Moving to Inverness from Lincolnshire

[WorthyReader]

Hello, I am looking for some advice and views. We are looking at relocation to the outskirts of Inverness from Lincolnshire. My parents already live up there and we have visited a lot on holidays prior to the moving. We love the area it is beautiful has anyone else done this move with young kids and how did they find it?
I think I am overthinking as my main reason to move is to be closer to my parents. I have a 7 year old and 2 month old girls my oldest daughter hates the idea of moving schools and away from her friends which makes it hard. But k feel the work life balance will be better up there.
Any advice? Is there enough for kids, days out etc

He is actually pushing for it more than me. His parents are in Nottingham but he would move to Inverness tomorrow if he could

OP have you been up for an extended period of time in the winter? Winter days are short and it's really cold. We often have snow. On the subject of work in schools I can assure you their is plenty but it may not be the roles you currently do.

Thank you everyone, whilst scrolling through houses my daughter asked what we were looking at and we were honest and had a conversation. I was pleasantly surprised that she was quite open to the idea now.
we are used to the weather having visited all times of the year and I am not a summer person so it is fine by me. Going to the beach when it was snowing was a lovely experience ☺️

Have you narrowed down areas? It's maybe worth asking to see around schools if your up again. The beaches are amazing up here. We have a good life up here and live in a lovely community with kids who play out together loads and mostly lovely neighbours.

Well then it sounds like you’ve given it a lot of thought and you’re all keen. In that case I would say go for it! It will be an adventure.

No we are open to suggestions. That is exactly what I would like an area where the kids play together, lovely neighbours etc. my parents are in a village near Beauly but I think we need more central Inverness but not sure where. We are going up next week for my sisters wedding then heading back up at the end of August and would like to have a look round then.

is there anywhere you recommend or places to avoid?

I'd honestly look at Ness Castle or the newer houses being built behind Tesco Ness Side, you are a few minutes drive to the beach at Dores or Aldourie there.

Its also an estate that is just housing, so there is no reason for people to drive through it unless they live there so its nice and quite. There arent any shops but the Tesco is just at the bottom of the hill.

You would be right next to the Aquadome for swimming and lessons, Highland Rugby Club, Bellfield Park(Tennis, a brillaint play park, an outdoor pool for the two days a year its warm enough), Eden Court and the Ness River for lovely walks. I have heard people say good things about the Primary School. Your secondary school would be the IRA (Inverness Royal Academy before anyone panics...) its got a good subject offering at the moment in the later years.

You would also be on the link road, which would get you into town and along to Beauly quite quickly. The A9 and town get just as busy to be honest when the tourists arrive.

Just posting a quick note that you may not have considered that your husband will have to retrain as the law is different ins Scotland. It isn’t just a straight transfer as it would be in England and wales. He will be at Tulliallan for initial recruit training. He would also do well to check pension implications

I would suggest Ness castle to. It's a lovely area with lots of families and a fantastic primary school and good secondary school. If I could afford to move I would buy there.

It's in a great location for the city and Dores beach.

I really don’t like Ness Castle, it feels so dark and gloomy there.

If you want a new build look at Tullochs - probably the Fairview Heights and Parks View developments. The Maples is ok but it’s actually not really very close to anything.

I would look in Slackbuie/Culduthel/Holm/Lochardil area.

If you want to be closer to your folks I’d look at North Kessock, Conon Bridge or even Culbokie.

Make sure you use a local solicitor and they’ll be able to guide you on the offers over.

Thank you, it’s just a transfer course he will need to do for 3 weeks. It’s done locally now as well apparently

No worries, it’s obviously changed from when I looked into it

It is so far away from anywhere else! I also find the A9 pretty scary so would not like living somewhere I was reliant on it to get anywhere. Personally i like having access to shops, and big places like ikea and most importantly an international airport, so could never live somewhere small and isolated like Inverness. Plan life for your dc being teens - it happens fast.

I live 55 miles from Inverness. I've never been in an IKEA so I wouldn't miss it. As for airports we just travel down to Glasgow or Edinbugh.

I suspect many of those commenting on the lack of shopping/transport/facilities/IKEA have never lived in Lincolnshire! We don’t have much of those down here either😊

I’m used to not having access to ikea or many shops in Lincolnshire. Peterborough is not great despite being a city.
what is it that you think teens will need that Inverness lacks? Genuine question because others keep saying something like that but not giving suggestions as to what is missing.

I agree, I used to live down in Berkshire, Surrey l, Hampshire border and that would have been to big of a change to go from there to Inverness. However we moved to Lincolnshire near Peterborough and I don’t think we have anything here that Inverness doesn’t.

We've never had a lot of stuff that many people take for granted like Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Ocado etc
You don't miss what you've never had.

Christ if you think Inverness is “small and isolated” don’t go to places like Ardnermerchan!
Secondly I travel regularly on the A9 (all the year round) and I don’t think it’s any more scary than plenty of other roads of its ilk and at least it has regular stretches of duel carriage way unlike the notorious accident ridden A75.

I think you are in the minority with those opinions tbh.

Inverness IS small, there’s no denying it. Just because it’s bigger than Ardnamurchan doesn’t make it a big place, that’s bonkers to insinuate. And while Inverness is “easy” to get to compared to further north or west, it is still four hours away from the major cities and it is isolated. It’s so easy to feel trapped here. It doesn’t help that people can be so cliquey and the fact there’s really not much to do.

If you live here you’ll know fine well that if the A9 is closed then the supermarkets (excluding Tescos) can’t get deliveries and there’s no milk on the shelves. If the weather is bad enough that the trains can’t run, then Tesco doesn’t get deliveries either! Look how badly the Highlands was affected by the CoOp hacking a few months ago - it wasn’t just the Skye and Lewis CoOps, even the shelves in Fortrose and Beauly were empty.

And yes the A9 is objectively an awful road to drive on. I used to be up and down every week and it’s shit, particularly in the summer (and I have also driven all around the UK..!).

Inverness is large for Scotland and a city or town of similar size in England would typically have far less going for it

the A9 may be bad but I would take that over the m1 or m25 any day

it is remote in that it’s hours from other major conurbations but you wouldn’t need to be travelling to other places all the time to live

it depends on where you come from how you will find it

if you must have ikea you may be stuck, if you want to buy something you probably can find what you want from more local stores

The parks development is lovely but the be careful with the primaries in this area. One in particular has real issues in it. If you want to pm me OP please do. I am happy to give you my experience of local schools.

I am surprised by this feedback on Ness castle all the families I know that live there really like it and think the primary is excellent.

It’s a big development so people obviously do like living there! Like I said it just feels so dark and gloomy to me and I didn’t like being surrounded by trees. Plus there’s the fact they are going to be building there for a few years yet and I much prefer Tulloch developments to Barratts.

When you say there isnt much to do, what is missing? A few people have said that yet no one has clarified what they feel is actually missing so would love it if someone answered that

Just what people say about Peterborough!