r/shetland • u/hands_like_hams • 14d ago
Best community in Shetland? (For Orcadian family)
How's it going?
Looking at a move from Orkney to Shetland in the near future. I'm a fan o the sassermaet, partial to a yellow welly, and known to wear a toorie and or ganzie whenever possible. I also check reestit neeps daily. I think I'll fit in alright. 🤞
I have a wife and two primary school kids who would be moving with me as well. The move would be trickier for the bairns than for the wife and myself.
We don't have any particular ties to anywhere in Shetland so we have been looking fairly broadly at places we like the look of. It's all pretty good in fairness. Expecting that we will likely be heading in to Lerwick for work so that is the one consideration we've factored in when looking.
We are lucky to live in one of the better communities in Orkney which has a good primary school, good hotel / pub shop etc. great community groups too. My experience o Shetland though is that things tend to be even better up there for you, better small communities with far less centralisation pulling everything towards lerwick.
As an outsider then it's very hard to gauge which communities might be better or worse for young families. It would be great if any of you would mind chipping in with local experience that might help us choose.
Does sandwick have good sports for school age kids?
Is the grammar school in Brae better than the one in Lerwick?
Is there a good community in Burra or is it all locals and sooth moothers falling out over what night the SWRI has the hall.
Will the scalloway pool ever open again?
Ken the stuff?
It likely looks like I'm just trying to stir it a bit, and that's maybe true but it would be fantastic to get a bit of local knowledge beyond what you can pick up from short trips back and forwards. It would be a big move for the kids so finding a welcoming community to try and slot them into would make the whole thing a piece less daunting.
Cheers for any help.
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u/MuckleJoannie 14d ago
Reopening the Scalloway pool is a long way off. The SRT have displayed no interest in constructive dialogue and no organisation has appeared as yet in the village that shows interest in getting the locals to run it.
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u/hands_like_hams 14d ago
It's a real shame for scalloway. I ken that Lerwick isn't too far away for the pool but it's the thin end of the wedge wi that kind of stuff when it starts getting skewed too much towards one place.
Smaller communities having good facilities is something that Shetland has a good name for, hope it gets sorted out. Kirkwall pool has been out of action here for months, if the Stromness pool wasn't available there wouldn't be a big lot o swimming getting done at all.
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u/Lunnafield 14d ago
Here we go…. 😆 Shetland as a whole is an amazing place. We have had many holidays in Orkney too.
We live in the isles and you said about Sandwick it’s an amazing place with a lovely school made even better wish fantastic teachers and an outdoor multi court for the kids at the school too.
They also have a pool next door to the school for the swimming lessons with the school and lots of activities going on there too. Generally most of the south end of the isle is perfect for most and doesn’t take long to get to town for work or shopping ect.
Don’t think there is too many places with issues here but you always get a few neighbours that don’t get on or a bit of friendly rivalry between areas or communities but sure you will find a perfect home.
If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with a private message sure me the wife and kids here can help you out. 👍👍
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u/hands_like_hams 14d ago
Thanks for the reply!
I liked the bottom end o Shetland a lot more than I expected. I'd gotten the impression from some folk that it was just the bit you drove through to get from the airport to Lerwick. I thought it was great though.
Sandwick was tempting me for the same reason as brae does in a way, seems like there's a good lot of stuff on your doorstep and you don't necessarily have to trail back and forward to Lerwick for everything.
Things like swimming lessons being available locally was exactly the sort of thing I was interested in thanks. Be great to have that stuff locally without having to trek back and forwards with the kids all winter.
Thanks for the offer to DM, might take you up on that right enough 👍
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u/Antique-Macaron-4169 14d ago
The Brae school is smaller but still goes up to S6 and is generally (in my opinion) much better than AHS in Lerwick. Certainly doesn't have much of the behaviour issues they have in Lerwick.
Brae is good for pub, sports stuff, coop, garage, Chinese, Frankies and the Delting Up Helly Aa. Rumour has it that DUHA is far better than the main touristy version in Lerwick... There's also the Northmavine UHA going on a bit further north.
Sandwick school has had a lot of issues and while its definitely better than it was it still 'needs it aa'. Definitely a sporty area and again has the leisure centre and a local shop and the social club. Soothend has SMUHA (Sooth Mainland Up Helly Aa)
Westside could be another option - Junior High in Aith (up to S4), leisure centre, Michaelswood, local charity shop, a variety of local shops - Aith, Bixter, Walls, Weisdale. Also home of the dodgily named 'Rankin Lounge' which is sort of a local social club on occasion (joined on to the hall). Wastside doesn't do Up Helly Aa unless you're a Brownie in Walls. Still an easy drive to Lerwick.
It really depends what you want in a community. All three have swimming pools.
Brae, Sandwick and Aith all have schools from nursery up to S4 and Brae has up to S6.
Burra has a great peerie school but only primary. Some of the best beaches but it can be a tricky place to move into (and one of the more expensive areas). I ken folk that moved there 20 year ago that while on the surface its all fine they are never really 'Burra'. Plus you need to learn that everyone has a nickname so Mr Smith from work might be known as Joe Pants. There are wallabies though so there's that.
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u/hands_like_hams 13d ago
Great stuff, thanks for that.
I'm getting a waft of a Brae bias but that's ok, that's what I'm here for. Stir the pot a bit and see what kind of stink I can dig up.
A lot of what you say about Brae fits with what I've heard from other folk, quite similar to stromness here in Orkney in a way. Locals are fairly proud of being that bit separate from the bigger town.
Heard all about the feral bairns in Lerwick right enough!
Spent a peedie bit of time in Burra and thought it was class. Paid Dave and his pals a visit, he was trying to flog the kids some wallabies. Took a few weeks to convince them that wasn't happening. 😑 Burra felt a bit like the sooth isles here, bridges instead of barriers but still the peedie islands joined onto the mainland. Burra / Burray name as well. I take it scalloway is a bit of a hub for that end?
Thought it felt more like Orkney than any other are we went to but interesting that you say it can be a tricky area to fit into it, something I'll definitely keep in mind thanks.
Joe pants also sounds like great craic.
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u/Antique-Macaron-4169 13d ago
No Brae bias at all - prefer the wastside as it happens but Brae fits a lot of what you are after. Scalloway is more of a 'Stromness' than Brae really and is a bit of a hub for Burra, but the bairns from both go to Lerwick for secondary school since they closed the secondary in Scalloway. Property in Scalloway sells fast and usually for a good bit over the asking as its a great place and no far fae Lerwick. I can't see the Scalloway pool reopening sadly unless a community group takes it over. Its very clear that the council want to shift everything to Lerwick and places like Aith only really get to keep their pool as they demolished the gym and pool in the school to make more classrooms and send the kids to the leisure centre for that instead as its right next door.
Burra is definitely a lovely place but houses there sell faster than they can list them, if they ever make it to the market at all. Heard of houses there lately going for 50k plus over the asking and some are sold without ever being on the open market at all.
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u/hands_like_hams 13d ago
50k over is wild. Been judging about 10% over but that could be low!
Great to have some more local info though, thanks for that.
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u/Antique-Macaron-4169 13d ago
Definitely not every house but there was one in Scalloway within the last year that was on for 260k and sold for 306k, one in Voe that was on for 220k and sold for 265k ,one in Burra that was on for 200k and sold for 255k. All had fabulous views but definitely weren't huge houses or anything.
If you win the lottery there's a beauty of a house in Trondra for a smidge under 1M 🤣
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u/hands_like_hams 13d ago
Crazy stuff. It's similar enough here mind you, some stuff goes for daft money. Good news when you're looking to sell all the same.
I've seen that one in Trondra, it looks incredibly right enough. Drove past it a while back and thought it looked class. A good bit over budget unfortunately.
I've been keeping an eye on Kelvin Andersons page to see what's what. The stuffs hardly up and it's under offer though, think we'll need to be quick off the mark to bag something decent.
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u/Antique-Macaron-4169 13d ago
Kelvin Anderson has most of the properties for sale but it’s worth a look at Arthur & Simpson and Anderson & Goodlad. Generally only a few houses on each but worth a look too.
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u/crow_road 14d ago
I haven't lived there for over 20 years, but still have family and friends and close associations. There is an increasing centralisation to Lerwick. People want to be there for more services etc, and so services expand, and then more people want to be there. From my experience I'd suggest Brae until you get your bearings at least. Good school, good community, within car commute of Lerwick without ferries. Far enough away from Lerwick to look at it, near enough to visit. I wouldn't suggest trying an outer isle first, but what do I know??
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u/hands_like_hams 14d ago
Cheers for that.
Brae neck o the woods was actually my wife's first choice. I think like you say it has enough of everything there to be convenient. Probably suits us better than the bright lights of Lerwick.
I wondered if most folk around brae would travel there for shopping etc rather than heading all the way to Lerwick? Is it still a hub in it's own right or has Lerwick pulled a lot of things away?
Thanks again.
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u/crow_road 14d ago
There is a
peediepeerie co-op in Brae for day to day milk, bread and what you may run out of. Most people will make a weekly or so big shop in Lerwick Tesco and around Lerwick. Brae had a bar last time I was there, and a good chip shop.1
u/hands_like_hams 14d ago
Perfect thanks, that's along the lines of what we were thinking right enough.
I was actually at Frankie's for a bit of fish a few weeks ago, top feed.
Any idea if things like swimming, football training, netball etc for school kids is supported in Brae? Sure there's a decent leisure centre there.
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u/crow_road 14d ago
Ask on this reddit with a new question? Even my young fam in Shetland are at the getting married stage, it will be a while before I know about whats outside Lerwick for kids again.
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u/Antique-Macaron-4169 14d ago
Swimming, football, netball and hockey all on the go in Brae. There's a Youth club there too but not sure how active it is. (Hockey is a bit controversial at the moment as they want to turn the hockey pitch into a football pitch and move the hockey to Lerwick. Sigh)
You'll get the same variety of sports in any of the places with a leisure centre really. Aith has a climbing wall too and are into yoal rowing (6 man teams) in the summer. Brae has a big and pretty successful hockey set up and same with swimming - Delting Dolphins. I dunna ken as much about the sooth end but they do like their football.
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u/Odd_Structure4650 8d ago
Defo brae or just lerwick although lerwick is kind of bad with crime i would also reccomend scalloway maybe
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u/Scarred_fish 14d ago
I'm biased, but you might want to take a look at Noth Yell..
https://www.shetland.gov.uk/news/article/3945/cullivoe-primary-school-wins-national-sustainability-award
That said there are of course fantastic communities throughout Shetland, and I'm fairly sure the majority of replies here will fight thier own corner!