Contemplating a move from London to Scotland (Edinburgh outskirts )

Greymug

I've lived in Edinburgh for almost 10 years and if now you asked me to pick between Edinburgh and Glasgow (in which I also lived) I would pick Glasgow any day of the week. Yes it rains more but I've always found Glasgow more genuinely Scottish.

It's a weird feeling when you walk around Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and you barely hear any Scottish person anymore. Edinburgh Council have been working relentlessly to take the city away from the locals and transform it into a city for tourists and university students. Shops on Princes Street have slowly but surely closed down to make space for hotels and tourist attractions. Old building blocks with pubs and local shops...sold to developers who are now turning those building into university students accommodation.

If you want to be by the coast, you should either pick East Lothian or Fife, but be aware the communities are pretty small so it might end up being too big of a change.

fewcloudy

Arfa__ said:

Yep, all good info on Uni fees eligibility. Granted saving the kids a bunch of debt as they start out in life is attractive, it most certainly is not the sole reason for decisions on moving. We just love the country, the scenery, we're keen to escape London and the busy South East and switch to a more chilled out lifestyle. It's not gonna be a cheap move, we're anticipating £10k on moving and £11-21k on LLBT (stamp duty), we'll certainly be staying put for a good while, purchasing our long-term home that'll see us through into retirement.

I suppose if my eldest is declined Uni funding after living there for 2 years, she could consider taking a gap year if she really wanted to still avoid the fees...

Your eldest will not pay tuition fees from everything you have said so far. SAAS are very experienced in telling when someone is moving solely for this reason. And yes, a gap year or two is what those ineligible for fees generally do.

[Deleted User]

Greymug said:

Skiddaw1 said:

Edinburgh is lovely, but as has been said, relatively expensive. Have you considered further north? Inverness is a splendid town, as is Aberdeen.

Whoever says Aberdeen is a splendid town has clearly never stayed in Aberdeen

I lived in Aberdeen for 8 years and I liked it. 

fewcloudy

zagubov said:

Posters north of the border could let correct me if i'm wrong, but I think you can apply through UCAS in S5 and get an offer for a secure place a year earlier than in the rest of the UK. If you don't want to go to uni at 17 which I don't think is quite so common now, instead of a gap year, you can stay in school and take S6 but might not get much out of it if you've had an unconditional offer already because of your good Highers results.
Still, good problems to have.

What you are referring to is called Deferred Entry.  It is not solely a Scottish thing.
https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/when-apply/deferred-entry#:~:text=What is deferred entry?,your entry by one year.
In practice this does not happen with S5's.
Very few S5's apply to university and those that do, do so to go to university not to remain at school for another year.

Greymug

Lover_of_Lycra said:

I lived in Aberdeen for 8 years

I'm very sorry for you

Skiddaw1

Greymug said:

Skiddaw1 said:

Edinburgh is lovely, but as has been said, relatively expensive. Have you considered further north? Inverness is a splendid town, as is Aberdeen.

Whoever says Aberdeen is a splendid town has clearly never stayed in Aberdeen

I've stayed there many times over many years. One of my best friends (sadly now deceased) was from Aberdeen. She'd be turning in her grave!

fewcloudy

Greymug said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

I lived in Aberdeen for 8 years

I'm very sorry for you

That’s a bit harsh!😔
At the risk of sounding like Pollyanna here, I think there’s good and bad points in all places.
I agree with your comments about Edinburgh city centre being a sort of ‘tourist hell’ and being devoid of “Scottishness”.
But tbh I will likely find myself on the royal mile or similar about once a year, maybe even less🤷🏼‍♂️
The places I eat/drink/live/play etc are not like that at all.

fewcloudy

Greymug said:

Portobello and Joppa are nice only in winter. When it's warmer, all the Edinburgh neds flood the Portobello promenade, making it feel like Magaluf.

Hmm. I know exactly what you mean, but to be fair, there’s a lot of beautiful houses in both of those places barely a 10min walk from the beach and promenade that the neds will have absolutely zero impact on. I only wish I could afford them!😂
On the other side of the main road from the beach through those places is gorgeous imo.

edgex

Edinburgh, you'd be looking at new or nearly new-build around Gilmerton & Niddrie. Character costs! All those lovely terraces are now flats.

Glasgow is just that bit bigger, so there's more housing, meaning more comes up.

Aberdeen prices are still crazy.

Sofee3

I agree Edinburgh is very touristy. I live in the North of Glasgow, place called Milngavie, it's a lovely village but has 20min train journey to the city, somewhere like that would be good for you, good schools too, I'd check the secondary schools league table for good schools and then look at those areas.