Moving to Scotland – Best Town?

I’m not sure what the issue is with the tourists.

Tourists go to those places because they have a lot of facilities, walks, places to ride, paddle, ski etc.

Tourist money also helps keep the local pubs and bars and shops open. There are many small Scottish towns and villages that don’t even have a shop or a bar because there isn’t enough local-only trade.

A double edged sword are the tourists. Yes they brinbg money into places and thus make them better to live in but also drive up proprerty prices and clog up the towns. In the 27 years I have been in Edinburgh the massive increase in tourism has created huge pressures. this summer was fantastic for locals with a quiet city centre. Usually I do not go into the centre at all for 6 months of the year because its so crowded its unpleasant but without the tourist money Edinburgh would not be such a nice place to live

Edinburgh area or Inverness area for sure, main two areas I’ve lived and tick all your boxes.

tjagain
Full Member
Airdrie? coatbridge? Not too many tourists

Hmm, maybe throw in Gourock or Paisley as well, you’ve always got Glenifer Braes and Ferguslie Park!

 Yes they brinbg money into places and thus make them better to live in but also drive up proprerty prices

Yep – hence my point in the earlier post about comparing Aviemore house prices with the likes of Kingussie.

Stirling, Perth, Crieff – for all the balance access to the rest of the country and good facilities close by given by everyone above. I liked Aberfoyle area but I was on get back to living in quieter areas forty something thing at the time. Guess it depends on how quiet you want to go. Advantages of villages are you can turn up house with garage rather than flat. I found it was mostly flats rather than houses to rent.

+1 for Inverness

It ticks every one of your boxes.

We moved here 4 years ago and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

MTBing, great road riding, beaches, Forests, small city with plenty of social life opportunities.

Anywhere along the foothills of the Ochils. Some of the villages can be a little bit rough

Aye, Dollar and Muckhart are scraping the barrel… If you don’t have 70 plate Range Rover, they’ll whisper about you at the coffee morning.

If life is as easy as “anywhere with an internet connection” at mid twenties. This is an enviable position. What about “getting the hell out of Dodge”

Chamonix?

“Brexit” yadda yadda ya.

Switzerland?

Perhaps you’ve done your homework and Scotland is where you want to be, and that is cool, from personal experience and the trajectory the UK is on, I’d be looking at pulling the cord and get going before you fall into the schooling/mortgage trap.

*Disclaimer* I may be old, bitter and twisted though.

But I do have homes in various locations and no county is without issue, so I can speak from experience.

If I had to to do it again and had to pick a place in Scotland for the reasons you cite, and in answering the OP, you’d find me in Auchterarder. Not my personal choice, but I feel here would meet your requirements.

Dunblane for 15 to 20 years, then Dunkeld.
Maybe Perth as a compromise, the extent of easily reachable enduro trails is phenomenal! (Dunblane resident who would like to retire to Dunkeld)

Lake District. Better than Scotland if you can work from anywhere

As a Lakes raised kid now in Scotland, I’d disagree.
Yes the nature is stunning, and there is fabulous hills, good paddling, great riding. But the cost of living is very high, the whole area can be deeply frustratingly busy, and it’s not that big a place.

No right to roam is a dealbreaker for me

Very true, and spoils a lot of lakes paddling (and more) when combined with a ‘getorf my laaand’ attitude.

I am currently (still) in the Lakes. We had planned to move back to the Stirling area (ideally a bit west) but couldn’t get what we wanted for our budget. Then got very keen on Pitlochry/Loch Tay area… lots of looking and just kept hitting the same issue.

So once our sale completes we are heading up to the Inverness area! Hoping to get a date next week with a bit of much needed luck!

All three of the areas we looked at would work well for you, Edinburgh too (lived there a few years). Good luck with the search though – we are also free agents with no work to tie into other than what we are setting up ourselves, and it is kinda fun and exciting… other than having almost too much choice! We also looked hard at Oban and Mull which may also be worth a look yourself.

The obvious place for a mid-20s rider would be Inners, loads of like minded individuals, world class trails and a really good forestry/rider relationship. Watersports…. Not much close by, St. Mary’s loch is the closest thing. So you’d be going all in for riding, the hill walking is excellent too.

I’d also take a look at Aberfeldy, close to Dunkeld for riding, good kayaking, Perthshire glens close by for walking, and not far to get into the Cairngorms.

One thing to check out is internet speed and coverage – if you need decent connectivity check out some postcodes on BT.com.

We were looking at Perthshire, now we’re tending toward the Borders, and Selkirk. Property is very affordable, loads to do locally – we cycle, road and off road, as well as kayak whitewater, and motorbiking, enough local facilities to live, Hawick is 15 minutes away for bigger shopping.
Bands are just over a hour away in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The only downside is my parents are getting elderly, and we’d be 5 hours away.

A68 and then edinburgh bypass every time you want to go to proper mountains would do my nut in though.

Dalwhinnie? Its twinned with Las Vegas so must be a fun place to live

I live in causewayhead, just beside stirling/bridge of allan. Lots of people on here from the local area.

Big university so loads of young folk about. Great riding from your door and the proper Highlands are less than 2 hours away.

View from my back bedroom window for inspiration, Dumyat (the hill in the mist to the left of the big monument) is great on the bike. Few high profile locals have carved out some amazing trails over the years and proper natural tech riding is everywhere.

View this post on Instagram

#nofilter #viewfromhomeoffice Even better view this morning!! Busy, busy day ahead……

A post shared by Steven Murray (@steve_muzzy) on Sep 17, 2020 at 11:42pm PDT

Another Dunblane resident here who would think about retiring to Dunkeld. Decent pubs? Not so much in the Stirling area. Probably better than Dunkeld on that front though. Love the Comrie/Crieff area too. I’d say the Stirling area would be the best bet given your age though. Mebbes move North when you get older.

Fort William is awful, straight out no. If you only need an internet connection I’d go to the Alps.

As someone who lives near Fort William, I think Argee makes a good point. Make sure you pick somewhere which doesn’t have too many tourists. Even if that isn’t on your radar now, a bad decision will impact your quality of life. Queues, slow driving, crowds of people in shorts and sandals getting eaten by midges and ticks, fly tipping camping kit and cassette toilet contents, roadside camping next to your house, people parking on your driveway, people knocking your door asking if you are a B and B, compulsive campfire scar creation, zombies who have switched their brain off for the fortnight, people who think the Scottish Outdoors Access code applies to all powered vehicles, ask me how I know, I could go on…….wouldn’t want to live elsewhere though!

Where do you live then Marin? Rivendell?

+1 for Inverness

It ticks every one of your boxes.

We moved here 4 years ago and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

MTBing, great road riding, beaches, Forests, small city with plenty of social life opportunities.

This is high on my list of places to check out, never been there so need to see it, but it does seem to tick all the boxes. That or the stirling-perth area.

Whats the riding like close to the town/city? Im aware you’re not far from the proper highlands, or Aviemore, but would like to know what its like for a quick after work blast.

Very true, and spoils a lot of lakes paddling (and more) when combined with a ‘getorf my laaand’ attitude.

Yes, agree with Matt and tj here. Lakes paddling is nowhere even slightly near as good as Scotland.

Lakes is beautiful and twee, and I do in fact aim to move there at some point, but mainly as a compromise which still gives me access to the glory that is Scottish whitewater ( assuming they don’t dam it all )

If life is as easy as “anywhere with an internet connection” at mid twenties. This is an enviable position. What about “getting the hell out of Dodge”

Chamonix?

“Brexit” yadda yadda ya.

Switzerland?

Perhaps you’ve done your homework and Scotland is where you want to be, and that is cool, from personal experience and the trajectory the UK is on, I’d be looking at pulling the cord and get going before you fall into the schooling/mortgage trap.

*Disclaimer* I may be old, bitter and twisted though.

But I do have homes in various locations and no county is without issue, so I can speak from experience.

If I had to to do it again and had to pick a place in Scotland for the reasons you cite, and in answering the OP, you’d find me in Auchterarder. Not my personal choice, but I feel here would meet your requirements.

I have livid in the alps before, the life style is fantastic, but the cost of living associated with it is astronomical, and house prices are insane, unless you want to live a couple hours down the valley, but then that sort of ruins the point. My thinking for Scotland is many reasons, I truly think its one of the most beautiful countries on earth, the open access laws, cost of housing and I generally find the people everywhere very welcoming and friendly. Not the kind of reception you get somewhere like France. Plus no one is scared of going out in the bad weather, which always winds me up about most English people haha.

The scenery is amazing, and I think you could become more a part of the fabric of a place like the Lakes than you could in Scotland.

How did you reach that conclusion?

+1 for Inverness

It ticks every one of your boxes.

We moved here 4 years ago and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

MTBing, great road riding, beaches, Forests, small city with plenty of social life opportunities.

This is high on my list of places to check out, never been there so need to see it, but it does seem to tick all the boxes. That or the stirling-perth area.

Whats the riding like close to the town/city? Im aware you’re not far from the proper highlands, or Aviemore, but would like to know what its like for a quick after work blast.

I’ve pm’d you @mtbdan387.

Top riding spots close to town marked below:

mtbdan,

I think you can probably get a lot of what you are looking for almost anywhere in Scotland – even Saltcoats is closer to the mountains than the Midlands and will win out on the house price front! Its really a case of coming and working it out for yourself. Aviemore or Ft William might seem great during the summer for 2 weeks, but in horizontal rain with 15 hrs of darkness Inverness of Perth might be more interesting.

I think you also need to consider if this is likely a long term thing (10+ yrs) or a 2-3 yr thing. Of course plenty people switch between those as life changes, but if you are thinking settling down, having kids, elderly parents, changing jobs, then that might influence your decision. I’m not sure what “a riding scene” is not what people did in their 20s that would make Inverness or Stirling more appealing than Dunkeld or Peebles.

If its short term I’d want to be somewhere amazingly convenient for doing the things you enjoy. The only thing to be aware of is decent broadband is not a certainty everywhere, in fact any broadband is not a certainty. If it was long term and I was thinking beyond the central belt (as you seem to be) then I’d be very tempted to be somewhere close to Inverness – airport, reasonable sized hospital, intercity trains, plenty of social facilities, potential for schools without needing huge bus journeys, A9 dualing improving the route south… close to cairngorms, not too far to west coast mountains and ullapool for outerhebrides. I’m not a city person, but I’m definitely not a fan of siting in a car for an hour each way to get to a supermarket, eye test or dentist appointment.

Oh, and keep in mind that whilst it’s not a huge difference for most people, you will be paying income tax at Scottish rates, if you are lucky enough to be in the 50k type salary range the difference is enough to factor into your planning…

West is best.

Excellent scenery, sailing, has the best mountainous bits further up.

 Aviemore or Ft William might seem great during the summer for 2 weeks, but in horizontal rain with 15 hrs of darkness Inverness of Perth might be more interesting.

LOL – it’s not quite that bad 🙂  I did make the point earlier about temperature differences though. It’s markedly colder here in the Cairngorms that at Perth or Inverness – or, indeed, any of those towns along the Moray Coast.

I’m definitely not a fan of siting in a car for an hour each way to get to a supermarket, eye test or dentist appointment

Yep – when we were looking to head North those were the sort of factors that swung the decision away from the North/West coast.

I did say dunkeld or pitlochry earlier, responding to your wants, but personally, it would be Aviemore for me, it really has everything I’d want.

Saying that, once the bairn is up and away, we’re for moving to Arran.

Work that one out! 😆

Oh, and keep in mind that whilst it’s not a huge difference for most people, you will be paying income tax at Scottish rates, if you are lucky enough to be in the 50k type salary range the difference is enough to factor into your planning…

I wish that was going to be a problem, maybe one day haha. Thanks for the heads up though, I’d assumed it was the same as the rest of the UK

Rivendell?
No idea about that but if you’re going to pick somewhere get an attractive town. The Fort does not hit that requirement. Visited many times, used to live close by. Beautiful location though.

Hawick and Selkirk are dirt cheap for a reason.
They are dire.

Saying that, once the bairn is up and away, we’re for moving to Arran.

Work that one out! 😆

Closet gravel fan, always knew it.

If I was 20 something though there’s F all chance I’d be heading to Arran. Or anywhere in Ayrshire for that matter. Stirling probably ticks the most boxes IMO, close enough to Edinburgh and Glasgow that you can still enjoy either if the mood takes you and close enough to everything else (Trossachs and Loch Lomond to the west, Ochils and Lochore to the east, everywhere else north and south). Dunblane is nice but more of a settled life kinda town IMO.

Dunblane is nice but more of a settled life kinda town IMO

Oi, I resemble that comment. 😁

You should take a look at Banchory, the whole Deeside area is littered with trails, even more so in the last 6 months. Scolty, Aboyne, Ballater, Drumtochty, Pitfichie, Durris, Bennachie, they all are within 30 minutes of Banchory and with the new Aberdeen bypass it makes escaping South very easy now. Access to the Cairngorms is ideal, about 45 minutes away and it is a lot quieter than most of the hotspots.

Oi, I resemble that comment.

I spent 8 years of my life there, when we could we all escaped to Stirling!

I would vote for Stirling area, I live in bridge of Allan but the riding in Cambusbarron is fantastic as well. The joy of riding from my door is great.

Plenty of cheaper options in the area to suit budget and taste.

I moved up from Reading 5 years ago and it’s the best thing I ever did.

Fibre broadband in Stirling, close to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Highlands. I can be at my parents in Watford or Torridon in almost the same time.

As mentioned you won’t regret moving to Scotland.