Recently, we’ve got into the habit of going for a drive at the weekend to have a bit of a snoop around towns which we think might have possibilities as a good place to move to. My husband is hoping to take early retirement in a year or so. So as we didn’t have anything else planned we found ourselves setting out for the Callander area in Stirlingshire on Saturday.
On the plus side Callander is situated in a lovely scenic area, all hills and lochs instead of the usually grey North Sea which we live close to here. It’s a nice wee town, more scenic than the photos make it look and it’s closer to the west of Scotland and our home town of Dumbarton, so my husband might be able to see more home football matches during the season. Every part of Scotland seems to be stuffed full of history but this bit is probably even more so than others. It’s close to Stirling with all its ancient Royal and William Wallace connections and it’s Rob Roy MacGregor country too. There is a second-hand bookshop in the town!! But there are quite a lot of things which aren’t so good.
We don’t really know the area well and we don’t know anybody there – that could be a plus I suppose! The town is in a tourist area and most of the shops cater for tourists. There are lots of whisky shops, woollen mill shops and outdoor clothing/camping/hiking shops – but there isn’t a big supermarket. It’s much more rural than we’ve been used to, at the moment we live a short walk away from Marks and Spencer and the usual shops in a medium sized town. We’re near a railway station and Edinburgh is a hop and a skip away.
On the other hand I hardly ever go to the shops because I’ve reached that stage in life when I don’t really need anything, in fact I’m trying to de-clutter! So Callander isn’t being written off – it’s a maybe. I wonder what it’s like during the winter?
We do enjoy hill-walking but most of the hills around that area are really steep. Unfortunately we couldn’t stop the car at any of the really lovely hills. These ones are rather tame looking but you can just see a wind farm in the distance. I don’t mind them actually but I don’t suppose I would like to have one on my doorstep. So, the search goes on!
