[Closed] Moving to Aberdeenshire

Things are markedly improved with the bypass.

How will he be getting to work -transport links from old Aberdeen to inverurie are not the best and being a student area car parkings not the best (obviously not an issue if he has parking at work)

Equally if he cycles -inverurie isn't best served at the moment for cycling to town without taking some quite substantial detours. -most of the guys I know that do it head inland and come along the westhill cycle patb back to town for safety.

Ok I'm biased but I'd head west of the city rather than north but thats me being selfish as my car is autopiloted to the Cairngorms 🙂 . Inverurie does have a good community spirit and good access to bennachie et Al so there are worse places to live. Be aware that the great floods that came a few years ago heavily affected inverurie so pay attention to location of your house.

I'm near Oldmeldrum and love it up here. (About 3 miles from Inverurie). It's a bit cheaper than out west too :).

Good access to Aberdeen (train from Inverurie, drive in or I don't mind the cycle down the A947) though t_r's comments are valid.

Easy to get to some of the local routes (Bennachie, Pitfichie, Millstone etc). Great road riding from the door if you dabble on the dark side.

Feel free to give me a shout if you want any information.

Morning traffic getting in to Aberdeen was a nightmare when I was there (before by-pass so don't know how that's affecting things). If it's Old Aberdeen, I'd be looking at keeping the travel in the city itself as short as possible so would consider Ellon to the north. As far as niceness is concerned, as long as you're not in Aberdeen itself, most places around Aberdeen seem to be fine. I was in/near Stonehaven and loved it but that's to the south and you probably don't want to be trying to get to Old Aberdeen from there
EDIT - but if you have a child, then you do need to visit Stonehaven's Open Air Pool, it's brilliant

Ellon is the home of Brewdog. What more could you want 🍻

The improvements made to traffic by the Bypass as well as the additional Don crossing have been huge so to be honest even living south of Aberdeen and commuting to Old Aberdeen wouldn't cause too many problems. BBSB the morning commute from Stonehaven to Kingwells/Westhill is now around 10-15 mins!

Inverurie to Aberdeen Uni wouldn’t be an ideal commute. It may improve once they sort out the Haudagain roundabout. I live to the west of Aberdeen and it would be a 10-15 minute easy cycle there for me or a ten minute drive.

If you don’t want to be in the city (Aberdeen is more like a large town than a big city) then the Ellon suggestion is good now the bypass is built or Balmedie. It’s nice out West Banchory way but the commute wouldn’t be good.

If it were me I’d rent a place in the Chanonry walk to work and enjoy the Old Aberdeen lifestyle.

I moved up to the area a few years back and for a while drove into Kingswells park and ride from Alford, grabbed my bike out of the bike lockers there and rode in (5 miles on decent cycle lanes/quiet roads). My BiL works at the Uni and lives in Alford too. I much prefer to have a slightly longer commute during the week, and be right beside good riding/running etc in the evenings/weekends.

There is tons of quality riding up here, both on and off road - have a good look on Trailforks to give a better idea, but the riding up here is simply amazing - loads of good areas to explore and good access/maintenance/trail advocacy.

gonefishin - IIRC I was about 30-40 mins to Westhill before finding the Netherley road which knocked about 10 mins off the trip so that's pretty impressive (from south of Stonehaven)

The bypass has not just made things faster but also more predictable.

If you did not commute by car every day - you had no idea how long it may take. One road closed for a burst Watermain and diverted onto the rest could mean your 20 minute journey took an hour.

It’s nice out West Banchory way but the commute wouldn’t be good.

Well there's a segregated cyclepath all the way to town. And the car journey isn't terrible either(all be it in a different direction to the cycle) I'm just over half way to Banchory. One of the key reasons I live here is that segregated cycle path keeping us away from the morning and afternoon rush whos minds are everywhere but driving.

Kenneththecurtain on here moved up-without seeking advice. Ended up doing inverurie to dyce on what on paper looked like nice back roads......after a few days of suicidal maniacs decides he was better on the train.

Thanks for your replies! Interesting reading 😀
He was planning to drive although we didn't think about the parking issue! He did mention cycling the other day so maybe...
Will have to check out that pool in Stonehaven - it looks fab.
I'm so excited about moving closer to the mountains 🚵 Are any of you in a local club?

Ellon is the home of Brewdog. What more could you want 🍻

A nice beer and not having bellend neighbours?

As bear-uk says Ellon isnt bad and its where weve been for the last 16 years. The commute to old Aberdeen should be a doddle id think, between the park and ride and the ones that go through the place youve plenty of choice but it all depends on how much weight you put on the biking side of things. One good cycling thing going through Ellon though is the old railway line, I think theres about 60 miles of it starting at Dyce and heading north where it splits at Maud with one line going to Peterhead and the other Fraserburgh. The nearest mountain biking id say would be Kirkhill, Bennachie or pitfichie but having said yhat wiyh the new bypass Bennachie probably isnt much closer than scolty.

Ah, I’d prefer closer to biking. Might have a look to the west. It’s tricky because we’re moving from N.I. and won’t get over to look around the different areas beforehand so we’re going in blind!

You're too kind Josh .....

The places i mentioned are still fairly close as in from say 30 minutes to a hour away but that will still add a bit onto any day you want out and in some cases maybe put you off. If I was looking to move here with mountain biking in mind id be looking to the west of the city.

Cults/Beildside areas are a good place to live. There is a reason that its quite expensive!
Biking from your door in Counteswells woods, not as good as other venues but great for straight from the house. Easy access to the bypass for north and south travel. Good bus service into town. Old Aberdeen is easily commutable by bike. Schools have a good reputation. Old railway line for easy bike access into town and all the way out to Ballater if you require.

But most importantly is the easy access to Deeside. If you work in the city and require easy access to both the city and the countryside you can't go wrong with this area.

Peterculter is worth a look too but it is just that wee bit further out.

Now that I think about it there are lots of houses being thrown up built all around Aberdeen Including some that are literally across the road from Counteswells forest. Whether that sort of place is your cup of tea is another matter. I almost hesitate to say this but one thing that may influence your decision would be property price, assuming you are buying, as I strongly suspect that the property in this neck of the woods will be more expensive than in NI. Have a look on www.aspc.co.uk for an idea.

What about Mary Culter how is she getting on these days?

How about Fittie? You will have to learn Doric moving up there, do they still talk about loonies and quinies?

Can recommend Westhill and surrounding areas. I cycle comuted to Old Aberdeen from there for 5 years every day and enjoyed almost every second.
Easy access to Kirkhill, Scolty, Pitfichie, etc. by car and some good riding from the doorstep if your not looking to shred any gnar. Miss the riding up in the 'Deen since moving further South (Edinburgh way) actually, you'll love it

Can I ask why Inverurie is a bad option for commuting to Old Aberdeen? Is it very busy? I got the impression from previous threads that it was a decent spot to base yourself in 🤔

What always strikes me as the scourge of living in inverurie is all the roundabouts between there and town. Plus you'll be crossing Scotland's most notorious round about.....the haudagain. Each one causing its own tailback and the sections in-between you'll have a white Audi welded to your bumper.

When ever I'm heading north after work there always seems to be horrid queues once you get past Blackburn.

Can I ask why Inverurie is a bad option for commuting to Old Aberdeen? Is it very busy? I got the impression from previous threads that it was a decent spot to base yourself in

There's nothing particularly wrong with Inverurie as an option, provided you will be driving. As TR says it has historically been very busy but I'm not sure how true that is now with the new bypass (A road that should have been delivered 10 years before but that's whole different issue). It's not where I would choose to live but I can certainly understand the attraction.

As mentioned Inverurie to Old Aberdeen involves getting past the airport, the new P&J Live arena, Bucksburn, the Haudagain and StMachar roundabout. I wouldn’t choose to do that every day. Its a daily stress you can easily avoid by choosing somewhere else to live. Inverurie is a nice enough place though.

Ah! Thanks for that - definitely one to avoid me thinks!

Inverurie and that area (incl Oldmeldrum, Kintore, Kemnay etc) are pretty nice - good access to lots of good hills, good road/rail links (new station being built now in Kintore, due to open next summer) and plenty of stuff going on in the area. House prices are also a bit lower than Deeside area, which may be worth thinking about, as we found the prices around here pretty eye-watering.

Cults/Beildside areas are a good place to live. There is a reason that its quite expensive!

The excellent school being one reason!

I work at the university and know folk that commute from Inverurie by train and then one of the multitude of buses along king street to old aberdeen with no complaints. If you're "mUst DriVe mUh Car" ****gammon that won't be an option though.