Dunfermline
Dunfermline used to be the capital of Scotland, and today it’s still a great place, with heritage and history on show alongside newly granted city status. It’s the largest place in Fife and still growing, it’s the main shopping and service centre for the county, and it’s on the main route across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. These credentials make it an ideal choice for a new home, for work-life, for family life, for city life, for a day trip to the coast and for an adventure in the highlands.
Well-connected
Dunfermline is the first port of call for the M90 after crossing the Forth at Queensferry. It heads on up to Perth, becoming the A9, before continuing its extraordinary and scenic route to Inverness, and ultimately Thurso right up at the top of Scotland. It’s 18 miles to central Edinburgh, taking around 45 minutes by car, or an average of 35 minutes by train to Edinburgh Waverley Station. Dunfermline is 24 miles east of Stirling, and 15 miles west of Kirkcaldy, with good A roads linking the two. You may well decide to stay in Scotland and head north into the Highlands for a change of scenery and a skiing trip, but for an overseas adventure or a domestic flight, Edinburgh Airport is only 15 miles away.
Home
The city has met the challenge of its status as a dormitory town for Edinburgh, though there are some key employers in Dunfermline too, including Sky UK, Amazon, Lloyds and Nationwide. Its amenities include the shops, cafés and restaurants of the Heritage Quarter surrounding the Abbey, the open space of Pittencrieff Park and Dunfermline Public Park, the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, the Carnegie Leisure Centre and the Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries. The retail centres on the outskirts, Carnegie Drive Retail Park and Halbeath Retail Park, add further shopping options. For leisure and entertainment, the Fife Leisure Park includes a large cinema, a health club, a bowling alley and plenty of places to eat out. For schools and learning, there are four secondary schools and fourteen primary schools. Fife College provides further education with its campus in the Halbeath area.
Away
Edinburgh is wonderful for a day trip or a night out and if an escape to the country is what you’re after, the Fife Peninsula starts you off with the Lomond Hills Regional Park and Loch Leven and finishes with the sandy beaches around St Andrews. In the opposite direction, you are within day-trip reach of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park for a taste of the Scottish Highlands.