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Personally I do not really like Aviemore but thats based on nothing much concrete.
Or too much concrete?
Aviemore suffers from the same problem as a lot of highland towns. Plenty that’s good about the location and nothing in particular that's good about the town. Nothing that's really wrong with it either, its just that the town itself is a bit meh.
Not moved to the Scotland but I did move from a semi urban area to countryside
Local isolated communities can be a bit odd with outdated views on the world and social skills.
what are the local services like ie hospitals/ schools / bins etc. Getting access to trades people can be near impossible
Whats your career ? I’m lucky that I work in the NHS and my pay is the same nationally. If I wanted to change jobs though that would be difficult as not many jobs and certainly not many well paid jobs
L going to contradict myself here. Living somewhere nice doesn’t mean you make the most of it, it almost becomes normal therefore you end up not going out in it and appreciating it as much as you used to
However there is not one week where I don’t drive back from work, take the dog out for a walk , or go out for a bike ride where I don’t pinch myself and think how lucky I am to live where I do
I would try and avoid a village / town that has a big tourist influx. I don’t think they are great places to live
Aviemore suffers from the same problem as a lot of highland towns. Plenty that’s good about the location and nothing in particular that’s good about the town. Nothing that’s really wrong with it either, its just that the town itself is a bit meh.
1960's and 1970's architecture has a lot to answer for...
Mrs_oab and I do discuss moving further north again at some point.. Currently jobs and elderly family in England are a reason to stay in the central belt area.
Once both of those are no longer as central to life, we're planning a plot and a house build likely the Aviemore - Moray - Inverness triangle. And it's not for the character of the towns - it's about outdoor lifestyle and services/functional reasons.
Lived on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula for 3 years lots of messing about on boats, biking, fishing beautiful place. I found Fort William our localtown a depressing dump in winter and never went if I could avoid it. Horses for courses and all that. Preferred Oban myself. Winters did me in and I left, still go back every year though.
We moved to the Aviemore area last year from Aberdeen. I loved it from day 1. The kids took a bit longer to adjust to the change of schools etc. I think they are now quite well settled. Initially it was “we only moved here because dad likes to cycle here we hate it”. They like it now they have some good friends. Yes the kids will go to the big city when they go to uni but I see that as a good thing.
You need to embrace winter sports here. Last year I just kept cycling but it’s tough to cycle here in deep winter. Much better to ski. We had -15 quite a few nights here last winter.So for me a well insulated warm house and also good fibre broadband is important.
Schools are pretty good. Kingussie high is a good school a bit too sports oriented for my liking but also good academically. The school bus service is pretty good. Grantown grammar for north of Aviemore Kingussie high for Aviemore and south.
All the villages in Strathspey are pretty good and have pros and cons. For cycling from home I reckon Kingussie, Kincraig, Aviemore, Boat and Nethy are the best. Although Carrbridge is pretty good too.
Elgin? Nairn? Moray coast. Has a decent climate and access to transport links.
Timely.... Had lived in Aberdeen for ~20years then moved back to North Wales in 2021 where I'm originally from. We are seriously considering moving back up for a variety of reasons and our trip up at Christmas will decide it. Fortunately I am still doing the same job so where I'm based doesn't make a huge difference.
Not where we live, but close, I'd recommend looking around Aboyne on Deeside/Aberdeenshire.
Good climate, close to rivers/lochs, very close to amazing riding from the door (some of the very best in the UK), easy access to Cairngorms, multiple ski areas within an hours drive. Community hospital in the village too.
Elgin? Nairn? Moray coast. Has a decent climate and access to transport links.
The local mountain biking isn't great although there's great stuff with a bit of driving. Good for road and OK for gravelly stuff though.
Not where we live, but close, I’d recommend looking around Aboyne on Deeside/Aberdeenshire.
Good climate, close to rivers/lochs, very close to amazing riding from the door (some of the very best in the UK),
I was well impressed with the riding around Aboyne this summer.
As someone who grew up in the area and went to Kingussie high school, you don't need to live in the village to go there. There are buses that pickup kids from all the way from Glenmore to the NE and past Laggan to the SW (I lived in Glenmore and Aviemore when I went to school there.)
Aviemore is probably better than Newtonmore/Kingussie as you are a lot closer to Inverness (work!) and there a lot more to do in the town. Also don't forget to look slightly north of Aviemore to the likes of Nethy Bridge, Boat of Garten and Grantown. Different school there (N of Aviemore all go to Grantown Grammat school,) but similar with the school busses - don't worry about having to drive kids for miles to the school.
I wish I could give my kids the upbringing I had 'back home' now so if you get the chance go for it.
K
Inverness is well situated for biking. Depending on which side of the city you're on there's The Mast or Culloden/Balloch and Abriachan & Learnie are within 30 mins drive - both great trail centres for kids.
We moved up here last year from a commuter village near Dundee and we're loving the convenience of being in a city without having to really deal with proper city stuff. When we lived up here previously (pre-kids) our favourite thing was being able to get out in decent weather almost every weekend because you have so much within reach. We go to less dramatic places now we've got young kids but even then we're spoiled for choice.
No chance I would ever want to live in a city.
I'm pretty sure wherever we go will have better services than here. I am starting to favour Aviemore because there if we don't live there, we will end up driving there all the time to do things anyway.
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No chance I would ever want to live in a city.
I’m pretty sure wherever we go will have better services than here. I am starting to favour Aviemore because there if we don’t live there, we will end up driving there all the time to do things anyway."
I live in a 'city' now and there isn't much more I can do of the city suff that I couldn't do in Aviemore, but there are a lot of things that I can't do that I could do in Aviemore. You are right about having to keep on driving to Aviemore anyway if you live other places (remembering my parents driving up and down the road from Glenmore to and from Aviemore carting my sister and I about!)
K
Hmmm- there is lots of stuff i can do in Edinburgh that cannot be done in Aviemore - but the question is are those things important to you?
We moved to Forres in Moray from Bristol just over a year ago. Had to buy a house without viewing it beforehand, and we barely really knew the place we were moving too, let alone many people up here
It was a crazy big risk really but for what it is worth we love it up here, and I highly recommend giving it a go, if you are in a position to do so. Only you'll know whether it is something you and your family are ready for.
I don't think so, last time I went to a city was about 6 months ago for work.
I only ever leave the house to:
- ride my bike
- walk
- park run
- go sailing
- go supping
- go canoeing
- take Wolf Cub to school
- go to The Lakes or Wales
- maybe swim at leisure centre
- pub meal maybe once every 6 months
What I would like is a nice cafe (or two) to cycle to and a better rights of way system. Access in England is rubbish and even if you are on a bridleway with kids, you still get scowled at. Whereas as in Scotland nobody blinks if you are riding round a nature reserve.
It was @scotroutes that pointed out that if you don't live in Aviemore then you just end up driving there anyway.
When passing through,I always like the look of Inverness and the surrounding areas.
No idea what the city itself or schools are like,but it feels like it would be a good location for lots of stuff.
<br />No chance I would ever want to live in a city.
Yeah, that's fair enough. Inverness is different to most cities but it certainly isn't Aviemore! With that in mind, Aviemore is in the process of growing quite a lot. If you're not familiar with the plans for the area I think the biggest new development is called An Camas Mor - knowing a bit about that might help inform your choices. I'd imagine @scotroutes has a good knowledge of other planned changes to the town.
I have also often thought about this! I also work in a hospital. The other consideration we had is transport links, so we can visit family and also have holidays in not-Scotland. I'll dig out what we came up with..
I live 6 miles outside Aviemore. It’s a wee bit of a busy place for me in peak tourist season. I do drive there for shopping etc but not for outdoor activities. If you want a quiet life you may be better in one of the nearby villages. If you want to walk to the shops and don’t mind putting up with the throng of tourists in busy season then Aviemore is a good option. I do know some folk in Aviemore who would like to move out to the quieter villages so just keep that in mind. Only you will know what will work for your family.
When I was first thinking of moving here it had to be Aviemore and in fact I did live there for six months. However I now prefer being in a quieter village nearby. I have also realised that anywhere in the Strath is fine as it’s so easy to get about by car or bike and all the good bits are spread about. So one day you may go south to Laggan trails, the next day a pootle around Abernethy forest, then around Badaguish or High Burnside and so on.
What would the commute to Inverness ( hospital) be like?
It’s about 45 minutes by car to Inverness. Raigmore is pretty close to the A9 so you just go through 2 or 3 roundabouts and you’re there. There is also a bus that goes there from Aviemore but the buses are a bit sporadic at times.
No idea what the city itself or schools are like,
The city is fine although it's really a city in name only. It's small but it serves a big enough area that it's not a cultural desert.
The whole schools thing seems to be much less of an issue in Scotland than in England. Kids mostly go to their local secondary and mostly seem to do ok.
What would the commute to Inverness ( hospital) be like?
There are also likely to be people to car share with.
It might not be so important to you but we chose Inverness in part because its relatively handy for both the Cairngorms and the North West. If doing stuff from the doorstep is more important to you then the Aviemore area is a good shout.
Raigmore is at least on the right side of the city from the south and it's a proper main road. However, in winter, it's got a proper high pass at the Slochd, frequently closed with snow or ice and tricky if you're a shift worker travelling at unusual hours. Plus there's no realistic, viable alternative route if it is closed by weather or RTC.
I really struggle to understand the attraction of Aviemore; it's crowded and noisy, there aren't that many useful services there that you don't also see in a dozen other locations and the riding is not any better than several other sites too. Access to other sports is ok, not brilliant but everything will be busy in the better weather. It's a honey pot; with good reason, sure, but still... There are many, much better places to live both nearby and elsewhere in NE Scotland, including Deeside (Aboyne area) and all those Speyside and Moray towns and villages already mentioned. Even Aberfeldy would be a lot better than Aviemore in my mind. But that's just my opinion.
The whole schools thing seems to be much less of an issue in Scotland than in England. Kids mostly go to their local secondary and mostly seem to do ok.
A very good point.
Scottish education system is different, so do read up on what that means for your kids.
Do also remember as long as you move here more than 2 years before, University fees are paid...
Nothing practical to add, but just commenting so I can find this thread again as it's got some useful info...
Sorry highlandman, but I live in Nethy and work in inverness, on shifts, and have to disagree. I've only known the slochd closed a few times, and most of those by accidents. Its rare enough that its not a disaster to go over the Dava instead, I've never known them both closed at the same time. I am a big believer in snow tyres tho'
Carbon footprint aside I dont think its a bad commute, I see it as a buffer between work and home, and a bit of quiet time, on nurse shifts you won't be troubled by traffic. The buses are bloody useless to a nurse, train also.
I used to commute to the centre of Inverness. Usually 3 days per week. It was OK but tedious. Further than I used to commute in Edinburgh, but a lot less time consuming. One of the things that always struck me about Inverness was the number of adults and kids commuting around the city by bike.
We did consider Inverness when moving too, as we already had friends there. However, we were coming from the leafy outskirts of Edinburgh and just came to the conclusion that Inverness was still too much of a "city" for the change we wanted. Thankfully, in the 10 years we've been here we've not needed to drive the 30 minutes to Inverness to look at bathrooms, though I realise that's obviously a major factor for some folk.
As @Spin says - access to the West Coast opens up a bit, cutting 30-40 minutes off the time that we take to get there from Aviemore. You've also got easier access to the Black Isle (mainly road riding), Glen Affric area and the Far North.
Invernessians do like to go on about how much traffic there is, but they've really no idea 😉
I always think of Inverness as the hub of a wheel - its easy to get to the cairngorms, the north west , the east. Weather bad on the west? Go east, and vice versa. All roads lead to Inverness.
Is it a city? Yes, but not really. Its a town and growing but the bit you'll inevitably visit is pretty small - Basically the longman (HIS, builders merchants, DIY stores etc etc), cinema and eden court. But I used to live on the outskirts, all I could see was mountains and sea.
It's a personal view but I didnt really like road biking from town, too busy for me.
Driving the A9 in winter is ok, youll want winter/all season tyres and it will be closed occasionally by snow but will open up very quickly. I used to regularly commute to the central belt, I only had an epic once in many years, blizzard and drifts.
yeah, traffic in inverness is just appalling. Its basically the M25. Honestly.
traffic in inverness is just appalling. Its basically the M25. Honestly.
😀
From a west coaster point of view the traffic is a big factor in getting to and from Inverness by the A82 in summer I love the winter because there are much less tourists
I wouldn't do an aviemore inverness commute especially before and after a long nursing shift. Not cheap either.
I'd find it soul destroying but few folk are as against long car comutes as me. Moving to somewhere for a better quality of life and committing to a commute like that seems wrong
Clearing a car of ice every winter morning and sitting there in the cold while the car heats up?
As above if your better half will do care homes it opens up a lit more work
Dumfrieshire gets significantly better weather than the highlands. It can even be noticeably warmer than Edinburgh and dryer than Glasgow
I'm not convinced this is true. The weather in D&G is neither one thing nor the other. It's wet west coast.
It might be warmer than further north, but in winter that's not really an advantage. Give me snow covered pistes ( on off pistes) frozen Neve gullies, ice climbing and beautiful snow any day over dreich rain covered hills.
Also confused by people saying Aviemore is expensive.... I'm amazed at the awesome houses available in the area for not much money......
Quite an issue for folk finding jobs up here is then finding somewhere to live. Madame follows a couple of 'move to Highlands' forum type things and they are chock full of desperate people, and also plenty with very high expectations of what their money will afford.
Houses that used to be left for the sheep now command serious folding.
I wouldn’t do an aviemore inverness commute especially before and after a long nursing shift. Not cheap either.
Doesn't seem to bother some folks, I know quite a few who do it in both directions.
Houses that used to be left for the sheep now command serious folding.
So what's a reasonable spread of properties that you could get for, say, £250k?
(I'm day-dreaming, but let's assume I've retired so no need to work/commute and no kids to worry about. Let's also assume midges don't exist on the "eastern" side of Scotland and the weather is less rainy there).
Cambelltown had really cheap houses last time i looked. Otherwise you need to get away from places that are an easy commute to big towns to get bargains. Hint. You dont want to live in Cambelltown
I don't see working in care homes as a likely way to improve your quality of life 🙂 We do need people that will do it tho, not easy when there are much easier jobs paying more.
The commute of 37m takes me about as long as it would take to cover a few miles in my old life in London. It is bad for the planet (and pocket) but as we have jobs 35m apart one of us has to drive and I dont mind. Actually I prefer winter, it can be beautiful and on the occasions when the weather is truly bad it feels like an adventure just getting there. I've never missed a day due to weather, have been 3 hrs late on one occasion tho.
I visited campbeltown last year and it's lovely. But living there? Ho ho ho. I saw a band in tarbert years ago that did a song called '99 miles to campbeltown', which is basically all you need to know.
35 miles each way is £ 30 a day roughly at the 45p a mile the taxman thinks cars cost.
200 days a year is £ 6000 per year.
Even if you only count the additional cost its £3000 a year
Just to get to work
I agree about care homes. I worked in them but maybe its a compromise worth making?
Having lived nearby, I would prefer to live in Nethybridge, Carrbridge, Boat of Garten or Grantown rather than Aviemore itself - it just gets too busy in summer.
Something to be wary in many Scottish towns is that poverty and deprivation sometimes isn’t too far away - places are too small to hide their sink estates, so worth spending some time in your desired area and sometimes the smaller towns and villages can be nicer.
Don’t let stories of anti-incomer sentiment put you off - there are bampots everywhere - some of the worst reactions we’ve had from other incomers. We were reflecting on the diversity of our local community in comparison to where we used to live in Hampshire - what I do like here is that people are more judged in terms of who you are, rather than what you do, the house you live in or the car you drive. Many people in rural Scotland also recognise the need for economically active incomers to boost school numbers and offset the number of retirees and an ageing local demographic.