Moving to Scotland
Discussion
sherman said:
gotoPzero said:
Winter
It snowed last week.Get used to the saying
“Ne'er cast a clout till May is out,”
Winter starts around November but finishes around May.
Now we are home it will be glorious!
gotoPzero said:
sherman said:
gotoPzero said:
Winter
It snowed last week.Get used to the saying
“Ne'er cast a clout till May is out,”
Winter starts around November but finishes around May.
Now we are home it will be glorious!
Taps aff.
Aberdeen is threatening 20+c later in the week.
Marquezs Stabilisers said:
Where are you that's riddled with potholes and speed cameras, where I am there are hardly any. Speed cameras wise you should try SE England...
Rant grade 4/10, must try harder.
Milngavie is posh as fRant grade 4/10, must try harder.
k man, it's one step down from Bearsden.
The roads are bad but I'd say generally no worse than anywhere else in the UK.I lived in Dumfries and Galloway, near Lockerbie, for 11 years.
Never had a problem with midges and I did a lot of fishing!
My parents stayed near Gatehouse, on the edge of a forest, and that's the only place I encountered lots of midges.
Only one person ever had a crack at me for being English, funnily enough even the born and bred locals thought the guy was and always had been a monumental arse.
There'll be light hearted banter, take it in good spirits, there's no malice in it really.
Like anywhere if you embrace your local community you'll rub along just fine.
The scenery is fantastic, the weather can be fantastic, we only got snowed in once, lasted about three days.
It is a wonderful place to live, both my dad and FIL still live there, they've both got bigger friendship groups than they ever had south of the border!
Never had a problem with midges and I did a lot of fishing!
My parents stayed near Gatehouse, on the edge of a forest, and that's the only place I encountered lots of midges.
Only one person ever had a crack at me for being English, funnily enough even the born and bred locals thought the guy was and always had been a monumental arse.
There'll be light hearted banter, take it in good spirits, there's no malice in it really.
Like anywhere if you embrace your local community you'll rub along just fine.
The scenery is fantastic, the weather can be fantastic, we only got snowed in once, lasted about three days.
It is a wonderful place to live, both my dad and FIL still live there, they've both got bigger friendship groups than they ever had south of the border!
We moved from Dorset to the Scottish Highlands in 2021 as we fancied a change.
Positive
- the locals are super friendly and have been very welcoming. In fact I have experienced the most sense of community I have ever experienced in living anywhere
- the landscape and scenery are unbelievably beautiful and there is an abundance of wildlife and nature
- house prices are significantly cheaper than England and Dorset in particular. Buying up here isn’t as complicated or different as people would have you believe. The only real thing of note is that our (Scottish) solicitor told us that they don’t like buying chains that include property outside of Scotland. So better to have cash in hand to buy to make life easier.
- local GPS, Dentist, Opticians and so on offer free services and we were able to register for NHS with doctors and dentists with no problems
Challenges
- Scotland is big, so stuff can be a long way away. Clearly the closerto the border or central belt you choose the less of an issue this is
- our first winter here was tough but the second far easier and we hardly noticed last winter. We live relatively high up at 1000 feet so we do get a lot of snow compared to Southern England. But now we know that we dress and prepare accordingly. I think if you can get through the first winter you will be ok
Summary
We love it up here and wouldn’t move back for anything. Right now I am eating a spot of lunch looking out over our fields and across to the mountains, so serene.
Having said that, we both retired very early (I was 52) so don’t know about the working situation or what that would be like.
Positive
- the locals are super friendly and have been very welcoming. In fact I have experienced the most sense of community I have ever experienced in living anywhere
- the landscape and scenery are unbelievably beautiful and there is an abundance of wildlife and nature
- house prices are significantly cheaper than England and Dorset in particular. Buying up here isn’t as complicated or different as people would have you believe. The only real thing of note is that our (Scottish) solicitor told us that they don’t like buying chains that include property outside of Scotland. So better to have cash in hand to buy to make life easier.
- local GPS, Dentist, Opticians and so on offer free services and we were able to register for NHS with doctors and dentists with no problems
Challenges
- Scotland is big, so stuff can be a long way away. Clearly the closerto the border or central belt you choose the less of an issue this is
- our first winter here was tough but the second far easier and we hardly noticed last winter. We live relatively high up at 1000 feet so we do get a lot of snow compared to Southern England. But now we know that we dress and prepare accordingly. I think if you can get through the first winter you will be ok
Summary
We love it up here and wouldn’t move back for anything. Right now I am eating a spot of lunch looking out over our fields and across to the mountains, so serene.
Having said that, we both retired very early (I was 52) so don’t know about the working situation or what that would be like.
ninepoint2 said:
I'm proud to be Scottish and have lived here most of my life. However I would not consider moving here if I were you, the approach to hospitality and customer focused service in general is dire compared to many of our European cousins. Public transport is a joke, roads are riddled with potholes and speed cameras. The SNP and their nanny state politics have contributed the square root of bugger all to quality of life in Scotland. We have seriously considered moving abroad but unfortunately Brexit has made that prospect remote now. And thats before you consider the dire weather and midges
Didn’t take long for the first self hating scot to pop up 
I’m in Glasgow, happy to answer any questions. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. As my current redundancy shows.
Edinburgh here.
May have already been mentioned but look into Airbnb all councils clamping down and making running one fairly difficult. Edinburgh Council unsurprisingly being the most difficult.
Think everyone now needs to apply and some need planning permission. Can be costly, we have just been through it.
I'd rather have moved borders way but fiance can't drive. Stunning where you are are looking and I'd imagine much more of a community about it. We moved a little further out but I have a lot of resentment towards our clowncil.
May have already been mentioned but look into Airbnb all councils clamping down and making running one fairly difficult. Edinburgh Council unsurprisingly being the most difficult.
Think everyone now needs to apply and some need planning permission. Can be costly, we have just been through it.
I'd rather have moved borders way but fiance can't drive. Stunning where you are are looking and I'd imagine much more of a community about it. We moved a little further out but I have a lot of resentment towards our clowncil.
gotoPzero said:
We are looking at the area between Ayr, Stranraer and Gretna in a triangle but ideally within a couple of miles of the coast.
Have you considered Troon? A bit outside your area of interest but great transport links, close to Glasgow for the city experience, on the coast with lots of nice scenery roundabout. Plus great golf if that floats your boat. Kirkcudbright or Castle Douglas are both ok.
Anywhere in that triangle will take you time to get back to civilisation if you want to go somewhere so its something to bear in mind.
Stranraer is about 3 hours from Edinburgh
Carlisle is 2.5
Glasgow is 2 hours away
The A75 is not getting dualled anytime soon.
The Ayrshire coast is easier to get to but its still not speedy.
Anywhere in that triangle will take you time to get back to civilisation if you want to go somewhere so its something to bear in mind.
Stranraer is about 3 hours from Edinburgh
Carlisle is 2.5
Glasgow is 2 hours away
The A75 is not getting dualled anytime soon.
The Ayrshire coast is easier to get to but its still not speedy.
Don’t think you’ll notice any difference in the temperature between Lancashire and Scotland assuming you stay south of perthshire. Obviously there’s east coast, west coast and central weather differences but that’s mostly rainfall and wind with fairly similar temps.
The short term let regs won’t be a problem for a rural place. It’s the ones in the likes of residential tenement blocks that are really the target.
The short term let regs won’t be a problem for a rural place. It’s the ones in the likes of residential tenement blocks that are really the target.
Hello
We moved from English midlands to south Ayrshire back in 2019. We live (or stay, as they say up here), about 30 miles NNE of Stranraer, on the edge of the Galloway forest park in an old farmhouse. The property was great value for what we got, 4 bed house, just shy of 20 acres of land and 1/2 mile river frontage through our fields. It's quiet, peaceful, the nearest street light is 6 miles away and the views on clear nights are incredible.
We are about 20 minutes drive from the sea, about 80 minutes away from Glasgow for a good night out and about 15 miles from Ayr which isn't a bad place at all. The coastal areas around here, and the views of Arran and Ailsa craig are great, and if you stary inland, the forest park is great for long hikes in sparsely used countryside.
We have been here for 5 years...no problems with midgies despite the river and a love of dining outside in summer. The locals made us very welcome and made some great friends nearby. I'm pretty self sufficient with all things practical which is handy as finding good trades people nearby is difficult.
The winters are not bad..tend to be more wet than cold, and we have never been snowed in despite being 200m above sea level on single track roads. Coldest it has been is -9 for a few days a couple of winters ago. The winter just gone has been long and depressingly dull, but when spring comes it is fabulous here. The first 3 springs we had (20/21/22) were very dry and sunny from the start of april, and the summers were great..just warm enough, and Autumn stretched nicely into good weather into October.
Roads are nice and relatively quiet if you fancy a bit of driving.
Let me know if you want anything especially if it's about this sort of area.
Tant
We moved from English midlands to south Ayrshire back in 2019. We live (or stay, as they say up here), about 30 miles NNE of Stranraer, on the edge of the Galloway forest park in an old farmhouse. The property was great value for what we got, 4 bed house, just shy of 20 acres of land and 1/2 mile river frontage through our fields. It's quiet, peaceful, the nearest street light is 6 miles away and the views on clear nights are incredible.
We are about 20 minutes drive from the sea, about 80 minutes away from Glasgow for a good night out and about 15 miles from Ayr which isn't a bad place at all. The coastal areas around here, and the views of Arran and Ailsa craig are great, and if you stary inland, the forest park is great for long hikes in sparsely used countryside.
We have been here for 5 years...no problems with midgies despite the river and a love of dining outside in summer. The locals made us very welcome and made some great friends nearby. I'm pretty self sufficient with all things practical which is handy as finding good trades people nearby is difficult.
The winters are not bad..tend to be more wet than cold, and we have never been snowed in despite being 200m above sea level on single track roads. Coldest it has been is -9 for a few days a couple of winters ago. The winter just gone has been long and depressingly dull, but when spring comes it is fabulous here. The first 3 springs we had (20/21/22) were very dry and sunny from the start of april, and the summers were great..just warm enough, and Autumn stretched nicely into good weather into October.
Roads are nice and relatively quiet if you fancy a bit of driving.
Let me know if you want anything especially if it's about this sort of area.
Tant
sherman said:
gotoPzero said:
Winter
It snowed last week.Get used to the saying
“Ne'er cast a clout till May is out,”
Winter starts around November but finishes around May.
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