Anyone relocated to fife from north or south west england

[SteveDyson]

I live in Berkshire and might get a job opportunity in fife Scotland.

I have heard that fife is not really a great place to live and there is no comparison b/w south west englad and fife apart from cheap housing.

Has anyone relocated to Fife from england with family and kids? I like to know how the primary schools are there and bit more about normal family life.

[coldsnap]

North east fife is quite nice as are the towns in and around the East Neuk.

[tvrolet]

SteveDyson said:

I have heard that fife is not really a great place to live and there is no comparison b/w south west englad...

Absolutely. There is no comparison.

I have lived in Fife by choice for over 30 years and I can see very little appeal in living anywhere else. For all of that 30 years (and longer) the bulk of my work has been in the M4/M3 corridor but I have chosen to commute as required rather than relocate. Monday sees me on the red-eye out of Edingurgh again for Monday through Wednesday in Hampshire this week. My daughter is in Vancouver and I have given serious consideration to relocating (and I know the area well) but overall I'll stick with my bit of Fife.

First off though, you have to be more precise. Fife has to be one of the most diverse areas in the UK for its size. Take the following random towns as an example...and in no particular order:
St.Andrews - university town, golf mecca and great beach,
Anstruther - quaint fishing 'village' (buy a yacht).
Glenrothes - absolutely horrid new town. Nothing whatsoever to redeem it. Dreadful.
Kirkcaldy - sad down-at-heel former industrial town.
Cupar - pleasant 'country town', green wellies not out of place.
Dalgety Bay (added because I live here) - dormitory town with no real heritage, but a world-class location.

There are some areas in Fife that are plain horrid; others will deliver whatever you want from life. You will find towns/housing on the coast, or with a beach, or in rolling hills, or in woods, or in a town. Its all here.

Remember too that most of the 'bridgehead' areas (Dalgety Bay/North Queensferry/Rosyth etc) are less than 20 minutes away from the centre of Edinburgh by train - half an hour by car apart from the rush hour! If we want to do restaurants, shows, events etc., then we go to Edinburgh. As for schooling (my kids left years ago) the local schools seem fine, but if you are in to private education I see loads of the local kids waiting for buses for the private schools in Edinburgh. I think a few of the private schools actually run coaches daily. Edinburgh certainly has some very good schools - I went to one!

Why do I like it - well right now I'm typing this and the vista out my windows is a yacht race with the Forth Bridge beyond. At night I can hear...nothing, apart from seals howling in the summer months. I can walk to the beach in less than a minute, or walk cycle to woods on my doorstep.

I have decent quiet driving roads as soon as I get out of the town, and some of the best driving roads in the UK within half an hour. But I'm also 20 minutes from Knockhill. Unlike the typical 'full day' track days on the circuits down south, Knockhill have loads of evening sessions throughout the season, so a couple of times a month (when the car is not broke) I can leave my desk an hour or so early and get a couple of hours on track.

I can be skiing (at Glanshee) in an hour and a half from leaving the house. If I'm working at home then during the winter I can arrange a day to work until 10:30 at me desk, do calls in the car on the drive up, ski (on a half-day ticket) until it closes, take more calls on the way home and catch up on anything else at night. Sure Scottish skiing doesn't have the vertical or predictable conditions of Europe or North America, but I really value the ability to get on the hills so easily.

And of course winter or summer the fact you are in Scotland means accessibility to Glencoe, Cairngorm and real proper mountain ranges. Plus lochs and streams, beaches and rolling hills.

I used to do a lot of serious windsurfing but age has taken its toll, but plotting buying a boat. I could moor it in the Forth in walking distance, or there's a marina 5 minutes away driving.

So providing you choose where to live, you can have a great quality of life in [parts of] Fife. The ONLY things where the south of England scores over this part of Scotland as far as I have determined in 30 years of commuting is its practical to take your car to Europe for long weekends etc.

So while it makes no sense for me to plot short breaks through the chunnel, BA links Edinburgh to the world through Heathrow, and there are also direct connections to the US and Canada and most European destinations so its hardly isolated.

Here's what you don't get in Berkshire.

An early morning view form my house...in FIFE.


Sunrise over Edinburgh from the same spot (but a different day)


Sunset over the bridges.


North Queensferry


And Fife's own Knockhill


If I was a golfer I could have chosen St Andrews, but you get the point. There's a lot of good stuff here, and some real poor areas too. I certainly wouldn't be considering Glenrothes, Methil or Kirkcaldy; and even Dunfermline has some pretty run-down areas.

Drop me a line though if you have queries on any specific areas.

[bigdavy]

tvrolet - great post and just about anything OP needs to know, well done.

However, can I mention weather? The weather in Scotland compared to where you are is sh!te. Even on a good day there can be 10 degrees of a difference. I'm on the west coast compared to tvrolet and the one thing that would make me move south would be the weather!!

Worth a thought if you like BBQ's outdoor living etc.

[AGK]

tvrolet.... I'm certain I grew up a few doors along from you...

Fife is actually amazing, I'm back living here after being away for 6 years.

[Jollyclub]

Regarding the weather, The East Neuk of Fife is actually one of the driest places in the British Isles, owing to it being in the rain shadow of the Highlands.

The climate is more akin to that of East Anglia than that of Glasgow , and this can be evidenced by the numerous market gardens dotted all over the place.

Rough numbers are
St Andrews 650mm rain p.a 1500 hrs sunshine pa.
Norwich 650mm rain p.a 1558 hrs sunshine p.a.
Glasgow 1245 mm rain p.a 1265 hrs sunshine.

Edited by Jollyclub on Wednesday 16th October 16:04