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Visiting Shetland in October with a possible view of relocating


IanD
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At the moment broadband in Yell is rubbish..........or it was when I left earlier in the year.  And power cuts are rather frequent.  Neither good for a connected life.  But there is a project to improve broadband in the whole of the north of Shetland and the power supply is slowly getting better.  Only one pub on Yell but there are places like the boating club and country halls which have bars.  Pluses include a good enough bus service to and from Lerwick and a great health centre including dentist.  Winters are indeed long and dark but in the summer forget darkness.......there isn't any.  Pretty good shops all over Yell but so far Tesco do not deliver.  Schools are of course excellent. 

 

And indeed if you look at other parts of Shetlink you will see that getting things delivered to Shetland is a problem.  Some companies just refuse to deliver while others add big surcharges and there is a growing list of things that companies like Amazon will not deliver.  That said people manage. 

 

Goes without saying that scenery and wildlife are great all over Shetland but some sports are topsy turvey.  Cricket is played in the winter--indoors--and football in the summer.  Although there are a few all weather pitches.  Swimming pools all over the place.  Take away food?........well basically forget it in Yell except that the halls do have fish and chip nights and there is a travelling Chinese which makes a change.  Any questions just ask...........and you will either love it or hate it..........that applies to Yell or Shetland generally.

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Thanks Justme, sounds quite a balanced review. I'll continue with the viewings on Yell but with a view that the mainland would be the best option with amenities, especially for the boys.

The same can be said for Orkney as well. We viewed a magnificent property on Shapinsay but there was so very little on the island (the reality was a lot different from how the island was promoted, even the last restaurant/bar is now closed).

It's a shame because many towns in England are losing character, attractions and therefore revenue, causing them to slowly die. That's just one town whereas yours affects a whole island at a time

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It's only a short hop on the ferry to Shetland mainland from Yell, very do-able (people do commute from Yell to Lerwick, Brae etc for work), so it just depends on what you want to do on mainland and how often, whether it might work for you.

 

Definitely visit with an open mind - Shetland doesn't suit everyone, but it does suit a lot of people very well.  As with any move to a new area, you may love it and settle forever, or it may be temporary and you may choose to move on after a while.  We're in the process of organising moving there ourselves after spending a number of years regularly visiting the islands - happy to share experience so far if you like.

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Another consideration relating to education would be whats your sons plans for secondary school (maybe more so the younger one as the older one is nearing the end of secondary school possibly).  Moving to yell would mean junior high school up to 4th year, if he went on to do 5th and 6th year he would need to travel down to Lerwick and stay at the Janet Courtney hostel through the week while attending the Anderson high school.

 

Now I'm not saying this would be a negative (away from home through the week etc) or positive (learn a bit of independence before uni/college, make new friends etc) but one i would definitely take into consideration.

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I moved up with my family in the late 80's and my accent back then stood out like a sore thumb (cut glass English), now - not so much. Many of my contemporaries from school have it seemed married "out" of the islands from "north of inverness" all the way down to the south-east.

 

I moved back permanently last year having spent many years living abroad and I love it. 

 

Pssst - the weather isn't really that bad. I mean it gets a trifle "blowy", but personally I find that exhilarating and invigorating - come back and ask me again when I've lost tiles from the roof or my shed is in the sound! But that said - your first plan of action should be to get "power cut projects" and plenty of candles. I have a non-electric sewing machine, a bag full of darning and a stack of books ready to go! Last winter the longest my power was out was for around 8 hours.

 

I'm actually living on Yell and my broadband is absolutely fine, more than capable of streaming video and downloading films. The community has been extremely welcoming and the local schools are excellent. Do bear in mind though that your boys will soon be approaching an age where they will be expected to continue their education in Lerwick on a weekly boarding basis.

 

As far as the docs here go - I recently had to wait 3.5 hours on a saturday afternoon to have my 3 year old's head stitched up. Obviously that's not life and death, not sure I'd want to have to wait with a heart problem!

 

Lack of shops is fine - your wardrobe will soon consist of fleeces & jeans anyway which will cover all 365 days of the year. 

 

I've spoken to Tesco about deliveries and they've told me they're considering doing "click and collect" at Ulsta.

 

It's been over a month since I've been south of Ulsta and I've yet to "miss" anything - with internet shopping everything can come to the door anyway. There are no daily newspapers for sale but as long as you're online you can keep up with the world should you choose to do so.

OK, so that's all very positive for me - I'd "done" that rat race, had lived in many countries and was looking for a pace of life more suited to fill my soul... but at the school gates a couple of weeks ago two of the mums said they'd be off the island in a heartbeat if they could - so it's not for everyone.

Do PM if you would like more information on what it's like being a southerner on Yell or to ask questions about the houses you've been looking at.

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