Moved from England to Scotland

[MKG]

I had the time of my life in Glasgow - absolutely loved it, to the point of seriously considering staying there (money won out). But I'm never convinced by this "Central Belt" chat. Sure, that's where the population is (and therefore the jobs are), but I found the eastern half of the CB very different to the west. For a start, they have a sense of humour in Glasgow but are archetypically dour in Edinburgh (I'm going to get into trouble for that ).

Dundee's nice, on the other hand. Ah well - there goes another old prejudice.

Mike

[Annpan]

goooooo Weegies!

[happyhippy]

Hi Andy,
We moved from Wiltshire to Scotland nearly 10 years ago.We were looking to buy a house with land,and work part time.So off we went,up to Scotland (Sth West mainly)every other weekend to look at properties.After about 3 months we found the "ideal"place.Or so we thought!We looked at a great house (nothing special,small cottage but had two acres of land),walked around the village and drove to surrounding areas.I'm not sure,even to this day,why,but I somehow picked up bad vibes from the village.Nothing untoward happened,just a gut feeling.As we were driving back to Wiltshire my husband started talking about putting an offer in for the cottage.I was against it,no real reason,I had nothing to base my decision on,except to say "Somethings not quite right"?After a week or two and after much discussion I figured we'd give it a shot,afterall the price was good and the countryside was gorgeous.So we put in an offer.A solicitor dealt with the sale.She asked me if I was sure we were doing the right thing?I said yes,and wondered why she asked me.Well we organised the move,and everything went smoothly until there wasa huge petrol strike!The removal truck pulled out of the deal a week before,through fear they would not be able to return to England.So we paid a friend and crammed everything into a rental truck and off we went.The night we arrived we decided we would go to the nearest pub in our new village and get something to eat.I had my two daughters with us,then aged 10 and 12.We opened the pub door,the pub was full of life,people laughing,talking loudly ect.Then..........then all looked up and stopped!We made our way to the bar and got drinks.Still no one was talking.We sculled our drinks and left in a hurry!Well to cut a long story short Andy,the following week I answered a knock at the front door,opened it to find a family stood there.They introduced themselves and said they were from Leeds and had moved to the village a month ago.They also told us they were moving asap due to racial abuse.We could'nt believe what we were hearing.Surely they must of rubbed the locals up the wrong way?As we are quite global we figured maybe it was just a one off and all would be well.I wish!!!!!!Shortly after moving,my kids were subjected to abuse from the local kids.They were told to constantly "Go Home"got beaten up,ganged up on,it still hurts me to tell this story.My kids are'nt even english,they're australian!!!!! We had moved up to this village with the expectation of fully immersing ourselves with the locals,but sadly this never happened.I even have scottish blood in my body (grandfather was scottish)but that did'nt seem to make any difference!Unfortunately although we were successful in getting work(both fulltime)we just could not stand having the kids abused any longer.The nearest police station was 20 miles away,so even when something happened,by the time the cops arrived,the kids in question would be safely back in their own homes.I'm sure it works out for many people(we have friends that live in benders in a forest )but we ended up moving back to England.Its a real shame it did'nt work out because apart from that,we actually loved living there.I wish you luck and I do hope its successful for you.

[citizentwiglet]

That's such a shame, HH, I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you.

I will admit, we got some rather frosty receptions from some people in Bellshill when we first moved there (despite OH being from Bailleston, just down the road), it took a while to find out which pubs were OK to drink in etc (in Bellshill, none of them). We didn't have a lot of choice when we moved to Bothwell - our landlord was selling up and we were just looking for another place in a hurry, and found this place - OK, it's on a scheme that looks like it should be in Chechnya, but it's OK.

I thought Bothwell was going to be desperately snobby with the exception of our scheme, which looked a bit rough - looks can be deceptive. I never felt out of place in Bothwell, I've made some really good friends (though it is, in a way, easier to make friends when you've got small kids because you go to toddler groups, nursery, the park etc and just start chatting) both on the scheme and from the 'posh houses'.

Our experiences in Bellshill showed that there are still ignorant, small-minded people wherever you go; our experiences of Bothwell have been much better, and have shown us that most people are really welcoming. I wonder whether it's a jobs thing - there is quite a lot of unemployment in Bellshill, so I wonder if they had that 'coming up here, taking our jobs and pushing up the house prices' attitude.

Oh, and I agree with Mike - Glasgow is MUCH better than Edinburgh, heeheehee. Stay west of Livingston and you'll be OK!

[Andy Hamilton]

Well quite a mixed response, exactly as I thought it would be really! But I think the thoughts of feeling more open etc are exactaly the reasons I want to go up. Central belt, yep I can see why people would be for and against, but my view out the window at the moment is another row of houses, down the end of the street is a block of flats and yes I do have parks but my nearest bit of decent "wild space" is full of people and is not that wild. I am really looking forward to being able to cycle to Loch Lomond as it is only about 50 miles from where I live.

Have to sort out work for me and more importantly Emma before moving up there, so it won't be straight away. Also as I am part way through working on my new book it will be good to get that done before moving anywhere, especially as my editor lives in Bristol! So, boring but practical reasons for not running straight up there. Also the other sensible thing is to move up for 6 months to rented accomodation where we think we want to live. Then suss out where is good to live and if we have made the right choice, eventually buying somewhere that is good for me and Emma and if we really don't like it up there, then of course we could always move back down here - but going to give it 6 months-1 year to see what we think.

Cheers for that link M3, its bookmarked for later use!

Happyhippy, sorry to hear that, sounds awful - where abouts was it so I don't end up there myself!

[citizentwiglet]

You've got the best idea, Andy - rent at first until you find 'your' place. What suits some people wouldn't suit others - I'd love to live out in the wilds miles from anywhere, until I remember I can't actually drive and a five mile walk to get a loaf a bread wouldn't be terribly practical in the middle of Winter.

As you know, nothing has to be forever - if you don't like it, nobody will make you stay against your will. Well....we might.....;-)

It's a great adventure, it really is. I'm sure you'll both be really happy. (you can get Pot Noodle here, you know......)

[TheGoodEarth]

Dundee's nice, on the other hand.

I trust you are being ironic or you mean Broughty Ferry and Carnoustie?

[JulieSherris]

(you can get Pot Noodle here, you know......)

So he's going to move to Scotland to spend the rest of his life washing up??

[MKG]

Dundee's nice, on the other hand.

I trust you are being ironic or you mean Broughty Ferry and Carnoustie?

Just me and my generalisations. When I say Dundee, I mean the Dundee area. And to give you an idea, I've always counted Loch Lomond as Glasgow because its so easy to reach from there on the train. It's a shame about Balloch, though - but you can't have everything. It's like Arran being absolutely beautiful ( ), but you have to catch the ferry at Ardrossan ( ).

Mike

[TheGoodEarth]

Andy, you will know you have settled when you catch your first haggis!

[Flo]

Only move if you have a job to do when you get there. Everywhere looks better if you can support yourself from the word go. Moving with no income is not the best way to make a success of the move. The country changes as you change areas and foraging in Scotland will be a whole different thing to foraging down south. Plant life changes with soils and weather.

Moving itself is easy enough so long as you can find a weather proof property that you can afford and that you have enough sturdy furniture to stand the move. Or maybe I say that because I have moved 25 times in my life.

[Sky]

We moved to NZ and wouldn't return to the UK but after 7+ years here if we didn't have children, the gypsy in me would def have moved on by now. It's children that have anchored us to this country now so beware as once you up roots you may find you're never able to put them down again.
Also I would say 6 months to 1 year is not enough time to decide whether a place is right for you, it took us 2 years to really get to grips with a different culture.

[Andy Hamilton]

I have my I spy wildlife of Scotland book but it does not have a picture of a haggis, I guess I will know what one looks like when I see it. Damb tasty tho.

Flo- not going to move until Emma has a job. My main income is from writing at the moment, so it does not really matter where I do that. I've done some foraging up in Scotland and I am pretty confident that I could head a group on a walk. Will of course teach myself some more plants on the way and I relish the challenge. There are always universals such as nettles and I have been experimenting with thistles as part of my preperation!

Sky - Yep I agree 6 months/1 year is not long enough, but I think it is long enough to get a feel of somewhere and see if you at least get on with the weather. I expect to see signs of how it could be in that time and not to have fully emursed myself there.

[Annpan]

They don't show haggis in wildlife books Andy... it's so difficult to get a good photo of one.... I think the publishers would rather deny their existence than admit that none of their photographers are up to the job.

You'll know one when you see it

[MKG]

Try here ...

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... s%3Disch:1

Mike