The town from my eyes (Alness (Scotland))

Member Name: suz1584

Product:	Alness (Scotland)
Date:	29/10/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Love living here

Disadvantages: only suited to people that like country style living

If you have ever been to the North of Scotland you will know that anything North of Inverness is a just a small village. Alness is the largest town in Ross-Shire but many of you would still class it as a village.

Alness is about 20 miles North of Inverness and quite central to surrounding villages. I grew up in Evanton which is just 4 miles from Alness so I always knew the town well.

Recently I have moved to Alness so I am within walking distance to work and to be closer to family and friends. So far I am really enjoying living in the town and it's the first place I've lived that's actually got more than a paper shop.

What's In Alness?

There are several shops in Alness which are mainly small privately run businesses. It would take me to long to mention them all but my top 5 are as follows;

Wedding Belles - a fantastic Wedding dress shop with the personal feeling, the lady that owns the shop will arrange an appointment with you to try on wedding dresses. When you go in for an appointment she closes the shop to give you her full attention and help. If they don't have what you're looking for they will order in most things for you. Definitely worth a visit.

Tony's Sandwich Bar - This is a recently renovated shop that was previously a traditional sweet shop. It was the end of an era when the sweet shop closed down and no one could see this being anything else and especially nothing as good as the sweet shop. Nowadays though it is the most popular sandwich bar in Alness. They are well known for the home baked cakes and the freshest bread for sandwiches. It's absolutely fantastic at really low prices.

All Sorts - Just as the name says this store as all sorts of items to buy from stationary to bed linen. It's a small store but most time's you're looking for small items that you can't get in many other stores unless you go to Inverness I would recommend you try this shop first. I was looking for small glue dots and went here last because I really didn't think they would stock them......but I was wrong, not only did they have them but they had about half a dozen different types!

Patterson's - This was unsurprisingly run by a family with surname Patterson's, this was bought over a few years ago but has kept the name, I can only assume this is because it was so well known as Patterson's for so long. They sell a wide range of items also from pet food to kitchen utensils. There's a lot of traditional kitchen utensils in here that you can't find in many stores so for elder people set in their ways looking for something exactly like they bought 20 years ago then I'd advise to look here first. I love this shop for buying my cats some treats but also go in here for light bulbs, kitchen blinds and even paint. The shop isn't big but it certainly holds a lot of items, you would be surprised what you can actually get in here.

Dalmore Furnishings - This shop is highly recommended by so many people within the area. They sell great furniture that is mostly made from solid wood. Everything in here is fantastic quality and you could spend hours in here planning out a whole house of furniture just from this store. I will be the first to admit that the prices are slightly more expensive than you would get from large chains but I do find this shop has better quality items.

I'm not going to bore you with a list of all the shops in Alness as there are several more including many hairdressers, takeaways and restaurants. For a full list go to http://www.alness.com/Business-Directory.asp and it has all the business info you'll need.

What is there to do?

I'll be honest if you are looking for somewhere to go on holiday or even to live with a lot of activities and everything on your doorstep then anything North of Inverness probably isn't for you.

The main attraction to Alness is the walks around the area. There are some fantastic walks down to the Alness Point which is across the main road but it takes you right down to the Cromarty Firth where you have a view of the Black Isle and you can also see all the oil rigs that are in Invergordon.

There are also several other walks including Fyrish Monument which is an absolutely stunning walk and worth the trek once you get to the top.

There's also a golf course just at the back of Alness which I've heard (I don't play golf so I don't know) is a brilliant course and very popular.

My opinion

I was always unsure of Alness as a place I'd live as it is bigger than anywhere I've lived before and I assumed it would be busier with more noise. We were quite lucky to get a house on the outskirts which is a mile from my work and across the road from my partners main office. This was the reason we moved here and I was expecting it to take me a while to settle in but I now have to say I love it.

There is plenty of shops for me to get to compared to previous places I've lived and when you actually take time to look at Alness you will see that it actually looks very impressive. Year after year locals work at planting flowers throughout the whole town and every night you see them driving around watering them all. The town has won Britain in Bloom on many occasions and I have to say they deserve it with the amount of effort the put in.

It is a small town and there is no cinemas or bowling alleys in the area unless you go to Inverness but I am glad because it would just spoil the area. Definitely worth a visit

Summary: I love it