West Lothian/Fife villages?

[northerlygreyhound]

DH and I have lived in central Edinburgh for several years but neither of us are originally from Scotland. As such, we aren't very familiar with many of the outlying areas.

We love living in Edinburgh for how walkable and lively its neighbourhoods are, but would like a bit more green space.

We both largely work from home but I need reasonably quick access to the airport and rail connections for semi-regular travel, and DH goes to the office in Fife a few times a month.

Without these constraints, I think we might look at places like North Berwick or Dunbar to the east, or Dunkeld or Pitlochry to the north, but these are too far in the wrong directions. Are there villages/towns closer to Edinburgh that have relatively dynamic, walkable town centres and a bit of character?

My sense is Linlithgow or Dalgety Bay/Aberdour/Burntisland might work, but Dunfermline or Livingston might be too built up and suburban-feeling, but as I say we haven't spent much time in these places so would welcome any suggestions.

We're in a similar situation re thinking of moving to a new area and took a minibreak there earlier this year. We don't have friends or family there so it was a good first step

Linlithgow is lovely and great travel connections both east and west, beautiful countryside, loch etc

Would Midlothian work? Dalkeith/Eskbank might meet your criteria of character and the Borders rail line runs through for train links to Edinburgh and onwards to airport/Fife

Parts of Livingstone really rough and tired looking now

(don’t live there myself but many family members in both places)

Linlithgow has a good town centre and is walkable. South Queensferry is very popular for this reason. Both easily commutable to Edinburgh and Fife and easy for the airport. A bit further afield, Stirling (check out the Riverside neighbourhood) and Kinross are popular. Kinross High School is a big draw.

Dunkeld (1hr from the airport) and Pitlochry (more like 1hr 20) are very touristy and rammed in the summer. The A9 is a pain. Bridge of Earn is south of Perth, very pretty and much easier to Fife or the airport.

I’d say North Berwick is the wrong side from what you say, although it’s lovely.

Cupar?

I'd give Dunfermline a monumental swerve - it's being built out, thousands of new houses without the infrastructure to go with the increase, the town centre is not great these days and traffic is a nightmare.

Kinross or Milnathort?

You haven’t said what your budget and house size requirements are - there’s a vast variation in prices, depending on the town or village you like. Livingston is fairly cheap (for a reason) and somewhere like Bridge of Allan can be £££.

Carnock is beautiful.

Check out Limekilns and Culross too.

North Berwick is half an hour from Waverley and has (usually, when there's no strikes) 2 trains an hour. Property prices are sky-high but if you're moving from Edinburgh....

I am in Dunfermline. There are some lovely wee pockets of nice properties in the town centre and around the public park and everything (schools/public transport/shops/gym) is walkable if you are there. However, the retail “high street” is pretty crap and if you need to get to Edinburgh by car it’s often hopeless hopeless.

Kinross is nice and you can get the electric bus direct to the airport from there. Good high school too.

I really like Burntisland, it’s got a really good little high street with interesting shops, a nice beach, train station. The downside to it (apart from the fun fair that is there all summer) is that high school pupils have to go on a bus to Kirkcaldy but if schooling isn’t an issue, I’d look there.

That's fair! Not trying to be cagey, just unsure of how much weight to give house size/schooling - we've been TTC for a while unsuccessfully so kids may or may not happen for us. For budget, I think we'd rather find an area that really suits us and buy a smaller/less nice place than a grand house in a so-so area. But as a general benchmark, it would be great if £500k could buy a 3/4 bed with a decent garden.

After Edinburgh prices, I'm hoping things get a bit more affordable outside the city, but I also appreciate that a lot of things on our list would make a place generally desirable and hence expensive!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, lots of places I hadn't heard or thought of before!

That’s a fair budget. It’s the bloody bridge that’s the problem if you have to get to Edinburgh airport from Fife or have to get to Fife from East Lothian.

I love Fife and spend a fair amount of time in the East Neuk, but I only go to Edinburgh for social reasons so traffic not such a concern.

I know that Cupar and Leuchars have train stations so maybe St Andrews or Gaurdbridge could be an option. I know someone who lives in Anstruther and commutes weekly to London via train from Leuchars.

Better now Queens Crossing is open

I agree with places like Culross. It’s a pretty town. I have friends in Burntisland and Aberdour and are all very happy there. They use the train to the city and the gyle where they work. Kinross mentioned above is a good suggestion as you have the electric bus direct to the airport and then to St Andrew square. That’s a pretty place with the loch.

Actually, most Fifers would argue the QC has somehow made bridge traffic worse! I can’t speak for weekdays/commutes but at the weekend it’s regularly got queues 2 or 3 miles into Fife for no apparent reason other than volume of traffic. The bus is often a better bet as it sails down the bus lane and over the old FRB which only takes buses and taxis now.

Really? It's been quick every time I've used it- maybe I've just been lucky. Pretty bridge.

Sadly yes. It’s really disappointing! (But it is indeed lovely looking)

What about going towards Dunblane or Doune?