Alternatives to Edinburgh

[Doughnutholes]

Has anyone moved out of Edinburgh and found somewhere with as much enrichment but it is somehow half the price? I’ve lived in the west of Glasgow for many years and grew up west coast but I’m not sure I’d go back there. Could consider Southside Glasgow. Would like somewhere with good clubs etc for kids and opportunities for meeting other adults.

I used to live directly opposite the Kelvingrove but def think the National Museum in Edinburgh tops it. The Burrell is one of my favourite places to go too. Never really rated the modern art gallery in Glasgow and love the national portrait in Edinburgh and Surgeons Hall!

oh wait it is turning into Glasgow v Edinburgh. 🫣

Never really liked the stereotypes associated with both cities. Both have been great places at different times of life.

@Doughnutholes do you have kids? What size is your flat? We are going to buy a 3 bed in the center for when we have kids

Got a 2 bed flat. Definitely couldn’t afford a 3 bed house in Edinburgh:) children yes!

I currently stay in very central Edinburgh but would love to move have you looked at the likes of Ratho Village etc So still Edinburgh but not.
Watching this with interest

Yes- have been having a look at that kind of spot as we do like the climbing wall. I’d consider slightly further towards Livingston as well.

North Berwick. Good school, nature in abundance, regular reliable train and buses.

Very very congested roads. Antisocial behaviour , tourists absolutely everywhere wheeling their suitcases around so you can't walk down the street. There are more tourists than people who live here it seems. Everything is VERY expensive. Angry, stressed people are much more obvious. Public services are in an absolute nose dive.
weeds growing on the pavements and public areas unchecked. Pot holed roads but also CONSTANT roadworks everywhere all the time.
Building new ugly prison blocks on every bit of green possible.
It's not at all the same as it used to be. Independent shops hardly exist either .
Police disinterested and don't act on much.

Expensive and property gets snapped up very very quickly.

If you want somewhere like Edinburgh don’t go to Livingston!
Are you in the centre of Edinburgh? Will your budget stretch to more peripheral Edinburgh like round the Gyle/Maybury/Currie/Queensferry etc? They are all quick to city centre by tram or train. You will certainly be in easy reach of swimming, climbing, brownies, cafes

I assume you've considered Stirling and Perth?

Yeah Queensferry was in my thoughts as I love it there. Concerned about overcrowding when it comes to services. But could afford something bigger there.

Gyle, Currie and Maybury I find quite depressing places! Remind me too much of where I grew up, just houses upon houses with not much else around.

Have you thought about Linlithgow? Lovely area and short train journey to Edinburgh. As someone who lives in West Lothian Linlithgow is expensive but should be much cheaper than Edinburgh prices

Whatever they like

peebles is very much the biking place, glentress.

swimming clubs, gymnastics, horse riding, science clubs, martial arts, then of course rugby, football, tennis, hockey. Big emphasis on outdoor activities and sports.

plus theatre, shows, reading, book festival, common ridings.

Sounds lovely, maybe I will pay a visit.

What’s your budget / aim for a house and we could help narrow down options, OP. There’s no point us suggesting North Berwick if you’re looking for a 4 bed for £350k for example. Linlithgow can also be expensive due to good commuter links.

Similarly towns like south Queensferry are expensive and built up. There’s also not a huge amount to do if you live there. If budget is tighter could consider commuter villages like Winchburgh, which even though it is built up is more sprawling than SQ, and you can bus into Edinburgh or use park and ride at Ingliston if you’ve a car. You could get lucky somewhere like Portobello or the better parts of Musselburgh?

Have you looked at Paisley? It's close to Glasgow but significantly cheaper. Largest town in Scotland so invariably it has it's good and bad areas but the nice parts are really very nice. You could go wider Renfrewshire, of course. Houston, Howwood etc but the more semi-rural you go, the more the prices increase.

Paisley has:

Good public transport links to get into Glasgow or Edinburgh (via Glasgow)
Braehead Shopping Centre close by
Increasingly nice pubs, restaurants and cafes
Good options for kids clubs - PACE drama club, for example
They put a lot of effort into their Halloween and Xmas festivals/offerings.
An Annual Food & Drink festival at the Abbey.

I have older teens and I much prefer when they go into Paisley on a night out than Glasgow City these days. Besides the West End of Glasgow, I hate when they go into town. Its wild there these days.

Are you in the Colonies? That would be very hard to leave...

Peebles is lovely and I’ve considered it myself. I’ve heard the bus into Edinburgh is unreliable, not sure how accurate that is though.

I think budget is the starting point really. I live just on the edge of edinburgh and wouldn’t change it, but I don’t have anything just around me - all a bus ride away (but plenty of open space around and a short bus ride). North Berwick and most of East Lothian is really expensive now. Depends on where you work too? If you know your budget and what you’re after, I’d play around on espc etc and see what you should look into properly. For us it wasn’t worth the tradeoff for location but we did move from Morningside to where we are now as we wanted a garden and more bedrooms so took that trade (we still miss all the stuff on our doorstep though!)

This is it. I think for me I would need to move somewhere that felt like it had more access to nature to feel it would be worth it. Somewhere like Peebles in the borders could have the right feel.

I agree East Lothian doesn’t feel much cheaper than Edinburgh now. I do like Dunbar but the more affordable houses are new builds.

Im not in the colonies but similar vibe I guess.

I might visit some places in the borders.

East Renfrewshire is really near some family and they do have more affordable housing there and links into Glasgow culture- so this feels like a possibility though going back west isn’t first choice. There are lots of nice green spaces there I think.

Personally my priorities were bedrooms for my kids, some sort of garden, lots of buses, a short commute and an affordable taxi journey if I wanted a late one. So basically drew a 3 mile circle around my work. My husband pushed me to look at houses in Midlothian but it didn’t feel right to me and I would have hated relying on infrequent buses so we stayed in edinburgh itself - but an area far more affordable than morningside.

Dunfermline? Good trains and buses, lots of history, decent schools and services, cheaper housing and a nice beach at Limekilns. The Glen is really pretty and the museum is great.

See this is what I’m unsure about. In theory that sounds really good but I suppose it is car or bus to shops/a decent cafe? At the moment I can walk out my door and be on the water of leith pathway and enjoy being able to nip in for a coffee somewhere. I don’t really go into the town that much so I like being somewhere self sustainable.

The more I go on the more I’m convincing myself to stay put.

In that case I think Queensferry is the one that would tick your boxes. Cafes and restaurants to walk to, local independent shops, nice walks and a short train or bus ride into the city centre.
You’d just need to look at the older more central part or towards Dalmeny rather than the sprawl of new housing that’s popping up

Yes - plenty of space around us but nowhere to walk for a coffee (well, nowhere to pop out for a coffee anyway). It honestly sounds like you really like where you live so I'd look at how to make your flat work better for you. Ruthless declutter? Clever storage? There are loads of ways to make a smaller space work well.