Best areas to consider for a move to rural Scotland

[BeaEvans]

Hi all,
I've been gathering info for quite a while about places to go and look at to potentially move to in Scotland next year, and just thought I'd ask for some help on here. I've visited a fair number of areas and islands over the years, and lived in SW Scotland for a year a while back - I am unfortunately finding it hard to narrow it down as there are so many pros to so many inland and coastal places. If anyone would like to tell me why they think an area is absolutely brill to live in and why, I'd love to hear it. I'm late thirties, love walking, birdwatching, nature, poetry, coffee with a view, friendly people, and creative/environmental events. I'd be looking to live somewhere more rural but either with a good amount going on nearby, or within an hour train/drive from somewhere that does. I appreciate that's not much to go on re weather/terrain expectations etc, but I'm really just interested in hearing individual views I may not have already considered. Thanks so much in advance.

Definitely the Black Isle! Not an island but a peninsula with its own micro climate. It’s just north of Inverness, has great amenities and a good secondary school.
Theres a pretty good bus service into Inverness which has most things and the train and airport give good access south.
The local beach at Rosemarkie is good for swimming, there’s a golf course and leisure centre. If your’re into art then Cromarty has a good art scene. There are decent cafes too and a great garden centre 😊

Amazing, thank you, i'll check those out. Really like the idea of a decent amount of sunshine without the continued uncomfy heat of down south in the UK too.

Thank you so much!! My Perthshire research begins...

Perfect, thank you, checking it out!

Oh wow, I'd never even considered this, sounds absolutely amazing! Thank you!

Angus - Montrose is a great town or Johnshaven is a lovely village (and actually Aberdeenshire).

East Lothian or eastern Borders. Plenty very pretty cottages in rural locations but with lovely market towns and stunning beaches. Brighter, sunnier and drier than much of Scotland - no midges!

East Lothian is a brilliant place to live. Housing not cheap, but might be doable for you.

Golf doesn’t get in the way - certain places are busy when the Open is on, but apart from that you wouldn’t know the courses are there.

Good weather; good transport; handy for Edinburgh.

There are certain East Coast towns like North Berwick and Montrose which are very much golf-oriented but I think you would be best suited to villages like Crail, Anstruther or Pittenweem which aren't golf-oriented at all.

Think Pittenweem has an Arts Festival in August.

I am rural Perthshire and love it.

I have never been to the Moray coast but I know someone who moved there from south west Scotland. The originally bought their new property as a second home but ended up selling the original home within a year as they knew they never want to leave the Moray coast for SW Scotland!

Can vouch for the beaches in East Lothian. Stunning!

Lossiemouth is a fantastic place. Beaches. Forest walks. Hour in either direction to cities (aberdeen and inverness) and elgin 15 mins away.

Nice coffee places and the rare visit from a walrus!

Are there any work considerations to take into account?

I agree with the Perthshire recommendations and will narrow it down to Crieff, which is not bad at all. The high street has seen better days but there are still nice wee shops and good eateries, the surrounding scenery is lovely and there are lots of lovely places to walk.

It's an hour or so to Glasgow and Edinburgh and half an hour from Perth, 20 or so minutes from Gleneagles train station. I do think it's ideally situated for travelling to just about anywhere. No beach but there is what they call the beach at the river along Lady Mary's Walk.

I'd say it covers everything on your list, but the poetry I have missed (do you see what I did badly there??) because I don't know about that as you can probably tell.

Good luck in your search @BeaEvans 🍀

Borders, look at Melrose. Train to Edinburgh, mid way between Edinburgh and Newcastle. Borders festivals all summer, so much to do.

For Perthshire, I would move to Aberfeldy in a heartbeat.

Whereabouts if you don't mind saying?

I live on the Aberdeenshire coast and I would recommend the area between Dundee and Aberdeen. If you don’t care about being near the see my preference would be Perthshire.

Wont say exactly but between Perth and Kinross.

You could look at East Lothian

How did you find the SW? Did you leave because it was missing something, as that might shape advice. How did you get on with rain and midges? Lovely spots around Kirkcudbright or at the other end Moffat. But the (colder drier) East Coast always gets my vote.

I know Morayshire there is significantly less light in the winter than in say SW Scotland (which I suspect doesn’t tick your must have things local/within 1 hour box and it is largely an aging population). You get more sunshine than SW Scotland and signify less rain than on the west. But when the wind blows it’s bloody cold and when it does rain it really rains.
Im reliably informed Cullen is nice but lots of houses are on a main A road that would put me off. Depending on your budget how about Findhorn? Stunning views very active local community but it is significantly more expensive than other villages on that coastline. Or Forres useful town not particularly picturesque but has shops etc things going on a station going to Aberdeen and Inverness (not very fast trains) easy access to Inverness Airport and Findhorn is up the road and properties are reasonably priced.
Or Grantown On Spey(maybe a bit touristy in the grand scheme of things?) Lossiemouth Hopeman or Port Gordon have all been suggested to me. I admit I favour the coast or being closish to it.

I wouldn't say Montrose is especially golf oriented. There are a couple of historic courses and the town is rightly proud of its golfing history but its not as golf dominated as say Carnoustie or St Andrews.

It has a great sense of community and there is a lot going on - decent arts and music scene and efforts to rejuvenate the high street. Also midway between Aberdeen and Dundee on the train line and with great value property.

Oh and an amazing beach

Another vote for Perthshire! You might like: Aberfeldy, Pitlochry, Crieff, Comrie & surrounding area.

I second this. Not too much rain and no midgies. Definitely warmer and less prone to haar than the East coast.

The lack of daylight in the winter is more than made up for in the summer. It can be light right up to 11pm and is light again at 4am.

Still some reasonably priced houses too,