Places to live in Central Scotland?

If you want to have the advantages of living In Edinburgh but cant stretch to it East Lothian has some little hidden gems. Im not talking about the dumps like Prestonpans or Tranent but little villages like Pencaitland or East/ West Saltoun and the likes. Its also surrounded by great little bike tracks and 15 minutes from the city bypass.

If you want to have the advantages of living In Edinburgh but cant stretch to it East Lothian has some little hidden gems. Im not talking about the dumps like Prestonpans or Tranent but little villages like Pencaitland or East/ West Saltoun and the likes. Its also surrounded by great little bike tracks and 15 minutes from the city bypass.

Twas indeed lovely through some of these villages today, but the thing that puts me right off East Lothian is…..Edinburgh. Any attempt to head West or North and you have to get round it. I suspect I could only take so much of the A720.

DavidB – you don't drive a Renault Laguna and own a dog do you? If so, were you wearing a red hoodie and your wife a brown body warmer today? Again, if so, I saw you!

Twas indeed lovely through some of these villages today, but the thing that puts me right off East Lothian is…..Edinburgh. Any attempt to head West or North and you have to get round it. I suspect I could only take so much of the A720

Indeed. East Lothian is a great option if you're working out that way or in Edinburgh itself, but perhaps not for further afield.

Never thought I'd see bo'ness get votes FOR in a place to live thread. Cool.

Westkipper, where in Bo'ness are you? I'm down carriden way. Do you know about the bike club being set up?

I've lived in Linlithgow for the last 5 years – and love it.
I work in Stirling – which is ok but i wouldn't want to live there.
Linlithgow has 4 trains an hour to Ed, 2 an hour to Glasgow, bang on the M9, 25 min to Ed airport and a really good community, with plenty going on.

Bee craigs Country Park, 5 mins to the South and the Loch in the middle of town.

There are some greats bits of Ed and Glasgae – but i just prefer living out of the cities.

Andy,

Strangely I thought the same about Linlithgow today as I rode through it. It certainly has its nice areas, although you failed to mention Bathgate and Livi being within spitting distance too so that loses it points.

al

Depends what you are looking for, of course. If money is not a problem and you want that metropolitan buzz, Edinburgh or Glasgow are the obvious choices.
I live in fashionable West Lothian, and I've got a nice wee country park on my door step, 2 minutes to a great network of quiet back roads, 20 minutes to the Pentlands and a 30 minute cycling commute to work in Edinburgh. I'm right next to Livingston, which probably has the best cycle path network of any town in Scotland. I can hop on the bike and pedal to the shops or the swimming pool with my daughter on completely traffic free routes.

Normally, there's a lot to be said in the OP's position for the Edinburgh suburbs right on the Bypass e.g. Colinton because they have decent space, are a very fast bus ride to the centre of town for shopping/boozing/whatever, and are right on the Bypass for when you need to drive to whatever worksite you're going to.

But OP has said that he doesn't want to live in a city (even though Edinburgh isn't exactly Tokyo to start 😉 ), so for the sake of convenience and low cost, I'd agree with the consensus and say a village/small town outside Stirling. Doune is supposed to be OK, too, isn't it?

I'd be hesitant to live towards Perth if only because everyone (e.g. on the speeding thread) says that the A7 is a nightmare, and if you're going to be going from Perth to anywhere south or in the central belt, you'll end up doing an hour on it every time.

Of course the really big question would be if there is any way the OP can get a better idea of how many sites s/he'll be working at and where the calls tend to centre on.

>Strangely I thought the same about Linlithgow today as I rode through it. It certainly has its nice areas, although you failed to mention Bathgate and Livi being within spitting distance too so that loses it points.<

I take it that was firmly tongue in cheek? I think you'd be very hard pushed to name anywhere in Central Scotland that doesn't have "bad areas" within spitting distance. Glasgow and Edinburgh are prime examples…

Besides, whats wrong with Livi? Short on character admittedly but you could do much worse ime…

I think the OP was fairly clear that he didnt want to live in either Glasgow or Edinburgh and had a working range from Kilmarnock to Dundee. Biggest problem is getting through Glasgow – if the majority of your work is going to be in Ayrshire and you live anyhwere North of Glasgow, that could be commute hell.

Linlithgow is a brilliant location – if you can afford it…

Doune is very nice, but unless you have a car you can't get anywhere…buses are frequent but not regular (think it is hourly each way!)…so as long as you have your own wheels then it would be a definite possible.

A wee bit of riding to be done to get to the trails but there is plenty around there that can all be linked up…

Linlithgow has always impressed me but it's the opposite direction of where work is so the commute would annoy me (and the prices aren't cheap but they also aren't extortionate).

But OP has said that he doesn't want to live in a city

Living somewhere like Balerno isn't really like living in a city. It has many of the advantages (public transport etc) but with less of the hustle and bustle and no issues getting out as it's right on the edge.

I lived in Linlithgow before move here and. while I liked it a lotand would be happy to live there again, I still prefer where I am now and I'm not someone who generally likes cities.

Somewhere like Livingston actually feels a lot more like being in a city – it has it's nice areas and some good shops however the clientele in the main shopping centre does indicate how rough some of the areas of Livingston must be.

Doune is very nice, but unless you have a car you can't get anywhere.

Oh, yes, absoutely – I am assuming that if the OP has a mobile job all over the place, s/he's got a car or van or something. Otherwise, it's got to be within five minutes of Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow's city centres.

Have we yet found out where the OP will actually work – and pretty important if he's spending 5 days a week commuting?

Algarvebairn, I'm in a secret bunker, 200metres away fae Tesco 😉
Bikeclub? really? are you sure its not some sort of honeytrap-type ruse by the local middle-aged boy racers to get all the cyclists in one area to make running us over easier?
(Thats the downside of all these wee towns like Bo'sneckie; theres all these fudds that do nothing apart from cruising around, driving like arses in their heap of s**te cars all day)

I think its funny the number of people on here who have views on 'the central belt' like its just one big place. Seems to be lots of Stirling people on here, how many folk on here live in Stirling?

>Living somewhere like Balerno isn't really like living in a city.<

Bit like Bearsden then- only smaller?

Heather Bash – Member
>Living somewhere like Balerno isn't really like living in a city.<

Bit like Bearsden then- only smaller?

MUCH smaller

Don't understand the negative comments about Stirling. I'm not from here originally but since I came here for uni, I chose to settle here. Now I'm in Menstrie, just a few miles out, literally two minutes away from the hills and my shop is in Alva.

To me, it doesn't get any better, and as mentioned, I'm not from here, not inbred as far as I am aware and had international choices of where I could have settled.

Westkipper/ Yip there's a bike club, Velosport Bo'ness, wuns out of Revolutionary Bikes just along from Tesco. Can't be far from your pitch. Its road-based sh!te just now but I'm thinking of agititating for a muddy chapter.

>MUCH smaller<

Yeah I know – that was tongue in cheek 😉

>I think its funny the number of people on here who have views on 'the central belt' like its just one big place.<

Yeah, I agree – the earlier knuckle trailing comments above being an extreme example.

>Its road-based sh!te just now but I'm thinking of agititating for a muddy chapter.<

Also the WL Clarion over the hill – quite a few guys on there also mtb. Slight hijack – Algarve Bairn: OS map shows a dotted line along the shoreline at Hopetoun House. Do you know if that is within Hoptoun Estate itself i.e is there anything rideable out to Port Edgar from Wester Shore Wood that doesn't involve throwing the bike over a high fence and being apprehended by estate staff?

Ta

Heather B, there is a totally legal (part of the NCN) route that goes smack through the middle of the estate, though its a 2k trundle on Hopetoun road itself to get to PE

Yup I know about that – I just wondered if there was an off road alternative along the shore?

Don't understand the negative comments about Stirling

I think it's just that the town and main street itself is a bit underwhelming. The rough parts of town got an especially bad rep after Big Mags and the paediatrician-lynching mobs a few years ago (http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2460072/Big-Mags-Haney-is-released-on-licence-from-Cornton-Vale-prison.html ) .

Living in a town in the central belt is basically an admission that you're too poor to afford a decent place in the city

Living in a town in the central belt is basically an admission that you're too poor to afford a decent place in the city

lol Bob you talk some tripe at times.

BoardinBob, do you think everyone wants to live in a city? What an absurd thing to say!

He's probably not too far wide of the mark in my case 🙂

Bearsden is a suburb. Balerno is a village with a high street and shops and so on. Big big difference ( not that I would live in either 🙂 )

lol Bob you talk some tripe at times.

TandemJeremy – Member
Bearsden is a suburb. Balerno is a village with a high street and shops and so on. Big big difference ( not that I would live in either )

Thank **** for that…

Balerno is a village with a high street and shops and so on

I could have sworn Bearsden had a shops and resturaunts when I rode through on sunday.

Airdrie, and its only a Buckfastbottles throw from the M8.

>I could have sworn Bearsden had a shops and resturaunts when I rode through on sunday.<

Yeah but there's more of it joined to Glasgow than Balerno is to Currie/ outskirts of Edinburgh 😉

we may be moving up that way soon

Stirling is looking most likely

I'm a knuckle dragging inbred so i'll likely fit in

i've also drunk myself sick on bucky in the past so no how to behave

Ahhh!, there's so many threads ranting about 'immigrants not living by the countries rules, etc
…so its nice to see you're getting into the 'when in Rome' vibe
(Note, part of the new Scottish citizenship test is to identify and locate all the off-licenses in your area) 🙂

i passed level one 'locate your off-licences' whilst living in Edinburgh

I expect the further west I go to have to upgrade to level two 'robbing your off-licence'

I expect the further west I go to have to upgrade to level two 'robbing your off-licence'

Spoken like a true Edinburgher