Apropos of nothing in particular 🙂 (and not intending to debate that issue here)

Given a complete blank slate, where would be the best place to live in Scotland? It’s something that has crossed our minds a few times, but a few aspects have put us off. We currently live in a very small town in N Yorks where we have surprisingly good local facilities all within easy walking distance, and great on and off-road cycling and running literally out the door. The weather is a bit shit but most of Scotland is probably worse and I know all about midges (there’s a few here, but nothing remotely comparable). We can get to Leeds/Manchester/Lakes easily for day trips, while not living in or really close to any of them. You might say the local off-roading is a bit tame but we’d rather ride our bikes than carry them. Gisburn is a short drive away and as I said the Lakes are also within easy range, but riding out the door is a big plus.

I know a bit less rain would be possible on the eastern side of Scotland. Somewhere in the Borders perhaps? Peebles? Have visited Glentress and it looks like it could be quite nice around there. But relatively few, busy, main roads compared to what we have now.

We did consider D&G when we returned to the UK, but it just didn’t look as good as where we ended up. The countryside isn’t that inspiring and it looks like the facilities would be much more sparse.

Depends on whether or not you have kids (and their ages), what your other interests are, your desire for employment (and whether you can work remotely) and, specific to this forum, what kind of riding you prefer. For instance, the Spey Valley ticks a lot of boxes but the road riding is pretty limited due to geography.

We live up in Moray. It’s great. It has everything we need and good transport links. The riding is good Road/MTB and weather is very good.
Having moved up from lincs/cambs area it is warmer in the winter which is hard to believe but not as hot in the summer. Just nice really.

Cumbernauld FTW

Although failing that ‘east’ is always my recommendation if you are concerned about weather. Border’s are lovely although far from the sea.

if I had nothing to worry about I’d be heading out Ballater or Braemar way. They are a fair distance from any big towns but they are nice wee places. Theres also Aviemore or if you want a bigger place close by somewhere close to Inverness.

Dunblane.
Bit pricey, but within easy reach of everything, right on the A9, half hour from Glasgow, 45 mins from Edinburgh, easy access to the trossachs, half hour to perth, hour to dundee.
It’s a nice place.
And if you catch the bus to Glasgow/Dundee, you may even be lucky enough to meet me 👍👍

I live in Lochaber, riding from my door is great. Road riding is pretty limited due to lack of roads. Facilities for anything other than outdoor pursuits are limited. Weather is generally shit, midges are generally shit. Everything is 2 hours drive, I’d prefer if it was a bit further. There’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather live.

Having just heard the news, don’t. It’s going to be a **** show if Sturgeon gets her way.
Or can I swap my house in the Tweed Valley for yours in Yorkshire?

Somewhere else in North Yorkshire like Pickering or Helmsley?. Riding out your door and noticeably drier than just a bit more West.

Otherwise, I’d happily live in Peebles – but I’ve only ever been a (frequent) visitor.

I too live in Lochaber and will be happily here for the rest of my life.

To me the place to live is a few miles out of a town on a quiet road.

Having just heard the news, don’t. It’s going to be a **** show if Sturgeon gets her way.
Or can I swap my house in the Tweed Valley for yours in Yorkshire?

Having just heard the news, I’m now considering a move to Scotland before they gain independence from the racist shower of shit currently running the country

For riding straight from the door it would be Strathspey or Deeside for me. Depends what else you want/need. I tried to influence my wife into moving to Braemar but she wasn’t having it. Too remote and a long trip every day on the school bus for the kids.

Everyone has their own checklist which we often have to make compromises on.

We went through this about 2 1/2 years ago – sold up in Hampshire and moved north at the beginning of COVID. I grew-up in Scotland but Mrs DB is from Kent. We have met many people who have moved north in recent years and only encountered a couple of people who were anti -more a resentment of ‘incomers’ due to problems with holiday properties and rentals for local workers. The only suitable rental place we could find was in Moray, a converted steading a 1,000ft up and 5 miles from anywhere – as we found out in the winter when we got snowed in (a lot) That said, we were about 40 minutes from the coast and I could ride the 10 miles off-road south to Glenlivet, do a lap of the trails and ride home again.
When looking for a permanent move, we must have looked at every property for sale in Scotland online, from the borders to the Outer Hebrides. Peebles and Tweed Valley were on the preferred list, but the popularity of the area meant it was fairly pricey for what we wanted. In the end we had a house built in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and have no regrets – there is a great community here, beautiful scenery and abundant nature, but it rains (a lot). We have a small business, selling online, at markets and B2B so not restricted on location. Downside of island life is it does get busy in summer (relatively) food selection is worse and more expensive, so a monthly trip to the mainland to stock-up is needed. Obviously, location may be driven by access to travel – stormy weather can mean no ferries and no post for a few days. It really depends on what your priorities are – I would travel around a bit, maybe both summer and winter to get a better feel for each place.

Having just heard the news I’m glad I’m already North of the Border.

Inverness / surrounding area for the win.

Having just heard the news I’m glad I’m already North of the Border/

AFAIK the SNP are pro-immigration so they’re hardly going to close the borders if they’re successful in gaining independence.

Somewhere in the Dunkeld/Pitlochry/Aberfeldy area would be my choice. Close enough to Perth/Dundee/Edinburgh yet with the Cairngorms on the doorstep, hundreds of trails in the area, less midges than out west too (apparently…).

With the above!

Recommending what we’re doing, Dumfries and Galloway.
The main point for us is the price. We can afford a house there (though we’re building a new one).
We looked at the Borders, everywhere from Duns to Hawick, but coudlnt find anything we liked and that was affordable.
Dunkeld/Pitlochry area is great, but more expensive, and a real pain to get to see ageing parents in the Midlands.

For facilities, riding, access and prices, I’d be looking at Dumfries and Galloway.

What is the motivation for the move?

We had the choice of going almost anywhere in Scotland and chose the Tweed Valley.
Been coming up here for years and wanted to move up as we love this area.
Wish we’d been in a position to move before we did.
No regrets what so ever.
I have no desire to go back to the Midlands again.

Border’s are lovely although far from the sea

eyemouth isn’t too far from the sea…

We had the choice of going almost anywhere in Scotland and chose the Tweed Valley.
Been coming up here for years and wanted to move up as we love this area.
Wish we’d been in a position to move before we did.
No regrets what so ever.
I have no desire to go back to the Midlands again.

Whilst I miss seeing you around from time to time, this is great to hear 🙌🍻🍻🍻🍻

@sc-xc
Cheers Tom.
Pleased to read you’ve got back in to biking again.😎

Can’t keep an average man down Stu 😂

Just avoid the west coast, Ayrshire is weird, Glasgow not much better, the borders are fine in areas, but those areas tend to be expensive commuting areas from Edinburgh, or for retirement. Stirling areas is a bit meh as well, great access to a lot of places, but not much going on in itself, it really depends what you’re after, i agree about the likes of Aberfeldy, lovely place, but it is quiet, and again more about retirement or expensive estates, Dunkeld is a pensioners area from my time around there, same with Pitlochry, but that has more of the tourism. Further north than Pitlochry is pretty much unchartered teuchter areas, be wary of those places!

Currently enjoying life in Angus after 12 years in Shetland. Much better weather, easy access to lots of places, even has lots of trees and rivers!

In Lochaber too, don’t know any different so unlikely to ever leave. The weather gets me down but when it’s nice it’s magic. Seems to have been pretty crap for the last wee while with no sign of it getting better anytime soon!

We moved up from Kent last year. Rented in Perth for 6 months but then bought our current place in the Howe of Fife, just over the Perth & Kinross border.

I think its a great location. Around 30 mins to the outskirts of Edinburgh and less than an hour to the centre. 30 mins to Perth and St Andrews. 45 mins to Dundee and Dunkeld. 2 hours gets you to Glasgow, Oban (access to the islands), Aviemore or Braemar.

Great riding on the doorstep, both MTB and Road. Close to good beaches and lochs.

The weather is fine over this side. Its one of the sunniest and driest parts of Scotland. I think when we were looking to move i checked the stats and this area has on average about 10% less sunshine hours and 10% more rain than Kent and it feels about right. Its cooler but still generally very pleasant. The mid winter darkness was probably the worst thing. I love visiting the west but personally would struggle with the rain and midge but its pretty accessible as mentioned.

I think a good case can be made for lots of areas though. We’d certainly consider tweed valley, east lothian, tayside/angus, Perthshire, Dunblane, Aviemore area, Inverness/Moray coast.

D&G … The countryside isn’t that inspiring

Tough crowd!
Where you parked in the Gretna Retail Outlet?

Thanks all, a great set of comments and a lot to think about.

A bit more about us in answer to questions: no children or work commitments (WFH, pretty much retired couple in our 50s). As for why consider a move north: I’m originally from Scotland, spent my childhood in Edinburgh and Ayr where my mother still lives. Wouldn’t touch the latter with a shitty stick but have been impressed with recent visits to Edin (seems very different to the city I remember from about 40 years ago, maybe that’s me though) and if I had to choose a major city it would be high on the list. But it’s hard to see the out-the-door options being that great, Pentlands and that’s about it?

We’ve never spent more than about 10y anywhere and are approaching that here, in a big old house that we’ll certainly want to leave at some time anyway (no rush). Old parent close by but that will end at some point. It’s not an urgent thing, more “could the grass be greener elsewhere?”

I don’t know anything about the NE part of Scotland really, never even been to Dundee or Aberdeen. Have been in Cairngorms etc for walking, it looks like roads are sparse and we aren’t really looking for middle of nowhere, especially thinking ahead 20y from now!

Recently I went on a 75 mile road ride, less than 10 of which was quiet A/B roads and hardly saw a soul most of the way. On a sunny Saturday in May.

Having just heard the news, don’t. It’s going to be a **** show if Sturgeon gets her way.
Or can I swap my house in the Tweed Valley for yours in Yorkshire?

Brill, see ya.

We’re near Melrose, came up from the South East 10 years ago. Love it here.

I can ride road/gravel/MTB from my door and my OH can do the same with her horse.

Also in Moray, also in late 50s (just), WFH (semi retired).
Cairngorms to the south. Moray Firth on doorstep.

There are better places, possibly, but we’ve made decision to stay put – as you say looking 20 years hence not sure want to be on edge of town let alone middle of nowhere, nice though that sounds.

decent road, gravel and MTB riding, twixt the sea and the hills.

Loads of good road riding around Edinburgh if that’s your thing. As I said, a lot fewer options once you get into the Highlands, mainly due to geography.

We looked at the West Coast options a few years ago and decided that there was just too little infrastructure – pubs / supermarkets and so. We also had a teenager to consider and didn’t want to be constantly ferrying her back and forth for a social life. Aviemore worked as a good compromise for us. Facilities aplenty, MTB/gravel riding from the door (in some ways too much as I’ve been less inclined to explore further afield). There is a very active “incomer” community as so many folk have moved here for the outdoor variety. With good transport links and high-speed broadband there are a lot of WFH folks too.

Inverness – Elgin corridor is an option we’ll be considering at some point I think. Forres might be favourite at the moment.

I’m in D&G

With no work or family concerns id be Inverness or North Aberdeenshire

If you have a spare £800k+ to spend then what about Scotlands house of the year 2019 here, a mile from kirkcudbright and its a stunning house, such a shame that Lesley has to sell it but she’s moving back up to her house in Edinburgh. My mate does the garden and housekeeping duties/painting etc so if you do buy it please keep her on.

A house like that, and no proper garage. Jeez…

Still, move that house 300 miles south and it’d be a couple of million I’d guess.

If you have a spare £800k+ to spend then what about Scotlands house of the year 2019 here, a mile from kirkcudbright and its a stunning house, such a shame that Lesley has to sell it but she’s moving back up to her house in Edinburgh. My mate does the garden and housekeeping duties/painting etc so if you do buy it please keep her on.

Lovely house, but i’ve never enjoyed being around Kirkudbright, there’s quite a large firing range just down from this house as well, so hopefully triple glazed 😂

We’re moving to Forres from Bristol in a month or two. Love it there, decent climate, sandy beaches, lots of interesting forests and roads for riding in and on, plus perhaps some skiing within driving distance.

Seems to be enough town like conveniences such as pubs, schools, health services, leisure centre etc. Also some interesting alternative communities around such as Findhorn and even the army/RAF people to keep things interesting and not too inward looking.

Also importantly for someone that has always been close to an airport and a city, 25 minutes from Aberdeen (and the airport has direct flights to the usual places).

I love Bristol, but there’s something about the place that feels right. I haven’t even seen the house we’re buying 😂

thebunk

Also importantly for someone that has always been close to an airport and a city, 25 minutes from Aberdeen (and the airport has direct flights to the usual places).

You’ll be doing well to get from forres to Aberdeen in 25 minutes. Good choice of place to move to tho!