The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: crosser on July 06, 2012, 12:34:10 am

Title: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: crosser on July 06, 2012, 12:34:10 am
hi folk,  were thinking of selling up here in lincolnshire to a move a bit further north, as we have no restrictions to where we can go but also looking for a nice project home with a couple of acres ...  where can people reccomend and advise where not to go in scotland?  we want to get the most for our money so hopefully try to be near mortgage free..  weve been looking at some great places on the orkney islands but any other suggestions would be great... 
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 06, 2012, 07:57:20 am
some of the places I have seen advertised on the islands arent as cheap as some on the mainland, bearing in mind the additional costs involved in living on an island.
So I would say mainland, less touristy areas. Eg in Aberdeenshire, the flatter north east of the county plus Moray or Banff & Buchan would be more affordable than round Aberdeen or in the West round Royal Deeside. Cheaper still would be Sutherland but I couldnt cope with  the midgies. Caithness might  be worth considering too.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: smudger on July 06, 2012, 06:35:35 pm
And remember wetter and warmer on the west and colder (NORTH SEA!) on the east. They say best weather is around the Moray Firth - all the rains fallen on the highlands.


One thing put me off returning was this whole sealed bid/ closing date thing and it seemed to happen about 2 weeks after details came through and hadn't even viewed the place. You need cash/ finance sorted to buy - different legal system so once accepted your committed. Best to sell up and rent, see if you like it. Take a long holiday and tour, find an area you like. And as LAM says, see if you can bear the midges.


PS also North of Inverness everything is in......Inverness. Its the local town/ hub for miles so bear that in mind.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Rosemary on July 06, 2012, 06:43:50 pm
Also consider what you want to do on your smallholding. The remoter areas are further from ready markets if you are running a business.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Fleecewife on July 06, 2012, 06:54:18 pm
We have just got home after an abortive attempt to get to Inverness.  We got to Onich just past North Ballachulish and were told there was a three hour tailback to Fort William - which is only a few miles from there.  We turned round and came home (via a lovely walk above Glen Coe)
 
My point is that if you don't know Scotland you will be surprised by the time it takes to travel, the fact that the 'alternative route' may be well over 100 miles extra, and throughout the summer tourist traffic is unbearable in many areas.  Add to that the midgies, high rainfall and LFA status, and beautiful Scotland doesn't seem such a good proposition after all.  It might seem like a good idea to live somewhere really cheap, but hospitals are few and very far between, so if you have health issues you could spend a lot of time on the road. I should add that I absolutely love Scotland and wouldn't live anywhere else, but it might not quite match your expectations.
Have a look at prices south of the Central Belt - the country is still very beautiful but not quite so remote, and there is plenty of good quality land available.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Factotum on July 06, 2012, 07:37:03 pm
Agree about renting - we sold our house in Herts and rented near Elgin for a year before we found our home.

Before that we'd done the trek north to view - one especially memorable trip was to view a farm in Aberdeenshire and we had to view it at very short notice. We, and 3 Boxers, spent an interesting couple of days camping at Aboyne in March - to say it was chilly would be a typical British understatement. The drive there & back was nearly 1200 miles, we made an offer but the owners sold it to someone else.

After that we moved up here & it made the search for a new home so much easier.

Moray is nice - the weather is less extreme than either further west or east. Prices have rocketed recently around here. Not sure about general cost of living cheapness - it costs more to get things sent here by courier, a trip to the nearest nice pub is 10 miles, the nearest supermarket is 12 miles, the nearest city is 40 miles... However the quality of life is wonderful, our village is welcoming and friendly and should we need any help any one of our neighbours would come running. We've found a great place to call home.

Have a look at the Solicitor Property Centres - up here solicitors do the estate agency as well as the legal side.

See:http://www.sspc.co.uk/

There are specific property centres for Highland, Moray and Aberdeen, other areas are available.

Good luck with your search.

Sue
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 06, 2012, 09:00:22 pm
For Aberdeenshire its aspc
http://www.aspc.co.uk/ (http://www.aspc.co.uk/)]
nb we get most stuff without surcharge altho some suppliers do surcharge everything north of Gretna!
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Anke on July 06, 2012, 09:21:01 pm
To add - depending on your family circumstances you may want to look at education, for example what the school catchment area is, high school etc etc. If you have to trundle your children to school for a 50 mile round trip, your diesel costs soon add up as does time spent on the road. Also they may have to board at high school, especialy if your on one of the smaller islands.
 
I would also look at Dumfries and Galloway, smaller farms available, lots of rain, but fairly good grazing land.
 
Avoid the central belt if you are after a rural lifestyle.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: clydesdaleclopper on July 06, 2012, 09:28:08 pm
One thing to be aware of if you want to grow tree fruit is altitude. Lots of places will struggle to grow good apples etc because they are simply too high up. Wherever you go check out the average climate for that area for the whole year. There is a website somewhere that unfortunately I can't remember the name of where you can check this out to see how many days rain, sun, snow the area gets on average.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: smudger on July 07, 2012, 12:16:32 am
Anke, good point about schools. We considered a croft (with planning!) at one point, then realised we would be releasing ourselves from the daily toil of commuting to impose a 50 mile round trip on our child.  I come  from a rural area, so accepting getting on a bus is something you need to do if that's what you want lifestyle wise but to me 10/12 miles is the limit from a decent town, otherwise going anywhere becomes a day trip/expedition.  Of course if child free, different choices.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Fleecewife on July 07, 2012, 12:22:24 am
One thing to be aware of if you want to grow tree fruit is altitude. Lots of places will struggle to grow good apples etc because they are simply too high up. Wherever you go check out the average climate for that area for the whole year. There is a website somewhere that unfortunately I can't remember the name of where you can check this out to see how many days rain, sun, snow the area gets on average.

I second that - at 1000' we are on the altitude limit for apples - above it really.  One or two varieties grow, and we get a small crop most years, but the trees struggle and tend to get diseases frequently.  Several apple trees have died, and Victoria plums shrivelled up in the first winter  ::)  Pears flower but have only ever given us one or two  small, scarred fruit.   On the other hand golden gage, damson and mirabelles do really well.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 07, 2012, 08:11:38 am
Anke, good point about schools. We considered a croft (with planning!) at one point, then realised we would be releasing ourselves from the daily toil of commuting to impose a 50 mile round trip on our child.  I come  from a rural area, so accepting getting on a bus is something you need to do if that's what you want lifestyle wise but to me 10/12 miles is the limit from a decent town, otherwise going anywhere becomes a day trip/expedition.  Of course if child free, different choices.

Round here (Upper Deeside Aberdeenshire) altho the kids are scattered around, they only have to walk to the junction of their track with the main road and they get picked up by the school bus, so it works quite well. Theres also the advantage I think up here that theres only one local school and no private schools so only the very committed or those working in Aberdeen take their kids to a private school; 99.9% of the local children are all attending THE local school, so there arent bad and good schools as such.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Scotsdumpy on July 07, 2012, 04:00:18 pm
Hi, we moved up to Aberdeenshire 7 years ago - himself worked continental shifts so could spend time up here looking on his days off. We bought at the peak of the 'smallholding' rush and found the whole experience rather gruelling as properties were flying out of the estate agents as soon as we'd spotted them. We rented a small flat once we'd made the move whilst the house buying process started - we went to a closing date and made an offer on our current property. At this point we didn't know if we were the chosen bidders.
I think these days there just aren't the properties around - most sellers these days inflate the properties by selling the house and land separately.
There is a property on Gumtree today near Fraserburgh for £155,000. It has four acres of land. Fraserburgh has several primary schools and academies (secondary schools).
Good luck with your journey!
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Victorian Farmer on July 07, 2012, 10:26:19 pm
we have our own calinder the 31st off October is the start of winter Easter is the last big snow fall .no think happens on sunday .mot job on the car 2 weeks post 3.30 some days not when the wether is bad .time  light till 12 ,pm .town 30 miles away  day out never to much to do .Meet the highlands of Scotland .it is a very nice place and would take time to get used to .
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: ellied on July 08, 2012, 08:37:41 am
The cheapest places are cheap for a reason - mostly inconvenience or difficulty of some kind.  Remoteness from services and the kind of work market that makes a high mortgage feasible, weather, midges, "less desirable" landscapes such as former industrial workings, mining areas, transport, population for potential markets/social contacts/assistance, and islands in some cases.

If you can cope with heavy rainfall and midges, west coast is stunning - the further north the harder and darker it is but D&G is between Glasgow/Ayr and England so you may find the last hour or so of driving home torturous but once you're out you're closer to things maybe.  I looked seriously into moving to Islay a few years back as it's one of the closer and better connected islands of the Hebrides and a warmer more productive climate than Shetlands/Orkneys.  I didn't make the move at the time for various practical reasons most of which have now changed, so may look again but you'd need to be able to cope with small town/community issues like everyone knowing all your business but you knowing nothing of the history on which all other relationships are interacting ::)

Aberdeenshire can be another good compromise, anything commutable to Aberdeen is expensive because of the oil but it also has good communications and a city centre full of amenities and services, so places slightly off the track can have the best of both worlds - but the further north think of the extra dark hours you'll get in winter and if you're prone to SAD then stay further south for your sanity!

Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 08, 2012, 08:50:36 am
In some ways living up here is like living in the 1950s but in the best way. We can park in the local villages without paying to park, driving is a pleasure not a chore and the scenery is stunning. Although distances are long to get to anywhere, because of the lack of traffic you can confidently know how long it will take and dont have to build in half an hour extra in case of congestion. Service in shops is with a smile and tho youmay have to wait while the assistant chats to the old person in front, you know it will be your turn for a chat next, and that when you are old too, you will also still get treated like a person. There is little crime and a lot less litter.
I moved up here for a better life, and I found it here.
OK winters are long and hard but if they werent everyone would move here. And being an antisocial old rat it quite suits me. We get very bad gales in spring and autumn but its prob only 10 days a year, whereas down south miserableness and overcrowding was 365 days. Also it is partly bad winds here because we are very exposed and quite high up, the flip side of this is (i) no midges :-))) (ii) lots of sunshine as we are full south facing (iii) cant see any neighbours from our house.
OK when we are old and grey we MIGHT have to move to somewhere a bit more accessible (perhaps even on a road not up a rutted track) but thats a long way off. In the meantime playtime is great with the horses sheep geese chickens dogs and cats :-)))))
food for thought...
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: MAK on July 09, 2012, 10:46:12 pm
I have just read al the posts on this thread and gone back to the original post. If the main reason to leave Lincs is to be mortgage free then why not go south ?
There has been soe very honest posts about life in the remote areas of Scotland, weather and the long dark winters. I assume that some posts are written by English who moved north and have not experienced any problems with their nationality.
I moved south to be mortgage free. I can fly back to East Midland in little over an hour for £7. Winter days are longer here than in the UK and although I live over a 1000 feet I can grow apples, cherries and kiwi fruits! health care is excellent and accesible even though there are few towns in central France.
There have been many posts over the last 6 months from people in Scotland telling us of the difficulties of short winter days, weather etc etc
In my book I am not sure that I could live somewhere where I can not grow and eat ripe outdoor tomatoes  ;D
Good luck with the research but I would suggest that a move south could leave you mortage free too.

 
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 09, 2012, 11:16:13 pm
We havent experienced any racism Im glad to say, from my understanding this is more prevalent in the Lothians where sectarianism sort of expands to racism sometimes.
The oil economy as well as tourism in our area means there has been a healthy mixed (albeit almost entirely white) population for many decades. Added to the fact that we make sure we spend our money locally and also dont get ideas above our station and mix with our neighbours and village - a bottle of scotch rarely goes astray in cementing a relationship here too...-)
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: MAK on July 09, 2012, 11:27:35 pm
That is good news- so take plenty of scotch then. It's been a few years since the film Braveheart was on show but I knew 3 people then who left Uni in Scotland becuase of anti Engish behaviour. I'm sure that being English will not be a problem but there will be cultural differences.
My main point was the chalenges others have reported over previous months about the long dark winters and practical difficulties of getting about in remote areas of Scotland.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: tizaala on July 10, 2012, 06:08:52 am
1968, when I was a young man ( well I was once... ) I worked as Lord Elgin's butler at Broomhall, Dunfermline. One of our cleaners an Irish Lady living in Charlestown,  painted her garden gate dark green, and without thinking, added white tips to the pailings because she thought it looked nice..... next morning she awoke to find it painted Orange......
True story :fc:
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: MAK on July 10, 2012, 08:17:33 am
It works the other way. For some weird reason there was a man playing those bagpipe things at Limoges airport on St Davids day. Some Londoners waiting for simularly tatooed bods jeered and asked him when the next flight back to Scotland was. He stoped playing. :thumbsup: - result for those who did not like the noise. 
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: Brucklay on July 10, 2012, 09:00:47 am
Well technically I'm English, born in Liverpool to English parents who moved up to Perthshire when I was 5. Throughout my primary years my farthers work took us south of the border on many 6 month stints then back to Perthshire. Perthshire is a wonderful part of the country but pretty expensive and OH and I wanted a bit more than a back garden so we ended up in Aberdeenshire - I can still drive back if need be.

We have found Aberdeenshire great, a mix of people, a bit exposed where we are but no midges, 360 degree scenery, 20 mins to lots of beaches to walk the dogs with hardly a sole in sight, I can park outside the bank, local shops stock essentials and tesco delivers, 10mins to animal feed store. All in all it suits us. Off course it has it's down sides but there is no way I would move south, get too stressed with all the traffic.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 10, 2012, 10:09:22 am
Its funny, people do only focus on the 'ooh long winters' (my parents do this) without considering the other side of the scale that makes their life miserable in the S of England - congestion, aggressive people, litter, expensive everything, fumes, aircraft noise, lack of space, lack of privacy, overcrowded public transport. For me the wind and the long winters are offset. Also, long winters are quite nice when you are snuggled up with a roaring fire, peace and quiet and homemade food off your own land.
 I agree there may be advantages then in looking further afield abroad as well as to the far north tho I think the reason that a lot of people dont is that there is the language barrier for many people, they arent familiar with the culture and the costs of moving overseas with shipping etc is a lot more so it feels like a bigger step.
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: MAK on July 10, 2012, 08:50:36 pm
I agree completeley about living in the S of England. So overcrowded that people have no consideration etc etc and traffic is hell. But- how often do you talk with others outside the home. If you hit a supermarket there is little need to talk. I am not saying that one can live in a bubble when overses but it aint too hard.The advatages so out weigh a struggle and joke with a foreign language. Some would say an Englishman abroad ( Wales or Scotland or France) will always be "the Englishman". Actually there are so many Brits here that you can live in a bubble, get UK tradesmen in, accountants or hairdressers. We take French lessons every week and speak French whenever out or talking wih our fantastic neighbours.
It is VERY rural here and smallholding is not uncommon - neighbours love that we embrace their old ways of life. They help slaughter and prepare meat, swap veg and fruit and share the logs from their woods. Pretty friendley really  :thumbsup:   
Title: Re: cheapest place to live in scotland??
Post by: bucketman on July 11, 2012, 08:36:22 pm
By the end of the month me and wifie will move to Sutherland. If you think you may need to find a job, not really the best place. I stand down where we live now and say, well the village, the one with the shop is only 13 miles away, when you get it round your head that the nearest city is only 2hrs away and 2hrs doesn't seem far. Then you will get why its brill up there
And we can't wait to move
rob
PS cant afford to live on the Knoydart, that will and always would be first choice