Looking to move to Balfron, is it nice?

[mnie]

Hello! Wondering if anyone is from the Balfron area as we’re looking to move more rural and trying to find out as much as we can.

Currently live in Bearsden, I work in Milngavie and DH in Glasgow West End. We have a DD aged 1.

We’d love to move out to a rural village and looked at Strathblane/Killearn but found houses are few and far inbetween or crazy expensive which led us to look a bit further afield.

We like the look of Balfron and the school setting really appeals to us. We just don’t really know it so wondered if people have any experience (positive and negative) to share.

What is it REALLY like to live there?

Are people friendly?

Is it a good place to raise a family?

All feedback welcome, thank you!

Balfron is a nice village, my nephews grew up here and my sister only moved a couple of years ago.

If it’s an active rural lifestyle you want you might not find it enough, there’s some forest walks/trails but you’ll need to travel to get access to lochs/hills and good mountain biking etc..

It’s not that far to drive to Loch Lomond/Munros, but to before neither is Milngavie.

Always seemed to me like it was a bit of a halfway ground, not as outdoorsy as aberfoyle or Callander but a bit more suburban than you would expect.

My sister found most of the people ok, it’s fairly split between generational villagers and Glasgow commuters/people who moved there through choice.

Proximity to Glasgow means less poverty than most rural villages.

There will be a huge cultural shock coming from where you do though, the culture/demographics of Balfron are very different to Glasgow.

Don’t mean one is better or worse than the other incidentally but although your life will still be in Glasgow your child will be rural Stirlingshire.

School had a fairly good reputation, no idea what it’s like now.

Anything else is just your standard urban bs rural argument, more freedom when a child but less as a teen, great if you fit in growing up but hell if you don’t etc…

I have family who live there and love it, but it wouldn’t be for me. Too much out in the sticks for me and I hate the roads.

Thanks, appreciate both your responses!

My family live closer to Stirling so it is a halfway house for us between them and family in Glasgow. I grew up in a different rural Stirlingshire village and that has always been where my heart is hence the appeal.

You probably know more about what life will be like than any of us then.

Scotsnet tends to lean quite urban/suburban I think, but that lifestyle isn’t for everyone.

I remember reading about McLaren High just after it won the award in the Times, really wish my kids had that experience of kayaking and mountain biking with their school.

Seems to me a much better place to grow up than a pressured Glasgow suburb.

Good luck!!

You live near me and Balfron is so close by - get up there and have a look! Have a cup of tea in the cafe and take a wander about. The school has a good reputation too.

However that road into town isn't always great and if you and your other half are both working in Glasgow then I don't see why you'd not just stay put in Bearsden. As your children get older there is much more for them round this way, they can walk to see most of their pals - if you're in Balfron the school catchment is much larger so you'd constantly be driving.