Finally

We have been searching for a house for the past six weeks, mostly viewing in the south mainland but a few on the west side as well. With most houses having around 30-40 people interested in viewing and prices around £20,000 more than the asking price its very difficult to find some where.

                                                                                                West coast

However we had a break, our Shetland friends Beryl band Maurice found a house on Shetlink which wasn't advertised in any estate agents. We phoned straight away but the owner said they were going to Aberdeen that day and wouldn't be back for a week. During this time we saw another house out to the west that we considered put a bid in, but the closing date was the on Wednesday at noon.

                                                                                            Geosetter

But on the Tuesday, the day before the to bid was due on the other house we were able to view the house in our preferred location in the south mainland. It turned out to be just what we wanted and made an offer, which after a bit of negotiation was accepted.

On the Wednesday we then moved quickly to cancel the bid that the solicitor was due to put in for the house in the west and made an official written bid on the south mainland house. The owner accepting and taking the house off the market

                                                                                                Cunningsburgh beach

As it didn't have a home report we will have to wait around 6-7 weeks for that to take place, the bid being subject to an acceptable report. All the other information has been provided include photo ID which is necessary in Scotland.

                                                                                                              Burra

So if you are looking for a house in Shetland expand your search to include Shetlink as well as the estate agents and also put adverts in shops as many houses are not advertised at all and are done by word of mouth.

                                                                                        Looking north to Bressay

With mortgage rates due to increase and a deposit of 10% needed it becomes difficult for anyone to buy a house up here, especially when they would also have to fund any extra to the valuation price. Rents are unbelievable as well as we have mentioned in previous blogs.

More to come soon, but we can now start to relax a bit and enjoy the great weather and superb wildlife
also view my other blogs at:

shetlandsfp.blogspot.co.uk
shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk

These are also updated on a regular basis.

Housing

If you are moving to Shetland then make sure the you have a place already sorted out. We fell lucky, knowing someone helps as rented property is often not advertised at all. As for cost well sit down- a one bedroom flat can cost £1000 per month and anything bigger £2500- £8000, with one in Lerwick at £14000 per month for a 7 bedroom house. This week in the Shetland Times has highlighted that some people are being evicted from rented houses and then re-let to the Gas workers at more than double the rent.

                                                                                         Our current house and views

All the prices are down to the fact that Sullom Voe is being expanded and many construction workers are being brought in to do the work. As there is not enough accommodation in Shetland many are staying in barges brought in especially and these can take around 265 per barge. Three are located in Lerwick and one Ship with a further one in Scalloway.

Now it comes to buying a house, very few are on the market at present, unless you want to live on Unst, Yell or Whalsay. Other houses around Sullom have been bought by the Gas workers and anything further north is snapped up quickly

A house that went up for sale last Friday had 36 viewers by Sunday, including us. Every room needed doing and could not be lived in straight away.We considered buying a 1 bedroom house and then extending but the costs are unbelievable with around £80,000 quoted to put another two bedrooms on.

                                                                                        One to do up, on Burra

Add to this the time it takes to get planning permission - which could be 18 months and the fact that all the builders very busy- some booked up for a year then it causes problems. So we  just sit tight and hope a property comes up for sale soon and that we are not out bid - Its sealed bids in Scotland.

Shetland does not have many thatched properties, this one was featured on the TV a few years ago

Shetland what's it all about

It still seems that a lot of people are unsure where Shetland is located. Its not off the west coast of Scotland as some people think, it is actually the furthest north you can go .

From northern Scotland you go north past Orkney, past Fair Isle and onto mainland Shetland. Its 12 hours by ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick (the capital) or you can fly up from either Aberdeen (1.5 hours) or Edinburgh & Glasgow.

There are approx 100 islands of which 13 are inhabited. The `Best in Travel 2011' rates Shetland as one of the best place to visit in the world. One of the last untamed wilderness of Britain. For several years it also got voted the best place to live in Britain.

National Geographic placed Shetland third best place island destination in the world. In the Bank of Scotland quality of life reviews it has placed Shetland top three times since 2006 and was second place last year behind Aberdeen shire.

According to the Lonely Planet travel guide,  Shetland has one of the best sunrises in the world. We have yet to see one as in June, when we usually visit,  there is one about 1.5 hours simmer dim, where it doesn't quiet get dark
Reasons to be cheerful

1 Global Geo-park
19 hours of midsummer daylight
138 sandy beaches
567 square miles of islands
639 miles of good roads (No pot holes)
1697 amazing miles of coastline
6,000 years of history
6,080 archaeological sites
22,000 people
54,000 gannets
200,000 puffins
281,000 sheep

The 60 degree North latitude line passes through the southern part of the island near Levenswick. Shetland is 225 miles to Norway yet about the same to Aberdeen. Its nearer the Arctic circle than Sheffield

Shetland isn't particularly cold being so close to the sea and the gulf stream and has the same rainfall as western Scotland, but can be windy especially in winter.

It gores without saying that the wildlife found is Shetland is both varied and unusual in that birds that are common in England are rare in Shetland. You can see otters in Shetland throughout the day and they have the highest density in Europe. Whales , Dolphins and Porpoise can be seen in increasing numbers. 

The quality of light makes photography even better, the sunrises, sunsets, the Aurora and night sky makes viewing compulsive. 

Lets not forget that Frankies Fish and chip shop scooped four National awards last years.

This is only a minute fraction of what can be found and we are looking at discovering far more over a longer period of time.

Its happened !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At last we have moved out of our house in Sheffield and into rented accommodation in Shetland. It was quite something , we are glad that we had arranged for the removal company to pack all our things, it took 4 men 1.5 days to get all our things into the containers which will be stored in Sheffield until we buy a house, which we hope will be soon.

                                                               

                                                                                            We are now on cloud 9

It was a sad occasion to say goodbye to all our family and friends but at least we managed to get them together for our leaving do, it actually turned out to be 6 separate leaving do's. Its not the last time we will see Sheffield as we will be back for visits when money allows.

                                                                                               Its fireworks at last

Now we have arrived it seems as though we are on an extended holiday. We are due to register with a doctors in Levenswick and also with a dentist in Lerwick although for national health treatment it is generally 5 years (YES 5 YEARS!!!!) to wait for a check up, so we are hoping that we have no problems. they will see you if you are in pain.

                                                                           A sign that we are going in the right direction

We are actively seeking to buy somewhere asap and have put the feelers out and have contacted the five estate agents in Shetland who will keep us informed when some come on sale in the areas we are looking at.

Coming to Shetland

It was interesting to see some new stats on Shetland regarding the comings and goings. The Scotland 2011 census showed that Shetland had a 4% increase in population with places like Arran, Bute and Islay showing decreases.  However the SIBC survey for the same period showed that 600 people came to Shetland to live but 700 left. Well you can now add another 2 incoming as we leave Sheffield very soon to start our new life in Shetland having just received confirmation that today contract have been exchanged

We have done a dummy run loading the car with all our belongings that we intend to use while we are in rented accommodation, it will never be enough and we will no doubt find that we need some of the things we that will be in storage. For me its all about getting my camera gear in the car , so I decided a while ago to send a large box with my clothes and a few other things via Royal Mail just before we moved from Sheffield so hopefully this will be available when we arrive in Shetland.

Diane will therefore have an extra case for all her things and we will pack as much as possible in the car, allowing room for our cat and a few of his things. We expect it will be very noisy as he don't like travelling in his cat box. Hope he doesn't find the journey to Aberdeen and then on the ferry for 12 hours too much.We suspect that after we arrive he will spend a lot of time a sleep recovering.

Not had any chance to watch the TV Shetland dramas but have recorded them to watch later. The first series was disappointing with only one person speaking Shetland, the other problem is that it is very unlike Shetland to have any murders so its painting a false picture. We will see whether these 6 episodes are any better this time. Not seen any comments so far from anyone in Shetland.

We are really looking forward to setting foot again on Shetland soil, this time for good. We hope some houses come up for sale very soon as we can move to our new permanent home and then we can arrange for all our things to be moved out of storage.

We sent off letter to various companies informing them to stop direct debit payments but the biggest problem we have had is with the Royal Mail post redirection.

You would think it would be simple, go on line enter all the detail and make the payment. Wrong, all ok until payment is made then doesn't accept, tried this 7 times with different cards but no luck. So we went to phase two, complete a form and register with the Post office, so collected a form, completed and went to the post office.Sorry but the signatures  go outside the box was the comment , even without looking at the rest of the form. I explained that Diane has got poor eyesight but that was none of there concern.

                                                                               You will need all the help you can get !

They did however agree that the signature box was very thin giving no leeway. Onto a second form and then a third until the signatures fell inside the box without over lapping. Back down to the PO but this time individual letters on the form did not coincide with the spaces on each line. Onto form 4 and we double checked everything and this time it was accepted- our 11th attempt. Who ever makes the forms has no thought for anyone who writes their signature large or who cannot see the very faint guide lines for individual letters. You will need to do this at least 5 days before you move.

Normal service

Finally got the car back last Tuesday after virtually 4 weeks off the road, hope that's an end to the problems, but will get the car serviced just before we leave Sheffield. The other car we borrowed was very poor on fuel and it was good to see our car doing 59 mpg on a run down to Boston.

We have recently returned the signed contract to our solicitors and sort of agreed a move date of the 18 April, but the buyers have come back wanting an earlier date as the will have to pay a months rent if the move happens after the 11 April, which is too soon for us. We will work this out hopefully.

Two more houses near us have come onto the market while one more is still up for sale, this one for nearly a year, so we know what they are going through. We have been making a list of people to notify about our move, such as the council, gas board, bank etc so we can make sure we are not paying more than necessary for services on the Sheffield house.

One thing that will be different is that in Shetland there will be no gas, so either electric or oil will have to do, both of which are costly. We are looking into the new Air heating system and two companies offer this in Shetland. Also we will make sure that it has adequate insulation otherwise we will be throwing away good money.

We have checked out the ferry costs and just need to make sure that we pick a day where gales aren't disrupting the crossing. It will take us around 6.5 hours to get up from Sheffield to Aberdeen and will need a few stops for the cat.

With the move date in mind we have arranged our leaving party so we will have a full house if everyone turns up, this will be a mixture of family and friends. We have just got onto Skype and it will be good to see our family and friends as well as hear them. First though we need a house with an internet connection as the rented one does't have this facility.

Our rented bungalow is waiting for us and we are very grateful for the people that are renting this to us that they have been so patient as we first told them we might be moving at the beginning of March. Its a relief that we have this sorted out as there is very few places to rent and this is down to our friends in Shetland for helping with this.

                                                                                                A Shetland sheep

Update:
Not a good day at the match with the Owls loosing 1-4 to Watford, only one match left that we can get to as we now have a move date of the 15 April so everything is now moving fast.

We March on !!

A mixed week for news with the car still off the road with water entering the BSI unit and causing problems . The garage has ordered a part and it should finally be ready on Monday. This has meant that I have had to insure the loan car yet again.

The house is still on the move and we are just waiting for the results of the Searches which should be back next Friday. Then a date might be on the cards. We have just let the removal firm know so at least they will be on the ball. Also just phoned the people in Shetland that we are renting a bungalow from as originally we all thought we might be moving at the beginning of March. Good job we haven't as the ferry service from Aberdeen has again been affected by storms, and a couple of ferries setting off early at mid day rather than the normal evening time. Don't know what we would do if this happens as it would take us about 6 hours to get to Aberdeen from Sheffield.

Our cat is now practicing his meows (loud) for when we have to put him in the carrying basket to transport him up with us to the ferry. Previously every time he has been in the basket he has gone to the vets (so no happy memories)

Had sort of a leaving do at church today with Samantha bring two cakes to share. I went round taking a few photos and we said good bye to our vicar who wont be at church for the next three weeks. No doubt we will have another leaving do next week.

Later this week I will be giving three talks on Shetland, just to get us in the right mood. The first in Derby to a disabled Group then we move on the same day to give a talk to the Boston RSPB group, this is followed the next day with a talk in Nottingham, so a fair few miles.

                                                                                    Clumliewick Shetland

Yesterday was a good day for Sheffield Wednesday with a superb 4-1 win over Birmingham City. Great atmosphere and a good display from all the players. As i have had a season ticket since 1967 it will hard not seeing them in action. May be just the QPR game on Tuesday before we move, so let hope they win.