does anyone live in the hebrides?

seafarers_wife

in particular the isle of lewis?

looking for somewhere remote with good local services and this has popped up in my search. just wondering if anyones got any advice before i go full throttle and cut myself off from the world

a move wont happen for a couple of years but im scouting out potential places now so that when it does come time to move we will be ready.

thanks

maninthestreet

Try the Shetlands as well. Or the Scilly Isles.

wymondham

...failing all these, try Norfolk. Our bus service gives the impression of being cut off from the outside world!

BitterAndTwisted

There are a couple of regular posters on the Old Style forum from the Isles. OrkneyStar comes to mind but there are others. I enjoy hearing about their self-sufficiency but not about having to make six-monthly trips to the mainland for what to me are daily essentials. Being so far way means that anything that's not produced locally is either unaffordable or unavailable, especially in winter. I wouldn't fancy being cut off by wild winter storms and not having a pint of milk in the house.

Jowo_2

Don't forget to factor in the fundamentalist Calvanism of the locals, the wee frees, in that area with an almost complete closedown of services on a Sunday.

I've only ever visited that area as a tourist and upset the locals by having the temerity to go for a cycle ride on the Sabbath- every car of church goers that passed me tooted me (not in a nice way...). Another friend stayed in a guest house in that locale and the landlady was extremely troubled about being asked if her husband could watch a sports final on the TV on a sunday. A compromise was reached whereby he could watch it in the lounge, so long as the curtains were drawn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Outer_Hebrides

As ever, an incomer has to consider the usual tensions that come with moving to an area where locals feel their housing, services, jobs, etc, are under threat by outsiders moving to the area.

Bailey101

I'm from the Isle of Skye originally and as much as I love the hebrides, I don't know if I'd recommend moving full time if you've not spent considerable time there already. The summers are lovely, but the winters can be very bleak - torrential rain, gale force winds, cancelled ferries etc. There are a lot of people who move to these sorts of places and are gone by xmas because they underestimate just how remote they really are.

Maybe try it for a year or so before you buy somewhere and commit yourself - it's not as romantic a way of life as the tv would have you believe.

xxx

Bailey101

Jowo wrote: »

Don't forget to factor in the fundamentalist Calvanism of the locals, the wee frees, in that area with an almost complete closedown of services on a Sunday.

I've only ever visited that area as a tourist and upset the locals by having the temerity to go for a cycle ride on the Sabbath- every car of church goers that passed me tooted me (not in a nice way...). Another friend stayed in a guest house in that locale and the landlady was extremely troubled about being asked if her husband could watch a sports final on the TV on a sunday. A compromise was reached whereby he could watch it in the lounge, so long as the curtains were drawn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Outer_Hebrides

As ever, an incomer has to consider the usual tensions that come with moving to an area where locals feel their housing, services, jobs, etc, are under threat by outsiders moving to the area.

This is exactly how Skye was when I was growing up - our local playpark had the gates chained up on a sunday, and it was only a few years ago that the co-op in Portree started opening on a sunday (with reduced hrs).

Also you'll need to bear in mind that there aren't enough jobs for locals, and as an outsider, you might struggle to get a decent job.

xxx

lincroft1710

Or the Scilly Isles.

According to Nigel Farrell's "An Island Parish", Scilly is a very expensive place to buy anywhere.

seafarers_wife

thanks, dont need a job as oh is in the merchant navy, just looking at places with nice houses and an out of the way place of living, but i may have taken it a tad to far! the transport we need to be near an airport so that wouldnt be good if couldnt get off the island when he needed to. will look further into it as im not practical, i just get something in my head and i want to do it!

Jowo_2

There are plenty of isolated places within an hours drive of Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Prestwick and Edinburgh airport.

This is because Scotland is very much less populated than the south and all of these airports are close to fairly rural and semi-rural places, quite a few with good transport links to the nearest urban centre.

For example, the southern highlands begin just north of Glasgow, Morayshire is full of small villages and is between Inverness and Aberdeen and so forth.

You don't need to go to a tiny island off the mainland to get peace, quiet and solitude...

Norma_Desmond

As Jowo says, but have you considered Pembrokeshire too?
We're certainly remote (especially here in the north), but you could be at Cardiff Airport in 2 hours.
You obviously like 'wild' places and we've got a stunning coastline (National Park) and beautiful moors, mountains and rivers.