What is a nice family area outside Edinburgh?

[Chris_Gilbert]

Hi there, we are looking to move to Edinburgh and have been exploring areas to live in. We're looking at somewhere outside of Edinburgh city itself but with good train links, schools and affordable housing (probably the Lothians). We'd like an area with some amenities in walking distance, but don't mind driving for supermarkets, gym and so on.

Essentials: Close primary school which is reasonably good, nursery, railway station walking distance or short drive/cycle away with some later trains back from Edinburgh. At least some local shops in walking distance. Somewhere safe with low crime rates.

Nice to have: New build housing developments, decent secondary school, close supermarket, close gym.

Some areas we've looked at so far:

• North Berwick - a little far out, probably too expensive for us though it's a lovely town.
• Dunbar - affordable, but a bit far out and lack of later trains back from Edinburgh (though the 20m train is excellent), not a lot of new housing, feels a bit isolated, has a large nuclear power station which makes us paranoid.
• Musselburgh - lots happening, some areas a bit dodgy feeling, a bit too busy for us, would prefer somewhere more rural and a bit further from the city.
• Linlithgow - really liked this town, but expensive housing. We are considering renting around here for awhile while we learn the area though.
• Winchburgh - new housing and town centre development looks promising, but existing town not very nice, no train station until Dec 2018 so commute is not ideal.
• Armadale - new housing development in Southdale is promising. New primary school and super close train links to Edinburgh are excellent. Town itself is a bit run down, but looks like more is changing than in Winchburgh. Houses are more affordable, has a walking distance supermarket too. We don't like the feeling of the old town though, and it's further from Edinburgh.

For clues, the closest so far is Linlithgow, but house prices are a bit expensive. We were hoping that Winchburgh might become a nice place in the future, but it's a bit run down right now, and don't really feel like punting on whether they will build the promised new schools, railway station and amenities.

So. really my question is, what other places haven't we considered yet? We haven't explored Midlothian yet, so there's surely some towns there that might fit the bill too?

[BeeH]

Portobello is nice and close in but likely too expensive. Currie and Balerno are worth a look but the latter especially will likely bust your budget, as would almost all the more desirable neighbourhoods in the city. Some ex-Council estates are OK, especially ones dating back to the 50's. If you want to know where the 'dodgy' places are at a glance, sadly crime and poor housing, etc., generally mirrors closely what's called the 'Index of Multiple Deprivation': in other words, the red areas on the first map here: ( http://oobrien.com/2013/01/a-map-of-scotlands-deprivation/ ), although things can differ on a street-by-street basis. Try South and North Queensferry, Livingston, even as far as Falkirk and the smaller towns on the train line to Kirkcaldy, all of which have a quick and convenient train service. And take a look at the bus map ( https://lothianbuses.co.uk/assets/files/Network-Map_160801.pdf ) and night bus map - the service here is one of the best in the country and with 25 minutes or more of travel it's possible to live in a cheaper outlying village even without a car.

[Chris_Gilbert]

Thanks, that's really helpful! That map does show a correlation with what are often described as "nice" areas being the most green, which I guess is expected. I had a look around Nottingham where we currently live, and things are very similar to what I would expect on the map.

We have started looking at Bonnyrigg, which has some good schools and some affordable housing. I appreciate the recommendations - Linlithgow is more affordable than either Currie or Balerno, so I think still in the running, but there aren't that many houses in our price range there. We'll probably try to rent first in the area we like the best, and then search for a house to buy.

[Jason_Kelly]

Hi Chris,

I'm just reading your post with interest as we are in exactly the same position now. I see that your post dates back to 2016 so was wondering how you got on and if you found somewhere that met your requirements - your wish list seems to be exactly the same as ours.

We are looking for a three/four bed family home in the kind of areas that you describe. We were in Linlithgow yesterday and got a very positive feeling about the place - it's exactly the kind of place we are looking for too. The price range on housing seems to be at the upper edge of our budget.

Did you manage to find somewhere similar, or did you settle on Linlithgow? Any assistance you can give would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Jason

[Katy_Garlington]

We are also considering a move to Edinburgh and would be interested to find out where you ended up and if you have any advice?

[Chris_Gilbert]

Hi Jason, Katy, sorry for not replying earlier.

We didn't end up moving to Edinburgh I'm afraid, although it was a close run thing. Might still be something we consider in the future. I was pretty sold on Linlithgow, really liked the feel of the place. Currie was also nice. I wasn't super impressed with Bonnyrigg. The housing was nice, but not my ideal sort of place.

Winchburgh was a building site with no character when we looked around it. However, it's probably seen a huge amount of development since we visited. Worth a look now, though the new rail station doesn't seem to have materialised yet.

See: https://www.winchburghdevelopments.com/
And: http://www.winchburghcc.org.uk/planning_and_development.html

[Molly_Harris]

This is good area for family.

If you want to know which is best area to live in Edinburgh then visit here.