Where to go.

[Morgan]

We were discussing last night (as well as starting to draw up lists of what we need) as to where the best place for us to go would be if we could afford to move.

We have a couple of options, my future mother in law lives on the Outer Hebrides, right next to a sea loch and with a fresh water loch full of wild brown trout thirty seconds from her back door. To all intents and purposes, it's ideal. There is enough land to turn over to cultivate and there is plenty of food available off the land. It's heaving with deer up there and fish and birds. Plus, given it's geographical location, it's not easy for the masses off the main land to get to. Most people up there live off the land to some degree, either through fishing or crofting and the community is very close knit and pretty strong.

There are some down sides though. There are hardly any trees up there so wood is in short supply, and any raw materials you may need are expensive and have to be shipped in. And the main down side is that because it is such a close knit community, nothing is secret up there. I don't doubt there are some preppers on the island, but they would have to be very canny to keep their activities to themselves as everyone knows what everyone else is doing.

I would still prefer to go there and I think my partner would too, but she did say there are plenty of wild places in Scotland that would match the resources, and trump them with regard to wood and other raw materials, but they would not have the "prying eyes" of the local community there.

To me, the community is one of the best things about the Hebs, they look after each other.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Basically, as long as we could get out there, we have a nice bolt hole on a very remote part of the world. Suits me.

[NorthernRaider]

Years ago I saw a documentary on the BBC about a guy living the the outer hebrides, cant remember why he was there but what i do remember is he managed to build quite a substantial garden shed / tool store / workshop entirely from pieces of floitsam and jetsam he found over a year along the beach.

I once considered it but economics mean I cant do it but in my original plans I think I worked out to be comfy there was a few items I would need to buy down here and take them with me. This included two large very heavy duty greenhouses. a portable gas stove, a cast iron wood burner, a B & Q mini wind turbine and a pair Maplins biggest solar panels. Some beach casting fishing kit, a diesel quad bike, a set of upvc double or triple glaszed window units, a new UPVC front door etc. The cost of buying big kit up there costs a fortune.

[Morgan]

(21 June 2012, 08:43)NorthernRaider Wrote: Years ago I saw a documentary on the BBC about a guy living the the outer hebrides, cant remember why he was there but what i do remember is he managed to build quite a substantial garden shed / tool store / workshop entirely from pieces of floitsam and jetsam he found over a year along the beach.

I once considered it but economics mean I cant do it but in my original plans I think I worked out to be comfy there was a few items I would need to buy down here and take them with me. This included two large very heavy duty greenhouses. a portable gas stove, a cast iron wood burner, a B & Q mini wind turbine and a pair Maplins biggest solar panels. Some beach casting fishing kit, a diesel quad bike, a set of upvc double or triple glaszed window units, a new UPVC front door etc. The cost of buying big kit up there costs a fortune.

Property up there is dirt cheap compared to the rest of the UK, so if you could sell up and have some cash, you could set up there quite nicely. Work is hard to come by though so sadly that is stopping us going now at the moment. Plus my other half needs to finishe her PHd.

[James Jackson]

i love the idea of the outer hebrides. Far enough from any city, so thats good, easy to see if people are comming. Goverment isnt going to be in your face as much.. A hard life up their. But least you have a higher chance of a better life

[NorthernRaider]

I recently had a visitor from the north east who has just relocated with his wife to the Western Isles and is doing quite well, he actually reads this forum but does not participate, he is doing up his bungalow and when we spoke he said he had no desire to come back to the mainland.

If I had the money and the wife was willing I would bugger off to Ascension island or Tristan Da Cuhna or St Helena or Kerguelen.

[Morgan]

We're going up there in August for a week and again at Christmas for two weeks, we will be getting married then as well. Very much looking forward to it. Each time we go though, it's harder to come back. We camped up on Lewis and Harris last year on a beach just opposite Taransay where they did Castaway 2000. Lewis is the bigger of the group of islands and even has a town, with streets and things.

The southern group of islands where we go most often are much smaller and the villages consist mostly of the "main road" (in some places it's got two lanes, mostly it's single track with passing places) and a line of house spread either side of the road. The "towns" on the southern islands are pretty much the same, but have a couple of side roads.

It's pretty darn cool sitting in the car in the car park of the Co-Op on Benbecula and watching seals on the rocks just a few metres away over the wall.

It's rough up there, most people have a 20 foot or 40 foot storage container instead of a shed as they don't get blown away. You drive passed big static caravans with four or five big thick ratchet straps holding them down. The don't consider it windy until you can't really stand up outside. It's not as cold as you think though.

[Skean Dhude]

If you are part of the community that is worth keeping.

Some trees are fast growing. Can't you plant some trees in areas that are difficult to grow crops in because they are remote, on a mountain, whatever?

[Morgan]

Yup, if (when) we go there to live we would plant some wind breaker trees at the very least, you do see quite a few properties with a substantial line of them and a good deep stone wall and then a poly-tunnel the other side of it. There is one sheltered spot on South Uist again, right next to a sea loch that is full of otters and seals, they have a small wood around their property and a few poly tunnels and a good garden. It's paradise.

[Kenneth Eames]

The whole of the West coast of Scotland is very good. Many places off of the beaten track. Lots of areas that are wilderness. Lots of deer and plenty of fishing plus lots of shellfish. The best thing that we ever done (my wife and I) was to retire in Scotland. Plenty of woodlands in many places. Wild food here as well but will need to swat up on your botany. Kenneth Eames.

[Morgan]

(21 June 2012, 16:00)Kenneth Eames Wrote: The whole of the West coast of Scotland is very good. Many places off of the beaten track. Lots of areas that are wilderness. Lots of deer and plenty of fishing plus lots of shellfish. The best thing that we ever done (my wife and I) was to retire in Scotland. Plenty of woodlands in many places. Wild food here as well but will need to swat up on your botany. Kenneth Eames.

Western Scotland is definitely our second choice, it's not bad where we are now to be fair. Easy distance to some good woodland and big lochs, but I would prefer to be closer to the sea, and although we're not on any main road, we're not far from the main route into the highlands from the city of Stirling and I want to get away from that asap really. When funds allow.