Wick or Thurso Experts?

squirly

Is anyone from this area or have knowledge? My partner and I have set out hearts on a house in this area and we need someone sensible to tell us were being ridiculous. Thanks in anticipation.

littlereddevil

It all depends on what sort of lifestyle you lead

Tojo_Ralph

squirly wrote:

Is anyone from this area or have knowledge? My partner and I have set out hearts on a house in this area and we need someone sensible to tell us were being ridiculous. Thanks in anticipation.

If you need someone sensible to answer your question, then someone from Wick or Thurso is the last person you need. .......... I wish I could be of more help.

twink

try http://www.caithness.org good website and has a forum too

LittleMissInDebt

Beat me to it Twink

squirly

Thanks for all the info I am steadily working my way through the forums.

MikeLB

As someone said, depends on the lifestyle you want and your potential family circumstances.

Bear in mind it is remote, the public services avaliable are good but limited and job oppurtunities also limited - Dounreay Nuclear Plant is in the process of winding down which was the biggest employer. There are the likes of BT, Tesco, Council work avaliable. Fuel prices are higher in general and is usually amongst the first on the main land to jump to over 100p a litre when fuel goes up and you are at the mercy of the weather in the winters with reagrds to food supplies to the supermarkets etc, with the main road and railways easily being blocked by snow. Cost of trains is not bad but journey times to Inverness are painfully slow (nearly 4 hours for 100 miles). Flights a little bit pricey but generally reliable (Wick to Kirkwall or Edinburgh only routes avaliable). Local resident disounts avaliable for Rail and Planes. House prices rising steadily now too due to influx of people moving in and pushing up prices. Education to College level avaliable at Thurso / University of Highlands and Islands. Degrees do tend to focus towards local needs (eg Nuclear Decommsioning, Tourism). Brain Drain is common with youths moving to Central Belt when they hit University age and not returning in a hurry either. Common across the Highlands in general. Local buses are good but car dependency is high and an unavoidable part of life IMO. Of the two, Wick defo has the upper hand in terms of regenration over Thurso.

Even with the advent of Tesco (A store Tesco has been struggling to get to grips with so far in terms of Fresh Food deliveries but is improving, thankfully!) and a retail park in Wick (Argos, Homebase, Lidl, Pets at Home etc), and possibly an ASDA in Thurso, Trips to Inverness / Dingwall would probably be a normal part of routine each month for access to more comprehensive services.

The landscape is beautiful and if it is remoteness you crave, then it makes sense. Community relations and a community spirit are very evident too. Some quite high unemployment in Pultneytown area of Wick though. The people are generally friendly and in terms of pounds per buck compared to down south, property is more appealling. But that will always have to be balanced against higher costs of living in terms of fuel etc. Having family in the area and being from Inverness, I have seen so many people move up from 'down south' to acheieve a 'dream' only to move away again once the novelty wears off a couple of years later or a harsh winter hits home. Its a decision you have to take very very seriously IMO.

Have you thought about maybe going there for a month first before making any concrete decisions? I would certainly advise it and would let you get the feel of the place first and do some fact finding with jobs etc.

squirly

MikeLB wrote:

As someone said, depends on the lifestyle you want and your potential family circumstances.

Bear in mind it is remote, the public services avaliable are good but limited and job oppurtunities also limited - Dounreay Nuclear Plant is in the process of winding down which was the biggest employer. There are the likes of BT, Tesco, Council work avaliable. Fuel prices are higher in general and is usually amongst the first on the main land to jump to over 100p a litre when fuel goes up and you are at the mercy of the weather in the winters with reagrds to food supplies to the supermarkets etc, with the main road and railways easily being blocked by snow. Cost of trains is not bad but journey times to Inverness are painfully slow (nearly 4 hours for 100 miles). Flights a little bit pricey but generally reliable (Wick to Kirkwall or Edinburgh only routes avaliable). Local resident disounts avaliable for Rail and Planes. House prices rising steadily now too due to influx of people moving in and pushing up prices. Education to College level avaliable at Thurso / University of Highlands and Islands. Degrees do tend to focus towards local needs (eg Nuclear Decommsioning, Tourism). Brain Drain is common with youths moving to Central Belt when they hit University age and not returning in a hurry either. Common across the Highlands in general. Local buses are good but car dependency is high and an unavoidable part of life IMO. Of the two, Wick defo has the upper hand in terms of regenration over Thurso.

Even with the advent of Tesco (A store Tesco has been struggling to get to grips with so far in terms of Fresh Food deliveries but is improving, thankfully!) and a retail park in Wick (Argos, Homebase, Lidl, Pets at Home etc), and possibly an ASDA in Thurso, Trips to Inverness / Dingwall would probably be a normal part of routine each month for access to more comprehensive services.

The landscape is beautiful and if it is remoteness you crave, then it makes sense. Community relations and a community spirit are very evident too. Some quite high unemployment in Pultneytown area of Wick though. The people are generally friendly and in terms of pounds per buck compared to down south, property is more appealling. But that will always have to be balanced against higher costs of living in terms of fuel etc. Having family in the area and being from Inverness, I have seen so many people move up from 'down south' to acheieve a 'dream' only to move away again once the novelty wears off a couple of years later or a harsh winter hits home. Its a decision you have to take very very seriously IMO.

Have you thought about maybe going there for a month first before making any concrete decisions? I would certainly advise it and would let you get the feel of the place first and do some fact finding with jobs etc.

Thank you very much for this reply it has given me a great deal to think about. In particular the idea about moving for a month (or 6) to check the place out is something were seriously considering and pretty much decided on. We are concerned about the job situation however the down scale in mortgage would give us a bit more breathing space.

hopingforahouse

We lived in Thurso for two years, although have been away for three nearly now. Caithness as a whole is both amazing, and also a nightmare. It seems to have improved since I left though. Argos is a big thing for Caithness, believe me!

Wick probably has more amenities than Thurso, but Thurso is a little bit nicer. Thurso also has the BT call centre. Dounreay (nearest Thurso) has lots of jobs, but also a lot of people who want to work there. If you're not too fussy, then you can probably get a job pretty much straight away somewhere, but it won't pay the same as a job in a large town/ city most likely.

When we lived there it was almost like living in the 60's or something. If you went to do your grocery shop any later than 3pm on Saturday there was no fresh bread, and hardly any fresh meat. The only place you could buy clothes were tiny wee shops that weren't exactly good quality, and very overpriced. I remember going to buy an alarm clock, and the cheapest one in the whole of Thurso was £45! It really is very, very remote. Realistically, if you want a new pair of shoes, and want a little bit of choice, you have to go to Inverness, which is a two hour drive, minimum. It can get quite depressing in the winter, as there's nothing to do, its dark ALL the time, and a trip down to Inverness in the car becomes treacherous. We nearly went off the road a few times with the snow. The road up is really terrible as well, even in the summer. There's no decent restuarants. It takes 4 hour on a rubbish train to Inverness, which frequently breaks down.

So these are the bad points! The good points? It really is amazing. Its so wild, and you feel so much more 'connected' to the country (I know that sounds really cheesy). You feel like you're in 'proper' Scotland, rather than Scotland lite. If you go anywhere out of town in your car, you're likely to see deer strolling around like they own the place (they do). There's a really strong community spirit, and whilst it make take a while for you to get accepted, the people are lovely. They are also all complete nuts, and drink far too much, but this is sort of a good point! Really - they're all bonkers. The local beaches are amazing for surfing and other watersports. I found that anyone with a degree or some kind of non-school education moved away quite quickly to the big city, so any qualifications will stand you in good stead. We lived in a house on the beach in Thurso, and got lulled to sleep by the waves at night in the summer (by gales in the winter;) ), had two bedrooms and a garden, for the same rent as would get you a tatty one bed flat in the city. During the summer it never really gets dark. You can go to Orkney for the weekend (also fab place).

All in all - not the easiest life, and we really wanted to move away - we only went for a specific job for OH, and moved as soon as we could. But now we don't live there - there's a h@ll of a lot we miss. Can hear police sirens in the distance outside at the moment. Might have heard them once in the whole time we lived there. I would give it a shot.

PM me if you wish also.

debulition

It depends on what you're looking for job-wise. Getting a job can be more dependent on who you know than what you know, but having a decent job is important starting point in a place like that.

Give some thought to what's important to you and what you'd miss or couldn't do without. Caithness really is remote and lacking in so many facilities and opportunities you'd take for granted somewhere more populated. On the other hand, if the wilderness is more valuable to you than shops and nightlife - go for it!

I grew up there, but couldn't get away fast enough when I finished school. I left to go to uni 10 years ago and wouldn't go back. Lovely place to visit though!

baileywoos

I live in a small village outside Wick having moved here from Lincolnshire some 4 years ago and I have to say I could never go back.
Wick has grown in terms of amenities and now pretty much has everything you could need shopwise so our trips to Inverness have thankfully been cut dramatically.
Entertainment is a bit of an issue for me. Theres the quad bike centre just past wick and theres a bowling Alley and Cinema in thurso but they are a good distance away (although the scenery is amazing and hardly many cars on the road). A trip to Thurso, although a fair few miles away roughly takes the same as what it can take to get from one end of a busy town in England to the other.
Parking is still free at the mo in Wick too - always a bonus. lol.
If you want the likes of McDonalds, ice skating WHSmith etc then you have to go to Inverness but it's a nice day out if you don't have to do it too often.

Basically, here in Wick we have Tesco, Co-op, Lidl, Boots, Pets at Home, Argos, New Look, Homebase, Carpet right, EWM, Woolies as well as other little shops such as £1 shop, newsagents and various other bargain places.

To me the only down side to being here is that I really really miss the English countryside. It's lovely up here don't get me wrong but it's ruggedness of landscape can take some getting used to and we simply don't have the rolling hills and valleys and lovely trees that we have in England.
Still, we get mountains (hills to some locals but belive me, they're mountains. lol), clean air, gorgeous clean, empty beaches and a great laid back lifestyle.

My advice would be - Do it! You'll no regret it.