Places to live between Glasgow and Edinburgh.... ADVICE PLEASE

carolissosmiley_2

Hi All,

My Husband is getting a transfer and will be working at Edinburgh airport, We have been searching for houses online but we are doing this totally blind as we are not familiar with the areas.

We have been looking over by Hamilton and surrounding villages as we need to be able to commute to edinburgh but also Dumfries where my parents live. We have also been looking at Livingston and surrounding but we are going round and round in circles... HELP!!!

Please can people tell me where is nice to live, we have a 19month old daughter so I'm keen to get involved in toddler groups and obviously be in a community with lots of other families.

Just really looking for your views on the places you know and where to defo avoid.

Many Thanks
Carol

mvteng

I'm assuming the prices in Edinburgh are putting you off. Certainly prices are now pretty low, & lots of houses are on the market for a long time making good buying opportunities. Check out www.espc.co.uk

If you search Corstorphine on espc, the cheapest flats currently £73K, & its literally a 15 minute cycle ride from the airport, & the local schools really good, with loads of young families in the area.

Without knowing your budget & what sort of house your looking for its hard to comment.

Geographically, Hamiltons not that near - maybe 1 hour commute

Livingston is a new town with lots of roundabouts but not much personality - it depends what type of house your looking for.

Otherwise, you have Kirkliston & Broxburn, but personally I would maybe look at Dunfermline / Inverkeithing / Dalgety Bay in Fife, although they are a more difficult commute to the airport & would need either a car, or a combination of train / bus.

carolissosmiley_2

Hiya thanks for that,

Ok some more info.

We have a budget of around£150,000, It's not the prices putting us of Edinburgh, we would love to live there one day it's just that one of the main reasons for our move is to be closer to family who are all in Dumfries hence Hamilton cause it's about half way between both.
We expect a commute of around an hour max as that's what we have to do now so that's ok, I'm sure compared to the M6 it's gotta be a nicer commute!!!

Hope this sheds a bit more light?!

Thanks
Carol

weekakki

Hi Carol,
I live in Lanark , South Lanarkshire...in the middle of Glasgow and Edinburgh but slightly South.
It is about 45 min drive to Edi airport (did it today). I presume your husband wont be travelling peak times ? If he is could take slightly longer
Its also 45 minutes to Glasgow and only 15 minutes to M74 to head South to Dumfries which takes about another hour (I sometimes do car boot sales there)
Try looking up Lanarkshire and clyde valley on google

Lanark is a nice friendly town lots of toddler groups and primary schools and a lot of community projects. Biggar which is slightly more South is also a lovely town but maybe just not as many facilities as Lanark.

I work for the police and would definately say Lanark and surrounding is much safer area than Hamilton/Blantyre area

Towns of Lanark, Carluke and Biggar house prices will be slightly more than the surrounding villages.

Hope this helps...any questions give me a shout and good luck

slbhill

carolissosmiley wrote: »

.
We expect a commute of around an hour max as that's what we have to do now so that's ok, I'm sure compared to the M6 it's gotta be a nicer commute!!!

Not much nicer I'm afraid LOL.

Someone suggested places in Fife... they're nice but with works starting on the new bridge it's going to be mayhem commuting across the Forth for some years yet.

It sounds like hubby will be commuting by car so you've got pretty much free choice of locations - will you be driving to Dumfries as well? Doing either by public transport changes things significantly.

Personally I would think quite hard about how often you'll do each trip... presumably the commute will be every day but the family trip less often? In which case I would look closer to Edinburgh and further from Dumfries - save half an hour every day in the rush hour by "paying" 15 minutes every few days at whatever time you visit family. But it depends very much on your circumstances.

As for where is "nice" to live, it's really too general a question I'm afraid! Almost any town has nice bits and less nice bits, it's a very local thing. I moved from Fife to Falkirk 18 months ago & love it - ideal for us as I work in Glasgow & OH in Edinburgh, and we're 2 miles from Falkirk High station which has 4 trains per hour each way. We got a lot more for our money by being on the edge of town instead of in the middle... you can do the same in most places, but it's very much down to personal preference. We could have got a lovely house about 1/2 mile from the station for the same price... but it was a full size down from the one we got a bit further away.

We looked at a lot of towns in West Lothian when we moved and I'm sure there are nice ones but most of the ones we looked at look just what they are - run down ex-mining villages with lots of unemployment.

If I were you I would put a bit more thought into what you want... for example you mention toddler groups, do you want to be able to walk to several so you have a choice? In which case limit yourself to the bigger towns.

If you look at the map of central Scotland and see where Hamilton is and where Edinburgh airport is, you can see you will have to follow the M8 (or find a route which avoids it). The M8 is the M6 or the M25 of central Scotland. Avoid it like the plague if at all possible! The other pinch point near the airport is Newbridge junction but going to the airport you're probably stuck with that, to be honest.

mvteng

Hi Carol,

SO, just to give you some idea, & let you know what you get for your money (These are all taken from the ESPC - I've not included areas I'm not familiar with e.g. Lanark / Biggar / etc) :

This is at the right side of edinburgh for the airport. Travel by car to the airport in the rush hour - maybe 20 minutes (or the same by bike) http://www.espc.com/properties/details.aspx?pid=305378_espc&sid=31435451415

Dalgety Bay - So you'd have to cross the bridge. If no traffic 20 minutes drive to airport, In rush hour maybe 40 minutes to 1 hour (max) - Easy cycle in 1/2 hour http://www.espc.com/properties/details.aspx?pid=306424_espc&sid=31435725462

Broxburn - 15 minutes with no traffic - 1/2 hour ish in rush hour.http://www.espc.com/properties/details.aspx?pid=304867_espc&sid=31435885259

These are all just top try to give you some idea what you can get for your money. The espc website is really easy to use.

I know I'm biased (I live in Edinburgh - 5 minutes walk from the first house), but I'd take the Edinburgh house every time.

Nosht

Take a look further west towards the Dollar, Tillicoultry, Menstrie, Stirling area, no tolls on the bridges & beautiful scenery on the Ochil Hills. My cousin's son, who also works at Ed. Airport, moved there with his young family recently & loves the area.


Regards,

N.

carolissosmiley_2

WOW!! thank you all so much for your replies, It's all really helpful, As it happens we've seen a house we really love in Carluke (only on the internet so may be a different story when we get round to viewing) But still looking at all your suggestions
Thanks again really appreciate it
Carol

bluebeary

linlithgow is quite nice and ive seen a little bit of falkirk also ?

Realbairn

Falkirk - in particular Polmont, Maddiston, Rumford, Brightons, Reddingmuirhead and Redding are around 20/25 min drive from Edinburgh Airport, all villages within 2/3 miles of the motorway, and definitely prices within your range but you don't say what size of property your looking for within your budget.

Fitzio

Hi Carol. I stay in Lanarkshire and I would recommend Uddingston for transport links and a nice village/small town feel with good schools. It has easy access to M8 (particularly if you live in the Tannochside area), M74 and M73. Bothwell is also a beautiful village, but might be a bit expensive and doesn't have a train station (although not far to Uddingston). If you did want to live out this way, I think that easy access to the M8 would be a must to cut down on journey time for a daily commute, with relatives being a secondary concern as I assume you wouldn't be visiting every day.

The M8 has improved and isn't too bad to commute, but it only takes heavy rain and a couple of accidents to cause severe delays.