Scottish Borders or Dumfries and Galloway for move from England?

[KievLoverTwo]

Hi all,

I am picking the brain of my almost Glasgow resident friend for opinions, but I thought I'd better ask more folks.

The OH and I would like to move to Scotland. We had kind of settled on the Borders as location (after seeing it on the telly - how very original of us) - firstly, because my OH has always been absolutely infatuated with Scotland, and secondly because we don't really have anything tying us to England anymore. We've been looking at houses for 14 months as well, the English prices are just still far too high for our needs (400-450k for something half decent - due to disability we need around 1200+ sq ft and at least three bedrooms, two of which have to be large doubles).

So, I just wanted to get some opinions on some pros and cons of either location, really, please.

We don't need schools, nor public transport. We don't need a massive town for shopping near us, I'd actually prefer somewhere with a decent butcher, fishmonger, grocer etc, or access to a really decent farm shop within an hour. As long as we can have freezers in a garage they don't even really need to be all that close to us. I think I'd prefer not to be desperately isolated and remote at this point. We've spent 2.5 years being remote in rentals and I do miss people a little bit. His office is in Manchester but he's not all that fussed about what sort of faff it takes him to go in, because it's so infrequent (he tells me Lockerbie has a direct train to Manchester though).

It would be nice to have a little garden but nothing vast.

We're trying to keep costs down because a) we're old and this is our first house, we need to seriously work on our pensions - ages 48 and 42). I don't and can't work, so whilst he earns high, there's one income for retirement planning. We will move with a small amount of savings above 10% deposit*. He's going to get whacked hard for extra tax in moving to Scotland (which I've no problem with, I'm just trying to be pragmatic about the future).

*not moving is not an option; the pair of us are borderline going postal in our current rental and he absolutely will not rent again

We found a house we like in Peebles, I've seen a house I quite like in Coldstream, and one that would just about do for a few years in Kelso (which would have a v low mortgage, but also zero garden and the ground floor is maybe a bit too snug). Then we happened upon D&G whilst looking at where my mate lives, and I can't believe how much cheaper it is than Borders.

So I guess I'm really looking at views of why one location might be better or worse than another and opinions on locations please, really.

I'd happily go further North (and we might end up in the highlands in 10 years' time), but I'm trying to be realistic: there are vast weather differences (we're in NW England), and we should probably ease ourselves into the cold gently! Plus he can always say to work 'well I can get to work quicker from X than I can from our rental' if they object to him moving to Scotland. Which sort of has to be a semi consideration for now, because his industry lost 300k people last year, and are due to lose 150k this year.

Thanks for any and all thoughts.

(I suppose I would be most comfortable with a max budget of 300k due to the tax differences)

Oh, and I loathe new builds with a passion, if that's of any relevance at all :)

(not very good at being brief, am I? Sorry! Thanks again)

Peebles or jedbrough would be good that us.

Also Kelso.

Avoid Galashiels like the plague.

Kelso - fine
Coldstream - pretty town, small town mentality.
Galashiels - avoid like the absolute plague, rough as.

Not as familiar with the others.

Don't be taken in by low house prices, they'll be low for a reason.

Galashiels is a dead town, run down, rough, with a drug problem, it's depressing, grey with a poor and closing down town centre.

It may be 'on the up' on paper but serious avoid.

Even going there briefly is a depressing experience.

Berwick:

Pretty town
Run down town centre
Lots of incomers so not 'are you from here'
3.5 hours to London on the train
45 mins to Edinburgh
East coast main line so well connected.
Good but small arts scenes
Operatics, choirs etc
Great cheap recently refurbished gym
Good bus links
Houses not bad prices
Near to miles of clean quiet beaches
Fabulous heritage / walled town.
Major supermarkets - Asda / Tesco / Morrisons etc. All out of town with plenty of free parking.
25 min drive to college valley (stunning) cheviots for hill walking
Short drives to other gorgeous villages.
2 miles from the border.

Kelso is lovely, people are nice,has all the shops you need and countryside outstanding. Dumfries is also lovely but more city like unless your on the outskirts

If you are looking at Perthshire I would look at Kinross, smallish but enough amenities and has Loch Leven nature reserve on it's doorstep for your husband. Close enough to Edinburgh Airport or for picking up the LNER nearby in Perth or similar.

Take it you don't live in Burnfoot then.....

Sorry, it may be my home town originally but it does have a major drug problem, take a walk past the pharmacy in the morning and see druggies waiting in the queue for their 'special' medication.

Are Police Scotland still permanently based in the High School "Patrolling the corridors" or did the kids behavior eventually turn less violent?

Sadly it's not on the way back up yet, it's very much continuing down. Remember what a great Saturday could be had in Channel Street back in 80's but now the shops are a cannabis farm (Woolworths), pay what you can afford for food charity, betting shop, sell your gold, various charity shops and nail bar. Even the £ shop closed the other week.

Oh, better not forget the tatty murals painted on the walls and the tapestry building that wasted millions £'s of tax payers money.

Depends on your budget but I'd bite the bullet and go for The Highlands. We receive much better health care up here than down South, lots going on, beautiful weather and airport 15 mins drive away.

Are you Inverness? I wouldnt class caithness healthcare as better than south if you have a big problem, you will end up having to travel to Aberdeen or Inverness so highlands health care very much area dependent.

I'm in Perthshire.

Kinross side has better airport links. Crieff side has better rail links.

I would look at Dunning, Comrie, Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Auchterarder if Perthshire is a possibility.

Depends on your budget but I'd bite the bullet and go for The Highlands.

I really don't think we can at the moment. 350,000 in his industry were laid off last year, 150,000 are anticipated this year. Whilst it's unlikely he will be, he still has that underlying paranoia of being able to access a City; whether London, Manchester or Edinburgh, until we have more ££ in the bank and have paid of a decent chunk of equity.

I don't think at an age where access to good healthcare needs to be a major concern re: location, just yet.

@TerriPie @ManchesterBeatrice I really am heeding your warnings, but he still wants to see Galashiels with his own eyes anyway.

Both of us have lived in various not too prestigious areas over the years, and whilst that wouldn't be my first choice, what Gala does have is a lot of hills and very pretty countryside around it, plus a bunch of useful stuff I wasn't expecting to find there such as a Booker and TK Maxx.

I very much doubt we'll move there, but he can make his own mind up.

We'll be up next weekend and staying in Kelso. I imagine the contrast between the two places will be enough for him to decide Gala's a no-goer (but he is a sucker for beautiful countryside).

Don't be taken in by low house prices, they'll be low for a reason.

Yeah. There's a seriously massive, luxurious second-hand new build for sale in Coldstream at the moment. It would blow the budget, but to get the space we need and an easy life with an easy house to clean, it's seriously tempting. It's only on for 15k more than they bought it for 5 years ago.

But Coldstream seems to have a grand total of about 15 shops, which I just don't think is enough. So I'm writing it off as a destination.

Sadly, the same seems to apply to Interleithen, which I'm a bit gutted about, because its surrounds are breathtaking.

Shame about Innerleithen, It is small, but the setting is indeed gorgeous.

If you can manage it, do visit Peebles. It has independent shops and also supermarkets and the river is lovely. I doubt if the population is any more elderly than anywhere else in the Borders!

Have a look at Cadrona, it's a 'posh' village in between Peebles and Innerleithen, I had forgotten about that.

Houses there are expensive for our area but nothing like posh houses down south.

I seen what you said about shops in Gala, TK Maxx etc but they are on a decline at the moment, in the last few years Clarks, Poundstretcher, Halfords, Pandora, Dorothy Perkins/Evans and £1 Shop have all closed.

Innerleithen people drive to Gala for supermarkets. It’s a 40min drive up to Edinburgh southern edge too where loads of the out of town retail is.

I’ve been reading this thread with interest & am curious as to how he managed that.
Reason is we’ve been wanting to move to Scotland, the Borders. We’ve visited & stayed there more times than I can count & now have more friends there than here. We currently live remotely on the very North Pennines so used to wind & rain!
But the problem we’ve encountered is that we own our house outright. We have savings but not enough to buy the sort of house we’d need without selling ours first to get the capital. I have looked into this, questioned various estate agents & have always been told that we would need to have the cash ready to go before making an offer, or a firm mortgage agreement & we’re too old now to get a mortgage both being retired. Renting was suggested to us as a bridge but that’s out of the question, no rental property would allow, or have the ground, for the animals we keep.
I suppose as you are renting now you don’t have this ,what seems to me, insurmountable problem.

I’m originally from the borders. Peebles is lovely. There are enough shops/ pubs / restaurants and it’s only 24 miles from Edinburgh spits easy to access transport links. . No train but fairly regular buses. Innerleithen is up and coming due to the mountain biking. It’s smaller but only 6 miles from Peebles.
No way would I live in either Galashiels or Hawick. They are sad and run down.
Melrose and Kelso are very pretty but haven’t lived in those parts .
Dumfries is a dump but I would agree that Castle Douglas and Kircudbright are nice places. Kippford is stunning but no shops there. I personally think the scenery is better than in the borders but it definitely feels like you’ve stepped back in time .
Perthshire is nice - as is Stirling/ Bridge of Allan. House prices might be dearer

Oh goodness, you really are stuck between a rock and a hard place, I am so sorry.

So, what I know about their move: they moved during lockdown; they put bids on 17 properties before one was successful, most were 10% or more above.

The house was cheap, circa 110k iirc.

They're sort of towards Glasgow but not all that near. Far less in demand than the Borders.

They're early 30s.

They've lived in and about those parts for 22 years.

I do remember seeing on several occasions 'it seems to be about who you know', but on what basis, I don't know. I just don't know how it works.

I really hope you manage to make it there.

The OH is also worried about the nightmare of moving in Scotland when you already own a house, which is partly why we both want to get it right first time.

But then I come across things like this, and I'm full of confusion again:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/scotsnet/5047242-missives-not-yet-concluded-2-days-before-move

So - chains DO actually exist.

I seen what you said about shops in Gala, TK Maxx etc but they are on a decline at the moment, in the last few years Clarks, Poundstretcher, Halfords, Pandora, Dorothy Perkins/Evans and £1 Shop have all closed.

This got an 'aaaaah' of deep appreciation when I told the other half. Thanks @TerriPie.

Something has to be seriously wrong for a Poundstretcher/£1 shop to close, imo.

It’s a 40min drive up to Edinburgh southern edge too where loads of the out of town retail is.

^^ very useful info, thank you!

You can offer on a house subject to selling yours. Or subject to mortgage approval.

Just as a general point

Thanks.

Why is it that most articles and/or forum posts, when you google them, say 'it's not a good idea to buy a house in Scotland [because the process is so quick?] if you already own one; you're better off moving into rented after selling'

???

People have to move, there's a finite (and increasingly small) number of rentals. I find it hard to believe people just buy their forever home and don't move again, or all move into rentals in between houses.