Aberdeenshire

It depends what you're used to and what your interests/expectations are!
Distances are fairly long and facilities can be fairly scarce. The riding is great, particularly around Deeside (Aberdeen west to Braemar).
Further north toward the coast is pretty flat and you might find yourself travelling for decent trails. This time of year you can ride till 10pm with no lights - different story in the winter though!
You can be in Aviemore in about 2 hours or Fort William/Torridon in 3.5 hours for some amazing natural trails.

The shire covers quite a large area, maybe need to narrow it down a bit

I grew up there, living in Westhill, which is near Aberdeen rather than being further out in the country. It's pretty nice I reckon. I tend to associate the area with rolling countryside more than mountains. There's a bunch of castles and stone circles and other places to go walking. More recently I've realised there's a few decent mountain biking spots in the area too.

It'll feel cooler than down in England but as it's on the east of the country it isn't a particularly wet area. The summer can be bright, even when it isn't as warm as you'd maybe expect it to be in the sun.

People not from the area will generally assume it's impossibly far away and at least one step beyond "proper" civilisation though. You'll probably get called a sheep-shagger by people who find out you live there!

Well I'm currently just outside of Hull, so I'm used to travelling for decent trails - I can ride out to the Wolds from the door, but it's an hour or two drive to the Moors or the Peak.

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">In terms of facilities we're not really that demanding, although having a couple of takeaways / restaurants in range is a bonus. Access to bouldering also a big plus. </span>

As to location in the shire, at this point no idea! If the role stays home based and I'm only popping in once a month (job is based in Aberdeen) then pretty much anywhere within an hour or so is fair game. Living in the Cairngorms would be literally a dream come true.

This is all long term thinking, obviously dependent on me getting the job and liking it enough to want to move up there...

Id say you would want to be around Inverurie area IMHO. That will let you be close enough to places like Bennachie etc and close enough to the Grampian mountains.
If you go further to the NE, it is flat and will have to travel for trails unless you are on the Formartine-Buchan Line (old railway) - goes from Aberdeen to Peterhead/Fraserburgh.

For Road Cycling, there is plenty of quiet roads in the NE area to cycle upon, and lots of little villages. Houses in the NE (further away from Aberdeen going North will be cheaper). It will be quiet if you go rural. However you can get a decent little house with some land reasonably priced if thats a dream of a smallholding/The Good Life

Can be in Aviemore via Huntly and Granton on Spey easily on main roads in a few hours too.

Downside i found was that Aberdeen was the only main centre for shopping, cinema, theatre etc

Yeah Inverurie looks like a nice spot - in the right direction for trails, but not too far from Aberdeen. Looks to be a decent rail link too, which will be important when MiniMonkey gets a bit older (I don't want her to feel isolated, I grew up in a village with two buses a day and I don't want her to have that experience).

I love it. Grew up in central Scotland, lived down South a few years (Oxfordshire, Hampshire) and then moved up to Aberdeenshire about 14 years ago. We're on the Garioch/Formartine border if you look Bruneep's map. Original plan was stay for a few years and maybe head back to the central belt. That plan's been scrapped - it's fantastic here.

For outdoors, it's great. Mountain biking, you're spoiled for choice. There's tons of stuff within an hour of Aberdeen in every direction (well not East, it's wet there!). There's Deeside as above - but loads as you head North and South as well. There's also tons of walking, rivers to paddle on,...

Weather - cool but dry. Windy though.

Some folks criticise Aberdeen for lack of culture - you'll not get the same quantity of bands, shows etc. visiting as some of the bigger cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow,...). There's (more than) enough for me but if you hope to be seeing a new musical every week, you'll be disappointed.

Schools, transport etc.. I'm sure there are better and worse areas but we've been very lucky. Happy to discuss more if you've specific questions.

Swift edit -

Yeah Inverurie looks like a nice spot – in the right direction for trails, but not too far from Aberdeen. Looks to be a decent rail link too, which will be important when MiniMonkey gets a bit older (I don’t want her to feel isolated, I grew up in a village with two buses a day and I don’t want her to have that experience).

I'm a couple of miles outside Inverurie and concur!

Awesome, thanks for the responses. There are a lot of ifs at the moment, but I'm definitely reassured that if I do manage to get it then it's a place I reckon I'd like to live.

I had a look at live music venues, looks like it'd do me - I manage about a gig every couple of months and there's enough to fulfil that.

Moved to Aberdeenshire about 11 years ago. I like it, I appreciate it even more now I have a young family. The only hassle is getting to other parts of the UK. It also means that its a hassle for family and friends to come and visit.

Aberdeen city itself is not my cup of tea. Few ok place for a pints and stuff every now and again.

Winters can be a bit of slog if your from the south. You get used to them.

Riding is pretty good around here and ever expanding. seems to be getting better for families as well.

To answer to your question though, or what I think is your question. If I only had to be in the office a few days a month... I would probably not live here. I would look at the boarders or the likes of Northumberland. Better connected to the rest of the UK, family friends with good riding and nice countryside.
Then 2-4 hours on a train and or a cheap flat in Aberdeen is what I would do.

I would say in ABZ's defence, we saw a fair amount of bands in the (old) AECC, Music Hall, Lemon Tree etc. Also the HMT Theatre for my opinion has fantastic show and great variety/turnaround. The new P&J Live is attracting a far few acts.

Inverurie itself is a lovely little market town with little boutique type shops and the train station to get you into Aberdeen (or beyond).
The new AWPR also lets you get south quickly too if you need to without going through Aberdeen itself, and in Inverurie, on the right side for the Airport.

We lived about 15 minutes away from Inverurie for a few years while I was daily commuting into Aberdeen. Different times on so many levels.

Inverurie has pretty much most things so you don't need to trek into Aberdeen on a regular basis.

Moved to Inverness about 6 years ago with a change of job (which I could do from anywhere in the Highland / Aberdeenshire area especially with working from home permanently now so could have stayed put.)

I'd take the Inverness area over anywhere in Aberdeenshire.

I'm in Laurencekirk, so in the southern end of the shire. Logistically it's good. I have a rail link and I am two minutes to the A90 Aberdeen to Dundee road. Roughly a half hour drive in to both city centres (although 99% of the time, I'll choose Dundee as I'm not a fan of Aberdeen).

In terms of outdoor access, I have lots of quiet country roads for road cycling.
A nice drive over the Cairn o' Mount takes me in to Ballater and the wider Cairngorms. Front door to Ballater is just shy of a one hour drive.

Waves at Futureboy from Marykirk.

Lived in Banchory for 8 years on and off. Raised children from birth to teenage years there.

It’s not perfect, but having lived in SE England, S Wales, Houston, Paris and now Perth (Oz), I would not hesitate in go back to Banchory. There’s something amazing about the place that makes me love it despite the crappy winters.

Inverurie would be a good choice but housing even for the NE comes with a premium price. If you're after rail links youre sort of limited to the lines north and south of town as Beeching did a great job of getting rid of lots of lines. If I could move anywhere in Aberdeenshire it would be out between Banchory and Braemar but no trains out that way.

I'm in Angus,just inland of Arbroath. An hour's drive to Aberdeen, or shorter train journey. Lovely area, well priced housing with good road and rail access, close the southern edge of the Cairngorms NP, but loads of nice riding an and walking.

Waves at Futureboy from Marykirk.

Waves back.

Lived in Banchory for 8 years on and off. Raised children from birth to teenage years there.

That's impressive.. some kind of time-dilation? Took me over 12 years to get mine to teenage years 😉

I moved from the Moray coast to Fettercairn, South Aberdeenshire, 8 years ago. ( waves at Futureboy in Laurencekirk but can't quite see Duckman in Marykirk from here)

Loads of quiet road riding in the south of the shire from pan flat to hilly as you like, plus plenty of gravel forestry roads, Windfarm access and estate tracks. The best of the MTB riding and the weather is over the Cairn-o-mount on Deeside, but we have Drumtochty/Strathfinella trails on our doorstep.

South Aberdeenshire coast has some lovely picturesque fishing villages, but they spend most of the summer in the haar, so nice to for a daytrip on sunny day but I wouldn't want to live in one.

Mearns academy in Laurencekirk is one of the best schools in Aberdeenshire.

If I could move anywhere in Aberdeenshire it would be out between Banchory and Braemar

You mean somewhere like Aboyne? (where I currently am). It's a great wee town, some nice cafes, a decent CoOp, a pub and a couple of takeaways. Great access to all of the Deeside riding too, and only 50 mins drive to the centre of Aberdeen (or you could get the bus)

You mean somewhere like Aboyne?

I remember when I was very little being a bit confused by references to Aboyne. I would hear "let's go to Aboyne," "they live in Aboyne," etc. Which Boyne in particular were all the adults referring to?

. I would look at the boarders

Lecht or Glenshee?
😉

Well spotted generalist was too late to go back for an edit... 🙂

I'm sure they knew what I meant.

Have friends Aboyne, it’s a lovely place. Used to go up for a week in the summer when I was a kid. It was great. Went up a year or two ago for a weekend to pick up a car and wanted to stay! *it was a scortcher of a day and I wasn’t old enough to go to the Boat when I was there before.

You mean somewhere like Aboyne?

Very much so, I stay about 15 minutes north of Aberdeen and for the same size house I'd have to find another 100 - 150k more. Its lovely out there mind you.

Maybe when the kids move out .....