Moving to Ayrshire

An old thread, but I moved to Ayrshire (from Glasgow) 10 years ago and it's the best decision I ever made!

We sold a tiny 3 bed detached house with postage stamp garden in a decent part of Glasgow and for the same money got a huge 4 bed, 2 large lounge house with massive sun deck running along the back of the house with 1/3 acre garden backing onto open countryside. It's in a small village that's classed as Irvine - mid way between Irvine and Kilmarnock. 10 mins from the beach and 20 mins from Glasgow.

After buying, lots of local folks said to us "OMG - you don't want to live there ... it's a rough place". Scared the life out of us but hand on heart, I've never met such lovely people. So don't be too put off by reputation in some of these towns as very often it's a thing of the past.

I find Irvine and Kilmarnock both to be fine, and there are lots of little villages scattered around. As I say, 10 years living here now and I couldn't be happier. Quiet roads, everything you could want close to hand and absolutely lovely people. Of course, if you like city living it might be too quiet and I'm not sure what it's like re jobs (I'm self-employed).

You'll find plenty of perfectly nice ex council properties - semis and terraces with gardens - for around £50k. You can get lovely bungalows or detached houses with huge gardens for well under £200k. So compared to many parts of the country property is dirt cheap. These aren't 'posh' areas, but areas with nice people and next to no crime that I'm ever aware of. Good neighbors.

I'm not keen on the government/local council, but it really doesn't impact your daily life. Despite their dominance in recent years enough people oppose them strongly to keep them in check.