Moving from Brighton to Fort William

[Rychla]

Hey, me and my family ( partner and two children aged 7 and 2) is thinking of moving from Brighton to Fort William.
Has anyone else done it?
Any recommendations for good primary schools?
Thank you xx

What's the reason for moving 500+ miles away? It's going to be a huge culture shock.

Fort William is fairly isolated. Is that the appeal?

Change of lifestyle. We are very outdoorsy. We travel to Scottish Highlands at least few times per year. We thought that it might be a good change for us as a family. We thought we could rent a place for a year and give it a go.
I love Aviemore but there is a real luck of properties to rent xx

It is beautiful, and looks like a great place to bring up young children; however, once they hit late teens, there is little for them to do, and they’ll be looking to move somewhere else as soon as they need a job.

Moving from Brighton to FW, I suspect you’d feel like you could get quite a lot of house for your money, but if you feel you want to move again later on, you might find the jump back up in property prices quite a challenge.

winter can be tough, and often key routes/trainlines can be blocked

if you own at the moment, could you consider renting for a year to see if you really like it enough in all four seasons to commit?

They have the same issue in Fort William tbf.

Have you spent time there outside of the tourist season? The surrounding area is lovely but FW itself doesn’t have a lot going for it imo and it can be truly miserable to be a teenager somewhere so rural

There’s loads of lovely towns and villages in scotland that are less isolated but still give you easy access to the outdoors and the highlands. I’d have a look at places around Stirling, Bearsden, Lanark etc first personally

It’s not got a lot in it and that part of the country is a bitch in the winter. If you’re into education I would echo the PP who said you can achieve a nice outdoor lifestyle and rural childhood with more options for growth and better accessibility. Start with schools and work back maybe?

Think you might find the same at Fort William. A lot of expensive tourist property with a spread out small residential population.

It'll be one heck of a culture shock.

Perthshire might suit better. It feels like The Highlands but has better travel connections. Glasgow and Edinburgh are just an hour away. Aviemore is just over an hour away. East Neuk of Fife just over an hour away for the beach.

Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Aberfeldy, Crieff, Perth itself?

I like Fort William but it is quite isolated. Also Fort William is wet. It rains a lot.
I'm not sure if rental properties are as easy to come by as you think.
Highland Perthshire may suit you better. It's cheaper and there are more properties available than in the National Park

Thank you so much for all these messages. I will do some research on Perthshire as few of you suggested. I was interested if anyone else had a similar situation and perhaps wanted to share their story or experience. Xx

I wouldn't.

It rains so much. I would go for Aviemore or Inverness, a lot more to do. It is more expensive but for a reason.

There’s a lack of properties across the highlands, I’d be surprised if you could find something in Fort William. It’s very wet there and like the rest of the highlands, little in the way of job opportunities and your kids will likely have to move away for uni/work when they’re older. I would stick around the central belt tbh, or perhaps northern England?

I love the highlands and west coast despite the weather, but really dislike fort william - have you spent any time there? It lacks charm in my view
I can imagine housing might be cheaper/ more available there than in some more picture postcard spots but really, I think it’s so depressing. Something about the dual carriageway that cuts the town off from the loch.
What will u be doing for work? There must be better options.
sorry to any fort williamites reading!!

Lochaber High School used to have a terrible reputation, not sure what it's like now.

Somewhere around Inverness might be a better fit - Nairn?

I just wanted to thank everyone for taking time to share their thoughts. Fort William was just an idea but now, I am not sure completely. We have been trying to find a perfect place to live for a while now. Both myself and my partner work remotely so work is not a problem. We wanted to live somewhere with a good environment for outdoor adventures. We love mountains. We have been searching for that perfect place for a while now but still have no idea of where that might be. Obviously, schools play very important part.

What about Ullapool? It’s further north but is much nicer than Fort William. It has a lot going for it, lovely community.

I'm in Perth and our kids are the same ages, feel free to PM me - it's lovely here, small city with all you need and great access to outdoors. If not Perth itself then perhaps Aberfeldy or Pitlochry might be worth looking at, or south of Perth check out Kinross and the surrounding areas.

My late husband worked in Fersit as a teenager. He used to refer to Fort William as 'an end of the loch dump'.

Having said that, I have friends who live in Spean Bridge and who are very happy with the local schools and the locality in general.

From what I hear it's much, much better than central belt schools.

I also despite loving the west coast really dislike Fort William it just seems to be filled with of tourists in the summer and rain and empty and cold and miserable in the winter. If you can move anywhere in Scotland I struggle to see why you would have Fort William as your first choice! Ditto Aviomore itself. If you want to be near the Cairngorms I agree with another poster look round Inverness or villages around Forres or Elgin, (another place that doesn’t do it for me) weather is colder and less rain marginally better train links and an airport you can easily fly into Gatwick.
I think you’re going to struggle to find a rented property anywhere in rural Scotland at the moment TBH unless you can afford a really high rent.

Just a thought have you looked at Kirkcudbright friends think the school is good, there’s a nice community there admittedly a lot of active pensioners but definitely things going on and if you like outdoor activities there are things to do walking sailing canoeing etc and the countryside is stunning. Not as far back to England as the Highlands either.
Properties are cheap if youre from the south although rentals are like hens teeth.

Fort William does have a huge new M&S food shop which has made it about 100% more attractive! It is a gloomy place. Better than Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh though, the west coast towns are functional rather than attractive. Ullapool may be the exception, it’s well laid out and very pretty.

Another vote for Perthshire here. Lived in Pitlochry for years (still miss it dearly but close enough to visit regularly) and now in Perth. Such a great location. 15mins up the road and you are turning the corner into stunning Dunkeld and I always feel like that’s the beginning of the Highlands and their beauty & adventure.
Also not too far for Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh. My children are thriving at school & nursery here at the moment too.

Perthshire is great, really beautiful.

For ease of access to outdoors, have a look at the East Cairngorms. Aboyne is also lovely, easy access to mountains, Ballater, Braemar. Fewer midges, less rain.
Good schools which go through to 18 years old. Also Banchory,.

Both a fair distance from Glasgow & Edinburgh but very beautiful in their own right.