Anyone know anything about

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The Scottish borders? which towns to stay away from, which are definitely liveable / commutable to Edinburgh if needed ..

Looking for a small town/village that has a few shops, pub, cafes etc.., commutable to Edinburgh if required but retains a bit of charm.

Not a massive amount to front up mortgage wise

marisco_2

What would you consider to be a reasonable commute? Edinburgh is about an hours drive from Callander. If this is a daily commute then that may be too far, but if it is occassional then you might want to consider it. My cousins use to live there and it is a really beautiful and charming town which has all the amenities you listed as wanting. I have spent many happy holidays there. I have no idea about property prices but someone local to the area may hopefully be along later to help with that.

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marisco wrote: »

What would you consider to be a reasonable commute?

up to an hour (public transport)

marisco wrote: »

Edinburgh is about an hours drive from Callander. .

Thanks, I know Callander - it is very lovely.

However am looking for info on the Scottish Border towns/villages. Anyone know? Heard that Galashiels isn't the best, but not sure about other towns....

shjo558

Hi, Gala is the best place for shopping although coming from Edinburgh you'll probably not be impressed as you'll be more used to the Gyle and ocean terminal etc! It's also where the drinkers go at the weekend so I wouldn't recommend a hotel there as it can get a bit noisy at night.

Melrose would be the best place to stay, tiny village but it's the posh town in the borders so you won't have any problems. Loads of of nice hotels, places for lunch and walks etc. (No, I don't stay there but stay in another borders town)!

What sort of things would you like to do? Walking, shopping, swimming etc?

Norma_Desmond

Parts of the Fife coast are lovely; I grew up in Aberdour and it's a great village - beaches, good pubs and shops, its own castle, and a railway station that gets you into central Edinburgh in less than half an hour.

Lifeforms

Okay, Galashiels, okay to visit, and food shop, not to live in, unless you can afford one of the nicer dearer places away from numerous estates. Shopping quality is dire, but it is the best shopping town of that particular area, and does hold the Main Borders General hospital (Melrose, couple of miles away), however that would be one hospital I would personally avoid at all costs (IMO/dire Experiences there)

Melrose seems like a nice wee town, no idea of living there. <-- out of all the places I Can think that would match your idea, this would be the one. With the abbey, touristy, cafes, not great food stores (but couple of miles from Gala for Tescos/Asda etc), and nice views.

I wouldn't bother with Hawick, Jedburgh, Innerleithen, Peebles, Selkirk. Mainly because If it were me, I'd end up in cheap accommodation where all named are problematic. However some places I'd definitely not feel safe wandering around where ever I lived! Likes of Hawick seem to be dirt cheap, less desirable areas because of the obvious reasoning.

The kicker here is there is no real train service to Edinburgh that side of the borders. Eventually there will be, when it's built over budget, over time, and so on. So be aware of the route of the train service (to be built) prior to any buying through out Selkirkshire/Peebleshire/Not sure of actual route. Until the train lines are built, you are looking at Bus commuting, which is neither fun, nor particularly fast from that spot of the area. Occasionally you find yourself having to detour through places like Gala, for buses anyway.

Does it need to be that area, or would you consider the likes of (english) Berwick area (55ish miles to gala) but has direct train up Scotland, Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc, and straight down to London. Decent bus services both for Edinburgh/Newcastle, and outlying areas.

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Thanks, great info on the Borders there.

Re Fife - yes I've lived there, was looking for info on Borders!

Thanks for info about Gala, had heard pretty much the same. Though Peebles and Innerleithen were nice places however? So I've heard anyway. Melrose is a bit too far away I think. Probably thinking villages/towns prior to Gala.

Have heard the tracks are starting to be laid for the Borders railway? not sure if this info is up to date? http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/

Guess somewhere on the train route is probably best.. bus/drive until !

Thanks for any more good, bad and ugly info on the Borders - am doing a lot of my own research however great to hear first hand info.

Macca83_2

I used to live in Gala. A lovely looking town in beautiful surroundings, good for a short visit but not much else. I found that despite looking like a sleepy little town it was pretty rough. One of my mates was very nearly sexually assaulted, another had his nose broken. I found a drunk poking about in my hallway one evening. The shops are pretty dire and transport links to Edinburgh aren't particularly great. As someone said, there's no train, the bus takes over an hour and the road is very twisty.

Lifeforms

Essentially it does depend where you live in most of the smaller towns and villages around Gala, but unless you're out of the estates, by a fair bit it's just not very nice to live there. Not necessarily antisocial, out side of the likes of Hawick, or Jeddeh. Innerleithen always just looks so depressing as you drive though, a sea of grey concrete mostly.

Melrose is only a couple of miles from Gala, thus the main bus station of the area, but also close to Tweedbank which is where the Train system will start from, and again very close to the main hospital. Although it is before Gala on the bus route to Edinburgh, the buses to and from are very frequent, as it's usually though gattonside, melrose, tweedbank/langlee (run a mile from langlee!)/galashiels for the hospital route.

Having lived in Galashiels, I do have to say I wouldn't choose to move back to anywhere near that area. Rather do buses and trains from the English border to Edinburgh, Glasgow etc.

You could have a look at Stow, or Gorebridge. No experience of those, but they look quite nice area wise.

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Thanks... will stay away from Gala, aside from shopping (food)!

looking for a bit of a little village/town.. just a few shops, pub (before you get as far down as Gala)... bit of a bungalow house with biggish garden...

will check out Stow and Gorebridge, cheers for tip.

Is it a case of 'grew up there or spent many years there' and looking for something new... or is it just really dire down in the borders? I would try and get a job in the borders so wouldn't need to commute.... I do have a car tho so sure that will help

Lifeforms

I think with me, I spent a large part of my late teenage life enjoying the benefits that were there, 3-4am pubs, clubs, etc but it soured once I got more mature and didn't want to be amused by that alone.

Living in some of the less desirable areas, and seeing things like property prices being so cheap, and the same properties/areas coming up so often that I really started to dislike the area. As I say, food shopping is fine there, as is passing through, but for me, and because I relied on buses so much, I ended up stuck on routes that I wouldn't wish on my enemies. Seems dramatic, but when you live in places that you fondly refer to as the local police station, because it seems police are in that area permanently, then you sour of the area.

If I could've gone outside of the bigger towns, into the smaller areas without the need to rely on buses it'd have been prettier, and a nicer experience. Certainly some of the areas of the scottish borders, berwickshire, selkirkshire, peebleshire is incredibly beautiful, natural, and very pretty.
A large part of the decision to move away was to distance from the local hospital as i pretty much changed more of my illness care further afield, edinburgh, glasgow, so felt I would want a faster way to get to better hospital care.

Whilst the railway has been in plans and desires for years, it never came to fruition whilst I was there. It's great that it is now being built, and frankly how big an area like that has remained without a railway link is inconceivable now, still misses on a south link though.