroom but ideally 4 so we can have an 'office' each + spare room.

Bridge of Allan or Dunblane?

Thank you, I will have a look at these places

I'm further north of Edinburgh, in Fife, so don't have much advice around the areas you're looking at.

Each county seems to have their own property centre website, so have a look for that, as I found lots of properties appearing on there which weren't always in rightmove. For example you have tspc for tayside, fspc for Fife, espc for Edinburgh.

If you were looking further north, and depending what you're looking for, Newport on tay is just over the water from Dundee and very scenic and offers that community feel. A few small cafes and restaurants and you're a stones throw away from Dundee. It's a little over an hour to Edinburgh, 1.5 to Glasgow.

I totally understand your reasoning behind this. I grew up in Scotland, love where we live, yet my husbands family are all down south and I would move to be closer to them in a heartbeat. My baby is 4 months old and I hate that he's so far away from his family. I'm secretly hoping they'll move up here instead as my husband doesn't want to move down whatsoever :(

You'll get a lot more for your money in the West & the best East Renfrewshire schools out-perform most of the schools in the other areas you have talked about.

There's a lot of new builds in the Mearns area which is putting pressure on some high school places.

I also wouldn't like the regular commute to Edinburgh from there though - I'd estimate an hour on a really good day & up to double that in rush hour traffic. By train it would be even longer.

North Berwick is lovely for a beach lifestyle & has a good community but it's Edinburgh prices. There is the direct train line but the slow line (rather than the fast train from Dunbar).

Linlithgow has good train links to both Glasgow & Edinburgh & again a good sense of community with fairly good schools.

If you are looking in Edinburgh then Boroughmuir or James Gillespie's catchment (Morningside, Bruntsfield, etc) or Royal high (Blackhall etc) are good. But 450K won't go as far, especially in the former areas.

450K is a good budget generally

Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, areas of Stirling. Train to Edinburgh and depending how far East of Edinburgh parents are, it's about 1r to 1hr and a quarter to that end of the by pass. It's about 30 minutes to the centre of Glasgow so again, just add on time for however far west. All schools are decent but academically Bannockburn isn't good.

Not always a popular choice, but I really like West Lothian.
Not from there originally, but work brought me to the Gyle business park, and nice houses in Livingston was about as far as our budget stretched.

We now live near Livingston, but in one of the Calders, and honestly, for where I am in my life, early 30s, 3 small kids, it fits my bill.
I mostly WFH these days, but can hop on the motorway and be in the office in 20 mins (traffic dependant).
All amenities on my doorstep. Parks and walks if I want them. Small community vibe in the village I'm in. The school has been amazing during lockdown and homeschooling so far. Easy enough to get to both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

House prices in the Calder's are much lower. My daughter was looking at a new build in Edinburgh. £515k in Edinburgh £390k in the Calder area. It's crazy.

East, mid, west Calder all a good shout. Western edge Edinburgh- Corstorphine, Barnton, south Queensferry. All be less than an hour of one mother and just over hour to the one in the west.
Linlithgow is a very good fit for what you’re looking for and fast train line to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Also look at Polmont.
You will get more for your money in the west though.

Have a look at Lanark/Clyde valley area

On these thread almost everybody recommends Dunblane, Bridge of Allan or Linlithgow.
What puts me off Linlithgow is the level of pollution, and it's not in the middle of lovely countryside, as lots of other places are.
Bridge of Allan is nice in a genteel, quite elderly kind of way.
Dunblane is nice enough, but very very small.
I wouldn't put too much reliance on schools, that far ahead. But good access to the big cities is a help from the perspective of house prices.

True re schools. A few years ago placement requests to Dunblane were always granted. So buy somewhere else in Stirling and get a place at Dunblane High as the HT wanted the school at capacity to secure staffing. Now several year groups full and others not so far off. Parents concerned over siblings getting refused and the building is bursting at the seams.

Still, I love Stirling as a parent and a teacher. For Lidlfam it has been a fantastic place to bring up our DDs.

Close enough to Glasgow, Edinburgh and some parts of the Highlands. All the clubs and activities you could want on your doorstep.

I agree @Lidlfix, I'm glad we moved to Stirling. The access to clubs and activities has been outstanding, enough to do locally and easy access to either Glasgow or Edinburgh. Add in access to the countryside and great schools and what's not to love?

If wanting midlothian, I have a friend in Kirknewton who rates it highly.

Falkirk is probably the most logical choice if you have relatives in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It's half way between the two and you are on the main line E2G.

"£390k in the Calder area."

That's because there's nothing there compared to a larger town or city.

Falkirk isn't the most attractive place, and isn't in nice countryside. It's a strange place to choose if you work from home and can live anywhere within a reasonably easy distance of Ed and Glas (on an occasional not daily basis).

@blowinahoolie

"£390k in the Calder area."

That's because there's nothing there compared to a larger town or city.

I guess it depends what you want tbh. My worst nightmare is living in town. I love the suburbs. I like the extra bit of space. I like to keep to myself, although I have come to appreciate the sense of community in the Calders. Everything I need is within easy reach, and much more affordable than Ratho, for example, which is 5 mins down the road, but comes under Edinburgh rather than West Lothian

I visited a lot of properties and towns before picking my current house. I highly recommend having a look around and properly distilling what matters the most to you guys.

"Falkirk isn't the most attractive place, and isn't in nice countryside."

Some parts of Falkirk are semi rural and I live a short walk from the countryside. You'd be surprised.

"It's a strange place to choose if you work from home and can live anywhere within a reasonably easy distance of Ed and Glas (on an occasional not daily basis)."

Not really strange at all. You are at a half way point between Glasgow and Edinburgh by living in Falkirk. Right on the main line E2G, it makes a lot of sense in terms of being half way between relatives to the east and relatives over to the west.

What about Lenzie in East Dunbartonshire. Not the best for amenities but it’s a 10-15 minute drive into the centre of Glasgow and 10 minutes on the train. Or 50 minutes on the train to centre of Edinburgh . It’s half an hour to Stirling, and an easy drive to Loch Lomond.
. You could easily get a big enough house
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85731577#/

Thanks everyone. Lots of new places to look at. Would you still consider places like Clarkston if schooling is a while off? Is there much to do there? Linlithgow looks like a good option but unfortunately there is not much for sale. I’d ideally like to be close to the heart of the town to meet people and my preference wouldn’t be a new build which seems to reduce my options considerably.

Yes, location of Falkirk looks good and not much up for sale but from what is, looks like you can get a lot of property for your money.

You’ll not find much on Rightmove in the Edinburgh area because everything gets listed on ESPC

Falkirk doesn't have to mean the town centre either, it's surrounded by lots of villages that are rural and places like Polmont that have their own station that is on the E2G line as well as being minutes from the motorway

If somewhere that's easily accessible to Edinburgh or Glasgow has low house prices, there's a reason for that.

"My worst nightmare is living in town"

I agree with you there. We live in a village but 15 minutes walk into town. Best of both worlds.

Ratho is over rated. DH is from Balerno and he thinks it's ridiculous prices of property in that neck of the woods.