Thinking of moving to Cardrona. Anyone know anything about it? Mobile reception, broadband, buses etc. Also, what’s that Pump and Jump track like?

Thanks in advance!

It’s awfy close to the river!

Awfy close to the river. So close that some of it was flooded earlier this year. Mobile reception is ok, broadband is useless and buses are every 30 minutes.

Buy a boat.

Quite a big dance scene there, I think, something about swingers?

Excellent! Thanks for all that… Looks like I’ll have to get the boat ready and plant a Pampas grass in the garden then… 🙂

Would that be into one of the big houses, or the ‘social’ housing?

tbh Its in the arse-end of the world, and unless you work there (or Peebles) its a long commute, esp. in winter.

Commute is under an hour to anywhere in edinburgh.

Aye, if you leave the hoose before 6am.

nah – 7am.

Don’t want to be going over the Granites when it’s icy though, eh.

It’s ok if you keep it chapping on in the ice.

Cardrona is a bit of a dump though, no decent riding near by either. Mate of mine has been trying to sell his flat there for 3yrs now without luck.

Cardrona is a bit of a dump though, no decent riding near by either.

Um…No decent riding near by? You jest surely? Though the resale time of your friend’s flat looks credible 🙁

Yes he jests. Lovely views too.Pump and jump is OK for a mess around – have you not been to Cardrona ?

I know it to pass by but no idea of what it’s like to live in. Seems very nice but there’s a negative vibe around it from a number of sources. Main worry is broadband at the moment. I need at least 1 meg. Could be tricky.

Difficult to live any closer to Glentress than Cardrona, and it has it’s own bike track. And it’s on the doorstep of Peebles. All ticked boxes! Still gets flak though.

far as I can tell (not looked closely) – houses are ok, but in a flood risk zone. No local services – shops, schools, etc. so everything has to be done by car / bike. This will mean that there will be no sense of ‘community’ – whatever that is. Ghost town diring the working day too.

Have you seen that movie Edward Scissorhands ? Thats what the houses remind me of. Big places, but yuck yuck yuck uniformity, but I guess some people like that.

I get the impression that if you don’t get your bin back inside within 5 mins of the truck coming you might get lynched. It’s that kind of place. And the Peebles locals hate the place… there was a nasty campaign in the local paper to stop kids from Cardrona being eligible for the court in the yearly ritual parades for the Beltane.

Oh dear – well my friend lives there – she likes it. Golf course does get flooded. Not all the houses are big. They do have a community centre and they are working on the community thing. There is a small shop which serves coffee and cake!

There was some resentment when it was first built but think that has mostly gone now.

Depends if you like new houses i guess.Not sure about the broadband thing – will ask her when she comes back from hols 🙂

🙂 Blimey! Well, thanks all for the info.

And I thought the resentment felt in Innerleithen about Peebles was sad…

I’m in Eddleston just now and to be honest it seems a very similar place, despite the unbearably snooty bar/restaurant! I do agree that it is a lot like Livingston in the hills though. Having said that, its existence is a reality so it seems a bit mad not to take advantage of it given current prices.

Lived there on and off for 3 years. Based on that I would rather live in peebles or innerleithen. Place I stayed had no mobile coverage inside and broadband was slow. Nice local shop with good bacon rolls. Cycle route via the old railway line and a sheep field to glentress. Would not want to commute to edinburgh with any regularity.

there was a nasty campaign in the local paper to stop kids from Cardrona being eligible for the court in the yearly ritual parades for the Beltane.

Not sure I coud live in a small town, no matter howw good the riding was!

broadband is slow, approx 1 Mbps and the mobile reception indoors is poor. Lots of houses for sale and have been for some time, buyers market. Not much there in all honesty, need to drive everywhere pretty much. was snowed in last year during the winter.

I’ve lived in Cardrona Village for six years so here is a quick summary pros/cons:
Pros
* great biking nearby + it has the pump track
* beautiful scenery
* nice and quiet, great place to raise a family + has playground for kids
* has a village shop for buying essentials
Cons
* Broadband is average 0.7meg/mobilephone coverage isn’t great
* 6 mile round trip to Peebles
* Some streets you never get to see the residents and there is a bit off an elitist attitude at times
* daily commute to Edinburgh can be a pain, however park at Straiton and commute the rest on your bike.

Re flooding, yes the golf course floods every year but I never felt that my house has been at risk. Bus is every 30mins, kids have school buses they catch every day.

I’m happy living there but if you have a choice, go for Peebles instead.

Really interesting 😕

So it’s nice, but has some slightly unusual (almost ethereal,)drawbacks. Pretty much as it looks then.

Thanks all. I have a lot of thinking to do!

Prophet2, ever see the Cardrona cat? Only saw it once from my inlaws conservatory…was a pretty cool sight!

Cardrona is a bit of a dump though

George, what does that make Walkerburn then???? 🙄

I think George was being ironic. That would make Walkerburn top of the list of Best Places To Live Ever.

It’s got a monster? Excellent! Cardrona is back in the running!

The Creature of Cardrona

This will make Glentress much more interesting.

Saw it one winters day on the hill behind my inlaws house. There was the neighbours domestic cat halfway up the hill and then at the top of the hill just at the tree line was “The Cardrona Cat”. Whiteish big and with a bushy tail. was able to use the heighbours cat as a kind of scale for size. Only saw it once but I don’t think there have been any recent reports……but you never know!

Never seen that link before Mangatank…that’s the beast alright! 😀

Pity I couldn’t find a clip of the original video.

[Father Ted voice] “this one is closer, the other one is far away”

Looks like a itty pitty white puddy cat to me 🙂

A lot of the small town aggro mentioned here exists in just about every Borders town/village in my experience. Might have something to do with the small gene pool. Growing up near a small Borders town in the 80’s/90’s there were running battles every weekend, loads of folks from other towns would congregate and kick the crap out of each other. Every Monday there was at least one shop with a window boarded up. You were lucky if they didn’t talk to you.

The reaver spirit, eh? It was like that everywhere in the 80’s. West Lothian was a war zone at times. From my experience, Peebles, West Linton and Eddleston are as Genteel as you like. Mind you, West Linton had/has some highly unusual (and pretty undesirable) activity going on there, and has a very colourful recent past. To say the least! 😯

Yeah, I’d think most places are better now than they were back then and the likes of Peebles has probably got more ootsiders than Peebles born n bred which must be a good thing.