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Perthshire or Dumfries/Galloway
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Yeah, although I've never been to Alyth, would be interested to see how bad it gets in comparison
Well the one of the local pubs the owner used to deal drugs from the kitchen apparently...then some new owners took it over when we were there hoping to turn it around and stupidly lifted every bar on every psycho going, needless to say it ended up in violence, noise etc...I used to feel very unsafe if my OH was away as the fights could get pretty bad. My OH saw a fight one night with a policeman ending up standing over this guy and blood coming out of him...Oh and the drunkards used to piddle up our wall...(one of our neighbours was quite often out with the hose on a weekend morning clearing up)
Some of the younger ones i used to feel sorry for as they would get so drunk fall over and couldn't get back up and they would bang their heads and stumble towards the cars....You were lucky to get any sleep as they'd keep going until 4/5am...if not later....The local community officer did get involved at one point but once they realised hwo bad the problem was they were there nearly every Fri/Sat night sorting people out...
The traffic used to be terrible as well with lorries and tractors going up and down all day every day and throughout the night....
One of the worst places i have ever lived in......
On the other hand you couldn't pay me to set foot in Falkirk (rudest people in the world and generally filthy) and Stirling which I suspect is the litter capital of Scotland.
I guess you will get numerous views from many people - it would be good if you could spend a long weekend in each area and see it at it's best and worst.
Aberfeldy, Crieff, Kinross, Auchterarder etc all have their problems as does Castle Douglas, Dumfries etc. there is no where immune to difficult residents. With regard to traffic in Alyth you are living in an agricultural based country village where to expect anything other than traffic, tractors, lorries etc going about at all hours is part and parcel of living in an agricultural based area. I brought my kids up in Alyth from when they were born until they went to high school, then we moved back to Blairgowrie and have to say that we had all the amenities required, and never had any trouble in either of the places, however I am not saying that it doesnt happen, you just have to look at the papers, however court appearances with addresses other than Blairgowrie and Alyth are quite the norm so all the bad apples are not in the one barrell.
To slate any of these places without actually living therefor a period of time and not giving a full perspective is unfair to the OP. Personally I am more than happy to stay in Blairgowrie and happy with the time I stayed in ALyth, if you require any other info please PM me,
cheers
Suzybloo.
We did live in Alyth and it was a very violent/noisy place at nights at the weekends, we had less trouble in some areas of Aberdeen when we lived there. Maybe you didn't actually live in central Alyth and maybe because you haven't lived there for a long while you don't have a clue about how bad it has become....As the women who runs the local coffee shop there said she was really afraid living in central Alyth when she did and she was glad she moved out....
Sorry but your views are out of touch, there are other places just as bad as Alyth but we couldn't believe half of what went on there (and we lived on one of the main streets in the village)...As i said the local community officer confirmed what we were told that drugs were sold out of the kitchen of one the more notrious pubs in Alyth for many years maybe you missed that....When we also mentioned to people what it was like living just up from this pub, people who didn't even live there but had visited Alyth knew exactly the pub we mean't has it has such a reputation....
The facts speak for themselves, our landlord sold his two properties on the main street last year, and two neighbours surrounding them also sold, one of them we wouldn't' have blamed them for leaving after having to hose the vomit and wee down most weekends after having zero sleep at all...
There are some nice areas around Alyth but don't ever say that it's not that bad because believe you and me it is, it is hell on earth that after having little sleep nearly every weekend for a year it nearly cost us our health too...
I stay in Dumfriesshire, work in Dumfries and stay 10mins from Gretna. Like others have said each area has its good and bad points. Don't really know CD well but know my Mum, Granny and Aunt all think its a nice wee town. Think Kirkcudbright school is a better secondary than Castle Douglas.
And I was up in Abberfeldy last summer nice area too.
Best thing to do is have a few days in each area and try and get a feel for the place.
Dumfries isn't a great centre though but there are lovely areas nearby.
Where I stay I'm halfway between Carlisle and Dumfries and 10mins from motorway which is ideal to get away
My take on this - we live in the East End of Dundee, life here is pretty perfect for us, the school my DD will attend is the top non fee paying school for the region, it is just over a mile's walk away, we never have any trouble here during the day, or night, the house prices are reasonable, there are loads of things for kids to do whether they're teens or younger. There's a top notch teaching hospital ( Ninewells) and two universities, along with technical colleges, arts etc. It's an hour's drive from Edinburgh or Aberdeen, a wee bit longer for Glasgow.
When I do go into the city centre for clothes shopping I have my eyes opened, as that's the only time I really see the ned contingent of the folks who live in the estates here.
We have most things a bigger city has, the one thing that lets us down is the attitude of some people who live here, they don't see how great a little city it is...:o Having said that it does have some really rough areas I'd not want to live anywhere near... bit with the right budget you can live a remarkably sheltered life here.:o
Balance 19th April '07 = minus £27,640
Balance 1st November '09 = mortgage paid off with £1903 left over. Title deeds are now ours.
We are looking to move into the countryside surrounding the towns so would never come across the trouble hopefully. The main things we want is a good secondary school for our child.
We have stayed for a week in the dumfries area a few years ago and liked it. I didn't think Dumfries centre looked fabulous but that doesn't bother us. We enjoyed our time in the area but it's so different to living somewhere.
We recently had a weekend stay near Auchterader. I loved the surrounding areas but again difficult to get a real feel for what it would be like to live there.
I have come to the conclusion that most places have problems these days. Where we live at the moment is quite rough. It's just the fear of the unknown that is a bit daunting.
Thanks again for responses
Blairgowrie is basically three towns in one. Rosemount (very upmarket and posh); Blairgowrie itself (a bit like Perth in miniature); and Rattray (not so good....to be honest i.e. the "rough side of town"). Believe me I'm born and bred in the East End of Glasgow and I've lived in Blairgowrie for five years and anyone that tells me that it is a rough place don't know the meaning of the word!!! Honestly, I've (touch wood) never had a problem. Dundee and Perth are 16 miles away in either direction; there is a reasonably good bus service to both, a massive Tesco, a fairly big CoOp, swimming pool, public library. Plus you've got the wonderful Glen Shee literally 20 miles up the road.
Alyth - I don't rate very highly....there is only one bus to Perth and Dundee, and Blairgowrie is the nearest town with any proper amenities - and the two are connected by an utterly horrible road which is plagued by idiot drivers and nutters on motorbikes. Not a lot in Alyth really....apart from golf courses and easy access to the Angus glens.
Perth vs Dundee - well Perth is by far the prettier of the two, and generally more middle-class with prices to match. Downside is the shopping is very inferior to that of Dundee. Not a lot of work in Perth either, unless you work for the Hydro Board (aka Scottish & Southern Energy) - which is like the major employer in the town. Dundee is a former industrial city - a lot more employment opportunities and shopping is miles ahead of Perth. Trouble is industrial decline has scarred Dundee very greatly, a lot of bad neighbourhoods, horrible council estates with pockets of affulence in between - good compromise would be to look towards areas like Camperdown, Birkhill and Muirhead -which are on the road out towards Blairgowrie/Alyth.
Hope this helps.
CD is very nice small town, good local shops and great surrounding country. Galloway coast is attractive.
Other towns in area, esp Dumfries and Stranrear are poor, and getting worse. Communication by road isn't good, rail and air non-existent. Job prospects are limited, and people although generally honest are very parochial. Education is OK, and some schools are excellent. Young people with talent have to leave tho'.
I don't know Perthshire well, but at least you can get to Edinburgh or Glasgow easily!
Think hard what you want, and what you need now. Also think longer term for you and the children. Are you Scottish?? There can be some anti-English feeling in small places, and fitting in is not always easy!