To Move or not to Move

We moved to Scotland in 1989. It was a difficult time as we’d moved from Surrey to Sussex only eighteen months or so before, as my husband's company re-organised the site in Surrey and moved him to the Brighton area. We were pleased to move further away from London though. We rented a house for a year while we waited for our new-build to be finished, moved into it and hadn’t even had time to order carpets and curtains before he was told there was going to be another re-organisation and he needed to decide where else in the UK he wanted to go.

I was working in the City of London at the time. My husband considered moving companies, had interviews and we explored Stevenage and the surrounding area as a possible alternative. Finally, someone he’d worked closely with in the past, who then headed up a site in Linlithgow, Scotland, approached him and asked if he’d like to move there.

Mary Calls from the Grave

In what must have been our first conversation about the potential move to Scotland, my husband was describing the town, convinced I wouldn’t like it. At the time, I was heavily into historical non-fiction books. When he told me the name of the place, that did it for me. Linlithgow, the birth place of Mary, Queen of Scots, one of the most iconic and controversial British historical figures of all time, and someone who had fascinated me for years. It felt like fate. We were going.

Troubles Ahead

It wasn’t all plain sailing though. It took more than a year to sell our house in Sussex after we’d moved to Scotland; this was the eighties, after all, with high interest rates and negative equity punishing so many people. We had to accept a significant financial loss, but we were glad to rid ourselves of the worry of an empty property far away. We also lived apart for six months while I stayed down in Sussex, commuting to London every day, and looked for a job in Scotland.

Where we are Now (and Hope Never to Leave)

Linlithgow is a very special place, with a ruined palace (Mary’s birthplace) and loch, beautiful old church with a steeple that sparkles in the sun, old buildings, cobbled streets, central circle rather than square, called the Cross, and long high street, with what would have been old gates into and out of the town at each end, the Low Port and the West Port. Every year in June we have Marches Day, which commemorates the ancient ceremony of checking the town boundaries against invaders. It’s a great day for the family, with formal ceremonies for the town dignitaries early on, a procession of floats, bands and carriages along the high street late morning and again late afternoon, and a fun fair in the evening. It’s a day off for all the schools and some local businesses. The sight and sound of the pipe bands never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck rise, no matter how often I hear them. Be prepared to witness some rowdy partying as well!

Come and Visit us!

We’re in a great position to explore all of Scotland. We’re inside a triangle which stretches from Edinburgh in the east to Glasgow in the west and Stirling slightly further north. All of these cities are worth exploring in their own right; Edinburgh and Stirling have their own castles. Between Linlithgow and Glasgow is Falkirk, another historical town, with Callendar House, also visited by Mary and other famous historical figures. The Firth of Forth, with its three bridges, is just north of us, so we can easily get across and up to the Highlands of Scotland and beyond. We love our Scottish holidays just as much as those abroad, and there are plenty of islands to explore. We’re taking the ferry to Lewis and Harris this summer.

My daughter and son-in-law are very proud to be Scottish, as are all Scots. My husband and I, probably very cheekily, consider ourselves Scottish now, having lived here longer than we’ve lived anywhere. We hope never to leave it.

If you’d like to know more about this beautiful part of the country, please go to the VisitScotland website at the link below.

www.visitscotland.com

Thanks for reading.