Moving to Scotland from devon

[Gillybum22]

Hi there, hoping someone can give some advice. We currently love on devon, me, husband and our kids boy 7 and girl 3. My Husband loves scotland and we spend most of our holiday time up there. I love it 2 but am less keen only case my mums here in devon, also my brother and nephews are too. All my other family is in Glasgow (I lived there until i was 9) we loved braemar but its a bit far from airport for us etc... we want to live within an hour of Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport but fairly rural and preferably near mountains etc.... we were thinking a village near Perth or Stirling? But open to ideas, I'm concerned about my kids getting bullied about accents etc.... although I'm aware lots of English live there and loads of Scots live here... its probably more accepted now. Any help appreciated, we are also in healthcare. My husband is a paramedic and I'm a nurse.... help us lolol xx

Can you give us some more details about the lifestyle you are looking for.

Do you want access to mountains or just the scenery?
What are your hobbies?
Where do you envisage working and what length of commute would you want?
Are you happy for kids to be bussed to a secondary school?
Are you genuinely happy to live in a village - with the potential lack of amenities and public transport?

Braemar is a tourist town so the Spar and cafes are open all year round. In a Perthshire village you will be lucky to get a local shop.

Maybe that's the lifestyle you are looking for?

If not, Dunblane is often mentioned on these threads. Bridge of Allen, Crieff?

Braemar is only approx 70 minutes from Aberdeen airport.

Gargunnock, Kippen, Thornhill, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane on the Stirling side. Kilmacolm, Bridge of Weir Glasgow side.

I’d strongly advise to look at what secondary school you want to aim for and work backwards from there’s.

Your DC are young they will have a Scottish accent v quickly!! I wouldn’t worry about that! Others may come in to say otherwise but I don’t known anyone that’s been bullied because of an English accent.

We moved up to crieff from England just over a year ago. No problems with the kids being English; don't think they've had any hassle at all.

All generally good but it's dark for soooooo long at the moment; taking me a bit of getting used to (we came from far north of England so didn't give it much thought)

I'm in Stirling, here and the surrounding villages give you the option of both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in an hour. Forth Valley main hospital is in Larbert but obviously smaller NHS facilities spread across everywhere so would depend what type of healthcare jobs you'd be looking for. Most of the Stirling (and shire) high schools are decent.

We moved to the area from Edinburgh and brought up our boys here and it's a great area for families. I can't think of a sport or activity that isn't catered to to be honest. If you want to stick with somewhere on the rail line but not the city (tiny city) or the outskirts, then Dunblane or Bridge of Allan. If you are less fussed about trains then Gargunnock, Kippen, Doune etc or you could go further west to Balfron area but then you are only close to Glasgow airport rather than both big airports.

Thank you so much all of you.... yes husband is a keen mountain biker and we both love hiking. We wanted a local decent co op nearby.... husband happy with 45 min commute as he already does that here. We want scenery but also days off easy access to mountains and forests. God we sound so fussy! Lolol it's a big move just want to make sure it's right. Stirling has only just been put on our radar past couple months.

Yeah the kids are so little hopefully scottish accent will blend in. I moved here when I was 9 (I'm now 43) my brother particularly got really badly bullied, even by the teacher at a top grammar school!! Disgusting, but we were one of the first Scots families around really nowadays my mum works in marks and spencers in devon and most of her buddies all used to work at argyle Street m&s years ago! Lolol it's like being I Glasgow....

Thank you re secondary schools, we will look about. Thank you.

I have neighbours who are keen mountain bikers and there are loads of routes they do right from their door. Just a short cycle to the hills.

Very popular mountain biking at glentress down near Peebles too which would also place you within an hour of Edinburgh airport and in-between the BGH and ERI. A bit further to Glasgow though.

Are you sure you want to move - just wondered as you sound as though you are close to family in Devon?

If you are at all unsure, just hang in until you feel 100%.

Where is dh from?

This is all great information I will look through, thank you.

Yes we want to move, my husband has lived in Devon since 7 years, born in Lancashire. We want a better place for our kids, we live in paignton in Devon currently and man alive it's just awful with drugs, drink and crime is going up ten fold. He loves the mountains, and I have family in Glasgow, but yes I am close close particularly my mum, but we are putting money aside for mum to fly up and are planning on buying somewhere with room for an annex or an annex for her or my nephews etc.... she spends all her annual leave time in Glasgow anyway so would see her fairly often. It's a tough choice but just want something better for our kids...

Killearn/Strathblane might be worth a look? Ticks your boxes and is really lovely

Dollar is lovely and full of English people…

A keen hiker and mountain biker you say? The Borders, Peebles? They bloody love biking here, We have Glentress, TweedLove and Tour of the Borders and eh other biking thingies... My bike has flat tires

Loads of English parents at our dcs school.

I moved from Paignton to outside Ayr. I love it here.
Its an hour to Glasgow which is handy for flights to Exeter. We head to the Highlands regulary as its only two hours away.

Gosh, well paignton is really horrid nowadays..... Will look at peebles, have looked at strathblane, I have relatives in Bearsden so nice, not a lot in our price range though in strathblane.... never thought about Ayr..... holidayed there as kids lol...Will look there too... thabk you so much to all. X

I think round Stirling might work for you, somewhere like Doune or Dunblane maybe? If you’re looking at Aberdeenshire then check there’s actually flights from the airport to where you’d want to go if you’re thinking access to family as domestic routes aren’t that great.

Yes, the flights to Exeter are from Glasgow only.... but that's fine from dunblane. We stayed in strathyre just before Christmas and drove through dunblane then. So that was fine too. Whats doune or dunblane or even perth itself like in the winter? Callander was pretty open looking still.... is this the case in perth or surrounding places?

Do you mean weather wise or in terms of amenities?

Dunblane is not really just for tourists so everything is just open as normal for residents. Doune I think similar though I don't know it as well. Dunblane has a Tesco and an M&S food and a co-op as well as lots of smaller shops like butchers etc. I think the catchment High for Doune is Callander rather than Dunblane. Then you've got the bigger supermarkets in Stirling, Sainsburys, bigger Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose - everything except Asda which you'd need to go to Alloa for though they may deliver?.

We call the Keir roundabout the snowline as it will often be snow rather than rain just as you hit it but it's rare for snow to close anything. I guess it depends on your budget and house requirements.

Perth is a city (albeit small) so will have most stuff open as well I would imagine but will be a good bit further from the airport.

Oh, also meant to say that the ambulance stations are in Stirling and Falkirk. As for nursing work, I guess that depends on what type of nursing. The big hospital is in Larbert but there is still the care village and lots of other outpatient stuff including minor injuries in Stirling and other local units spread around.

@Gillybum22. I’ve lived in Dunblane for over 20 years. Brought up our now flown the nest family here and one of them is now back living here with their pre school kids.

I can’t honestly think of a single box Dunblane and Stirling area doesn’t tick except it’s not near the coast / beach.

What’s your budget? Houses here fly as soon as they hit the market.

Happy to answer any questions.

@Gillybum22 as well as the big hospital in larbert, people from Dunblane also work at hospitals in Perth, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh etc.

Madderty/St Davids, Comrie, Muthill - the villages around Crieff would suit.

Stirlingshire would tick all your boxes. Dunblane, Bridge of Allen, Callender, Dollar. Even Stirling itself (Riverside area is lovely). Approx 45mins straight down the M9 to Edinburgh airport. Beautiful scenery and good schools. Look carefully at secondary schools and catchments.

Have you considered further north up in the Highlands? Scenery is stunning and if you live in Inverness you can easily day trip to the likes of Ullapool and Gairloch on the west coast. There's an airport in Inverness and Raigmore hospital for employment.

Oh my goodness so much to digest here. My husband is thinking kids as teenagers coming out there house without having to drive with some great adventures around them in the mountains and hills. (He grew up in a tiny village and loved it) I was brought up in Glasgow, then devon (very big seaside town) so we are trying to find a compromise! I will look through all these and go through them with him. I think a visit is needed soon, to physically look around x