[Closed] Scottish move on the cards....where to??

Do you need the train link particularly? Train links to the borders south of Edinburgh don't really exist anymore, but there's lots of places there that would otherwise fit the bill.

Stirling way always struck me as a great location - easy reach of Glasgow and Edinburgh and really well placed for the higlands. Plus superb riding there in its own right. No idea what the town (city?) is like to actually live in though.

Linlithgow does everything apart from the actual Edinburgh part...

Train from borders meant to be running from 2014.

franksinatra - Member

Train from borders meant to be running from 2014.

What is your budget, if that's not a rude question ?

Anywhere within 30 mins on bus/train from Edinburgh is commuter belt and tends to be pricey if it is anything like a nice place to live.

Places just outwith like Penicuik, Bonnyrigg etc although cheaper can be a bit rough. Depends what you want I guess !

Train from borders meant to be running from 2014.

What time is the last one 2135?

yeah no late nights out on the drink for you

I am biased but Peebles is great. Train links from Midlothian and the borders are non existent, but decent buses. Edinburgh is well catered for with park and rides.
Penicuik is well located.
West Linton is nice.
If train link is important there are pleasant places East of Edinburgh like Musselburgh and North Berwick.
Close to Edinburgh and the Pentlands are Balerno and Currie.
Hope this helps.

I'm in penicuik and find it ideal. 10 miles out of town and loads if busses. Riding from door, glentress 20 mins.
Good schools if U have kids, loads of families that can't afford Edinburgh.
Some parts could be described as rough, but most are nice.
Balerno/currie also good.
Peebles is better for biking but fewer busses and over an hour to town

Fife (never again!!!),

My view. If yo uwant to live in Edinburgh live inthe city - the suburbs and the commuter towns are not great. Or go and live in one of the old towns - Peebles, Stirling both OK. Nothing would get me to live in linlithgow or one of the central belt towns

Peebles is the only place around here I would consider moving to from Leith

As much as it pains me to say this, how about South Livingston (Muiriston area), Mid Calder, East Calder.
I live in Bathgate loads of houses for sale out our way mostly in the Wester Inch area, builders still building new houses and undercutting people selling elsewhere on the estate!
Torphichen is a really good place to live but trying to get a house there nigh on impossible.

Good luck and no matter where you move to the good biking places are never far that far away.

East lothian is nice , anywhere around Longniddry , Aberlady or even port Seton . Longniddry is 14 minutes to the waverley by train and 25 minutes by car. Nice beaches and you have got miles of riding from your doorstep , Pencaitland is even twinned with Whistler B.C. (well by yodagoat on here). You might even get to ride with the infamous GW , cynic Al or coastkid.

I think I feel much the same as TJ in that I'd rather live in the city than in the outskirts. It must be the 'Leith effect'.

Cheers for the replies folks, some stuff to go on there, unfortunately I am not buying but renting, budget depends on what job I manage to score up there, but looking at nothing really above £650 a month if possible.

Oh and re: Fife it was Kirkcaldy and then Dunfermline, grim.

plus one for Stirling but I'm biased.

>Nothing would get me to live in linlithgow.

*breathes sigh of relief*

I don't think Leith is ticking his semi rural box somehow and with respect TJ you really are so utterly clueless at times it's laughable.

Theblackmout - its an opinion. thats all it is. I know linlithgow a bit and I would never live there.

Don't think he was suggesting Leith to the OP. He was saying Linlithgow is crap and Peebles is nice.

Thank ou CSB - that and I would rather live in the city that the 'burbs

Mum and Dad used to live on the edge of Stirling and loved it, on the edge of the Ochills so great riding too.

Lockerbie?
Trains to Edin, wife uses regularly
GT 45mins away
Ae, Mabie and Dalbeattie within easy reach. Kirry just over an hr.
Lakes, Whinlatter, Keswick easily in 1hr 😆

Linlithgow sounds pretty much what the OP is looking for. Lots of nice houses, some decent riding at Beecraigs. Pentlands are 20 minutes away by car, GT and Inners another hour or so?

I'm in Balerno and can recommend both it and Currie. The centre of town is just a short bus ride away (if you find anything worth going in for) but you have the Pentlands on your doorstep. Get a road bike to open up your riding options too. I use to commute into and across town by bike every day. You get a nice easy ride in every morning as it's all downhill.

giant_scum - Member
As much as it pains me to say this, how about South Livingston (Muiriston area), Mid Calder, East Calder.
I live in Bathgate loads of houses for sale out our way mostly in the Wester Inch area, builders still building new houses and undercutting people selling elsewhere on the estate!
Torphichen is a really good place to live but trying to get a house there nigh on impossible.

Good luck and no matter where you move to the good biking places are never far that far away.

Yes, south side of Livi isn't too bad. It's devoid of soul or any "centre" but it has its compensations. The biking from the door is good (both road and offroad), public transport into Edinburgh is OK (though there are big gaps in the evening on the train) and it is pretty cheap. If you get to the stage of serious looking drop me an email if you want to know anything specific.

I'm also biased towards Stirling...but it doesn't really meet the travel critic for proximity of Edinburgh.

50 mins by train from Edinburgh to stirling - or 25 on a decent motorbike 🙂

Another vote for Livi here, although, as with most places in this country, some areas are much nicer than others. Livi is a funny place as Stu N says because of its lack of a centre.

My wife and I have lived here with our 3 young children for the last 8 and a half years and it's a pretty decent place all in all.

I work in Edinburgh and we drive through it at times and whilst some areas look quite nice they are very expensive and both my wife and I don't like living in cities nowadays, which is great as we get so much more in the way of housing out here.

The trains into Edinburgh are now much improved after they improved and re-instated the Airdrie to Bathgate line. Trains now run every 15 minutes from Livi North to Edinburgh rather than every half an hour and it takes just less than 25 minutes each way now.

And what might I ask is wrong with Fife? Oh yeh fair point Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline but please don't wright of Fife. There are some great places to live here and some fantastic riding too. I live in North East Fife, close to Dundee, great train links and easy access to loads of riding. Tentsmuir, Lomonds, Sidlaws, Balmarino, PITMEDDEN, Kinnoul Hill, Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Angus Glens, Cairngorms to name but a few 😀
Falkland is a beautiful village close to transport links and right at the foot of the Lomond hills and the downhill course 😀
I recon you need to go on a road trip and get a feel for a place before moving, happy hunting.

My view. If yo uwant to live in Edinburgh live inthe city - the suburbs and the commuter towns are not great. Or go and live in one of the old towns - Peebles, Stirling both OK. Nothing would get me to live in linlithgow or one of the central belt towns

Not sure why linlithgow doesn't qualify as old? I'd not suggest its perfect but a lot better commute to central Edinburgh than peebles, and potentially quicker to ed park, haymarket, or waverly than from most of the 'popular' places within the city.

The biking is okay but not as good as the pentlands themselves; but if you are going to drive their you can be in the pentlands quicker than from say leith. You are further from glentress than say balerno, but a little bit closer to the ochils or highlands if you want wild rides. It's not the best place for riding but for typical people who spend most of their week working and a little bit of leisure time riding its probably a good compromise, which is especially popular with families.

Is most of linlithgow not soulless modern housing? and not much of a town centre?

Its not a bad place perhpas especially if a cheap modern house is what you want but to me its such a soulless and dull place.

Oh and re: Fife it was Kirkcaldy and then Dunfermline, grim.

I live just outside Kirkcaldy. I love Fife, it's an underrated County, nae Kingdom.

My brother just bought an awesome house in Falkland, next door to the Palace. His wife can commute by train from Ladybank to Dundee or Edinburgh.

Have a look at Kinghorn, Burntisland and Aberdour.

Soulless modern housing?
http://g.co/maps/2az4j

Fabulous isn't it Druidh - some of the most sought after council housing in the UK.

I was born and raised in Perth and went to uni in Stirling before migrating down south for work. If I were to move back (Something I think about often.) I would be looking at Alva, Tillicoultry, or around this area. Fast access to the hills, easy drive to Edinburgh, and not far from the big weege if you really need to go there. House prices not bad there either.

^Agree. When we vaguely considered it we looked around Milnathort towards the West as well. Some nice houses and good villages around there.

Tj you do come across as a snob sometimes. I thought you were all for councils building houses?

Plus? Aren't you confusing Linlithgow with livingston? Linlithgow has a great wee high street.

Its Musselburgh for us,

If your renting, two bed flats for £560 ish, good buses, train, cycle commute mostly on cycle paths road the city, on the end of the bypass for easy out to borders and north... Chippy, good pubs, Aldi/Lidl,

Livi does seem a good option too...

I was just thinking that, TJ you are confusing Linlithgow with Livingston.

Linlithgow is an old town, it has a palace FFS ! MQoS stayed there so they say, but like BPC, she did get about. Its lovely, a loch in the town centre, nice old houses, regular trains to Edinburgh.

Livingston is a hell on earth with tons of cheap identikit housing. I worked there for 6 months once, terrible place. Far too many roundabouts for a start. No high street, a shopping mall with a council benefits office. Most people that live there are either living off the state or employed by it. And the car park at ASDA was rammed full on a tuesday lunchtime once when I (er literally) looked down on it from the building next door. Not a good sign.

Anyways, yes Peebles is nice, but a bit "are you local, this is a local town, for local people". And the bus takes over an hour to central Edinburgh. Can't fault the biking tho ! Good schools, sinister local festival every year. Pubs still to catch up with all the metro types that have started moving there. Very good wine shop, and a couple of restaurants that think they are good and charge accordingly, but aren't really all that.

Maybe I am confusing the two a bit but I did have a friend who lived in linlithgow ( definitely linlithgow) and didn't like the place. Its not snobbery nor a dislike of council housing. I just found it a souless and dull place as did she. She lived in an estate of indentikit housing with no facilities.

I know a few people that live there now - and happy to do so. I couldn't live there.

Its just an opinion - thats all it is. One not shared by some on here.

North Berwick

Another Perth native here. Whenever I go back I can never quite get over what a beautiful place it is. Doesnt quite chime with my memories of being chased around town in the mid-80s by soccer casuals and schemie minks from Hunters Crescent.

I'd love to live in East Lothian or maybe the borders proper, but you'd need your own car.

Yes, if I had access to a Terminator to go back through history and change something for the good of humankind, it would be to take out whoever decided it was a good idea to rip up all the train lines in the rural UK.

You can observe where the train line used to go from the 62 bus from Peebles to Edinburgh. Maybe one day we will get a cycle path ??

I would be looking at Alva, Tillicoultry, or around this area. Fast access to the hills, easy drive to Edinburgh, and not far from the big weege if you really need to go there. House prices not bad there either.

+1

Spent 5 years in Stirling and loved it. Amazing and varied riding from your doorstep, means that even with only an hour in the evening you can access some lovely technical trails. Rents lowish (£500 for a two bed semi with garage). Access to Edinburgh more like an hour on the train though.

Or Clackmananshire (as above), prices even cheaper, although the trial access is slightly more restricted you still have the Ochils on your doorstep. Good route to Edinburgh, friendly LBS in Alva...

hels - Member

Livingston is a hell on earth with tons of cheap identikit housing. I worked there for 6 months once, terrible place. Far too many roundabouts for a start. No high street, a shopping mall with a council benefits office. Most people that live there are either living off the state or employed by it. And the car park at ASDA was rammed full on a tuesday lunchtime once when I (er literally) looked down on it from the building next door. Not a good sign.

Yep, it does have its downsides but "Hell On Earth" is a bit strong! The north side of Livi has better train service, the south side is nicer IMO. The centre is pretty mingling but we do have a Pizza Express (albeit in the shopping centre). 🙂

I'm not sure I would want to live much further out for a daily commute into Edinburgh city centre; IMO 30 mins actually on the train is about a reasonable limit as by the time you get too and from stations at each end you can easily double that. Also remember rush hour commute can easily be double a "normal" driving time. And Scotrail are a bit of a shambles for commuter trains - usually once a week something will go wrong on our line with long delays or cancellations.

I agree with what Stu N says about Livingston.

It's not a bad place to live as long as you live in the right areas as there are some quite rough bits, but most places in the UK are like that.

As for the shopping centre, well it's not my cup of tea, but my wife and daughters love it!

You sure you're not thinking of Livingston, TJ?
Linlithgow had always seemed nice and quaint, albeit a little up its own arse.

EDIT: I see this has already been covered.

hels - there was a proposal to make the Peebles - Penicuik railway line into a cycle route. In Jan 2009 there was a public meeting in Penicuik organized by sustrans, Midlothian council and borders council.

Haven't heard any more on the subject...

Another Perth native here. Whenever I go back I can never quite get over what a beautiful place it is. Doesnt quite chime with my memories of being chased around town in the mid-80s by soccer casuals and schemie minks from Hunters Crescent.

Completely agree, use of the word 'Mink' confirms you as a local.

I ride Kinnoull hill ever time I go home, it will forever be one of my favourite spots.

I have an eternal memory of a good freind who bought a Diamond back Apex as his first mountain bike (Steel, Rigid), pushed it to the top, had a fag, then went AOT on his first downhill and broke his collar bone.

"mink" a.k.a. "minker" term of abuse round our way too, and that's 120 miles North 🙂

OP

Could go on at length about how good Lithgae is but you'll find detailed info here:

http://www.linlithgow.com/sport.htm

If you have kids it's a no brainer in my view and I'm pretty certain you'll find it about as far removed from the picture painted by our Leith correspondent 😉

Now the important stuff - surprising amount and variety of mtb. Beecraigs and Muiravonside are doorstep, as is the Avon river trail. 50 mins by bike along the canal and you have the new Callender mtb trails. It's possible to return completely off road from these without using the canal. You can strike out to the coast (again off road)take the coastal path past, Blackness, South Queensferry(trails being built here now too) Dalmeny then up past Cramond and back along the canal. In fact there's so much variety I would only jump in the car now and drive over to the Pentlands for the novelty value. Glentress is about an hour but then so is Blair Athol 😉 Nearer still (1/2hr)you have the Lomonds, some great stuff over in Stirling / the Ochils and Carron Valley.

theblackmount - you've summed that up quite nicely... ...but then TJ thinks house prices in Lithgae are cheap so he's clearly confused!

Given the OP's request for semi-rural I think it is reasonably to assume that "nice quiet town" is probably preferable to a bustling city centre flat anyway.

Its not snobbery nor a dislike of council housing.

I just found it a souless and dull place as did she.

She lived in an estate of indentikit housing

with no facilities.

Not bad Poly but you forgot something - Boots in the High Street doesn't need a security guard. Unlike Leith... 😉

I rest my case.

Other plus point for Linlithgow and East Calder the West Lothian Clarion weekend road rides start from each of these places.