Hi All
I am looking at relocating with the family and the idea of the Dumfries area keeps coming up. Parents have already spent some time up there and liked it, I’m about to have a trip to have a look around. Obviously the trails are a great plus, we are an outdoor family so the countryside is the main reason. I am currently Cambridgeshire and with the rising house prices, this too would be an incentive. Parents would also be retiring and mortgage free so childcare would be sorted.
Any local knowledge good or bad would be very welcome.
Thanks in advance

you need to chat to @terrahawk I think he moved up thst way

You might find some useful stuff here

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/any-english-people-on-here-who-moved-to-north-wales-or-scotland/

Do you do something that you can do up there? Simple question but quite key as to where you could live.

You want some input from Trekster of this parish, he was very helpful when I was considering it some years ago.

It is nice up there eh? But I ended up near Manchester and I believe it rains even more in D&G than it does here!

Terrahawk is about 50 miles from Dumfries, trekster is your man.

The short answer is that D&G has some very attractive and varied countryside (coast and hills) and house prices are relatively low, but that’s because employment opportunities, services and transport links are much more limited than the more populated areas of Scotland (similar advantages and disadvantages as the Highlands). 70% of the Scottish population lives in the Central Belt, where the major settlements and employers are located.

If you are self employed, have a specific job opportunity in Dumfries, or are not limited by geographic proximity to other businesses, and you can live without the cultural/retail/etc services that you would get in larger towns and cities, then it may well suit you, but Dumfries is the only large town, and its services are very limited compared to even a fairly modest Central Belt town.

I live in Dumfries (as does Trekster).

Happy to help – whadda-ya-wanna-know fella?

Outdoors-wise it’s great, and relatively diverse. You have the Kirkcudbright and the coast (and sandyhills beach) to the west, Galloway forest to the north west (and the Merrick), leadhills (+ ski centre) to the north, Moffat and the borders to the north east, Lake district is an hour away. There isn’t that many places with that level of access to such a variety of places.

Trails-wise it’s also great as there’s the seven stanes, and rideable footpaths.

Otherwise it’s not that great. As with any where are areas to avoid in Dumfries itself (not that bad, but not desirable). The high street is/was very poor but quite good for cafes and pubs. Transport to anywhere else is not great (although Carlisle is close and is cheap by train).

I guess it depends what you look for in a place to live. It’d be a bit of a change from central-ish england

You can support Queen of the South. That’s about all the entertainment there is.

I’m in Moffat. Moved here a couple of months ago from the Borders. It’s ok but to be honest, I wish I’d stayed in the Borders. Weather has been ok of late but sometimes it’s like living under a leaky Tupperware box. Or in a cold steam room. The constant grey does get you down. As others have mentioned, not much in the way of services. On the plus side, lots of lovely countryside around and well placed for riding.

Thanks for the replies, I’ve had a good read of the thread from before. All the times I have been up in Scotland in various places I haven’t experienced the “English” aspect, I’ve never thought about it as I’ve never been like that down here with Scots. Saying that, plenty of folks I wouldn’t want to have a cuppa with round here. It will be a move up for work and the wife will either transfer in her home office role or take a career change eventually. The quieter – rural life is what we want, don’t mind driving to get shopping and not fussed about nightlife – we just want the kids to go to a good school, enjoy the MTB and walking with the collies(which she works too) Castle Douglas is as far away from the motorway I would want to go though.

Take a look at Lochmaben. Not far from the motorway for heading north or south, good primary school and I believe Lockerbie Academy is a fairly good secondary. Mabie and Ae within 25 min drive, 45ish sees you at Drumlanrig or Dalbeattie. You also have a nice 3 mile walk round castle loch for taking the dogs and 3 lochs for messing about on SUPs/kayaks if that’s of interest.

Dalbeattie seems to be a very proactive community and worth a look at moving to also. They’ve just built a new secondary school and are looking to turn the old one into an indoor rock climbing and biking centre. There’s even a custom steel frame builder in town so you could treat yourself…..
https://instagram.com/taloncycles?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1vx2qod9fydry

D&G is beautiful but often overlooked part of Scotland. C’mon up, yer more then welcome.

Home Office? MrsT will soon be retiring from her civil service job, not sure if she will be replaced. Her placecof work is the only civil service employer in town with senior management in Edin. If MrsM4 intends trying for a job transfer you are probably looking at a a commute to either Glasgow or Edin. Dfs is ok but slow via train to Glasgow. For Edinburgh it’s 20mins from Dfs to Lockerbie to catch a very crowded train!! Something to consider when deciding where to stay.
What kind of work would you be looking for?
Zoopla, solicitors property centre and others for houses…
Lots of new PFI funded schools in the region + a new hospital
Locally people see our town centre as being a bit run down, it is but actually no worse than many others. Some people just need to get out of town a bit more….
One of 3 kids cycle clubs in the area:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/pg/Stepping-Stanes-279072188203/posts/

What John says up there about Dumfries town centre. Locals think it’s bad but I went to Hamilton the other day and now have no complaints about Dumfries at all.

New local rider owned swanky high end bike shop and cafe coming to Dumfries soon too so people are investing.

For transport links the eastern part of the county is better unless you are up around Eskdalemuir or Langholm, which are effectively on the dark side of the moon.

Avoid the Annan, Ecclefechan and Gretna areas as they are dumping grounds for thieving schemies from the rest of the county, along with the delightful ex-mining villages of Sanquhar and Kelloholm.

Climate wise it’s mostly uniformly damp with the hillier bits, like Moffat, Eskdalemuir, Thornhill etc. being significantly wetter. I realise that may sound off putting but on a sunny day it really is gorgeous and green here!

Dumfries is a bit meh but not bad and only about an hour from Carlisle by road and, on a bad day, just over 2 from Glasgow/Edinburgh.

If you do move here you can join in the perennial local sport of council bashing as our one does, quite regularly, defy belief on the stupidity scale!

Riding opportunities abound and there are loads of great places for walking, wild swimming, sailing etc. Good bike shops too!

We have just bought a building plot in the Trossachs NP where the availability of super-fast broadband in the glen was the clincher. I guess that in Dumfries you will have better access to broadband.

I’d be tempted to look at Ae village, 15 minutes from Dumfries, or thereabouts, and some awesome riding, both off road, road and (cringe) gravel.

We have seen a few nice places a few miles north of Dumfries. Sounds like there is investment in the town which can only be good, also noted on the Annan and Gretna. I do like the sound of having good trails on the doorstep, good walking and a nice coastline down the road. For us both that is more important than being down this way. We are lucky that we could always stay with the parents until we find what we want.

On the Annan/Gretna front; our business is in the centre of Annan and, while it does get a bad rap, it’s really not all bad.

It’s not the bonniest of wee towns (a bit of an understatement), but it’s well served with indy shops and businesses, and is 15 mins each way to Dumfries & Carlisle by train, and the same to Lockerbie for the northbound tracks.

If handy trails and access to the coast are on the wish-list (and why not, they’re on mine!), the stretch between Dalbeattie & say, Southerness is well worth looking into.

Kippford is a popular spot; within riding distance of the Dalbeattie 7 Stane and some unmarked stuff on the doorstep. Oh, and a couple of pubs too which you’ll find uncharacteristic of Scotland, certainly compared to how England does wee villages.

The prettier spots are in the North and West of the region (tbf, that’s a good general rule of thumb for Scotland in general), but at the cost of access to road & rail links.

D&G’s a great little corner of the world for outdoors/peace and quiet seekers.

Hijack – is there anywhere on the Solway Coast to take the kids for a dip in the sea?

Sandhills is lovely but it’s hard to get more than ankle deep.

Stacey, get yerself to Arran for a week, it has everything, gimme a shout if you fancy a recommendation for a week in the perfect wee house for the family….

Safely? Probably not!!!
Brighouse Bay, Moss Yard area, Luce Bay area…..

+1 for what jamesmio says. Know and work with many people from the Annan area, can’t see what the problem is??? Lots of new housing being built in both Annan and Gretna. The Thornhill area(north Dfs)has been popular with people migrating from the south for some time, schools have always been good.