Moving down the country, anyone made the move?

dont know what is classed as 'down the country' Suspect darkest Dundalk is not on the list. as for sports clubs,facilities etc
1 municipal swimming pool/gym, 2 seperate privately owned swimming pool/gyms, 3 swimming pools attached to hotels and probably a fourth with the opening of the crown plaza hotel shortly.
dog track
first all weather ( including evening under floodlights) horse racing course in the country
5 golf clubs within 20 mins
lots of soccer and gaelic and rugby clubs
badminton hall
indoor soccer dome with 10 pitches
full indoor ice skating rink opening shortly
3 Dunnes, 2 Tescos,1 Superquinn
3 shopping centres with new village outlet due next year
10 mins Newry, 1 hour Belfast, 50 Mins Dublin airport ( excluding parking unfortunately) 75 Mins Aldergrove Airport.
Swop with Dublin? No Way. but to be fair 99.9% of Dubs wouldn't come up this way either.
 
From the west. Lived in Dublin for 5 years. Some good years but glad to leave and come west again even though I am still 1.5 hours from home village.
IMHO, the quality of life outside Dublin is considerably better all things considered. It stresses me having to even go back to Dublin for a visit !
 
For families with children, on balance I think "down the country" wins

1. It may be a gross generalisation, but in my experience there isn't to competition to acquire like in Dublin. Probably down to lots of reasons such as less large new developments with large groups of same age people, less dual income families etc. Birthday parties are still jelly and ice-cream, trampolines are rare etc.
2. Children from all economic and social backgrounds mix, as was said earlier there isn't the ghettoisation (sp) you can find in Dublin, and they all attend the same school.
3. Children can walk/cycle to and from school.
4. Its becoming rarer, but children still have more freedom outside Dublin. "come home when you're bleeding or hungry" can still be heard as children are shoved out the door when the sun is shining.
 
We looked at moving to the countryside of Kildare a few years ago. I also spend a lot of time in Wexford. One of the main reasons for not moving was that our children would be trapped in the house, as the roads are too dangerous to walk on. I wouldn’t feel safe as an adult walking on them.
The other reason is that both Ms Purple and I are from Dublin and are lucky enough to love in the area we both grew up in. As a result there is a strong sense of community that we would not get in a dormer town in the midlands.
Where I live I am 20 minutes from the Wicklow Mountains, 25 minutes from the sea and 20-30 minutes from the city centre, with good public transport. I am a 5-minute walk from a large park that has tennis courts, playgrounds, duck ponds, coffee shops, a formal garden, etc.
My eight year old can walk to the shop and walk to his grand parents house.
I work on the other side of the city but it only takes 20-35 minutes each way around that excellent road, the M50.
If Dublin wasn’t a good place to live it wouldn’t be so expensive.
 
Purple said:
If Dublin wasn’t a good place to live it wouldn’t be so expensive.
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That's a naive statement Purple if you dont mind me saying so. I only moved to Dublin for employment. It is the largest city and therefore offered the widest choice and highest salaries for my field of work in mid 1990s. I am limited in my job opportunities now because I live in the west. Its the price I have to pay for a better quality of life. I would earn a lot more living in Dublin (It would cost more too though). The only reason I would ever move to Dublin again is for employment even though I'd prefer Cork and Limerick first.

The vikings wouldn't live there now !
 
Purple said:
20 minutes from the Wicklow Mountains, 25 minutes from the sea and 20-30 minutes from the city centre, [...] 20-35 minutes each way [from the Southside to the Northside via] that excellent road, the M50...
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In the middle of the night, maybe — or do you have a helicopter, Purple? :D
 
Just thought I'd point out that there is more than one airport in this country and some which are far easier to negotiate than Dublin.
 
I'd second that about the airport. Only if every other option fails, would I consider using Dublin airport. I was at home in my house in less than an hour from the time the wheels touched the ground the last time I flew into Knock. No wait for baggage, no journey to the carpark (shorter walk than the supermarket), no traffic home. I had my doubts before I tried it but I'm a complete convert now. There are lots of package holidays going from there now as well as the growing number of scheduled flights.

I live less than 100 miles from Dublin but it's easier for me to get to events in London than it is to those in Dublin.

Rebecca
 
DrMoriarty said:
In the middle of the night, maybe — or do you have a helicopter, Purple? :D
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No, a car. Times are off peak. During rush hour the mountains are still 20 minutes but getting to the sea might take 35 minutes. I start work at 7.45am and leave for home at around 6.00pm.
 
purple:
surprised nobody picked you up about being lucky enough to love in an area you both grew up in. most of the rest of us have to make do with bedrooms:) ( if we're lucky)
 
It's strange, but I live less than 5 minutes from the sea here in Dublin but only get to visit it once a month or so. The Dublin mountains are 5 minutes the other side of me and likewise only visit them once every so often. I have several cinemas, bowling alley, racecourse, golf, a choice of shopping centres, sports complexes, restaurants, take outs, trendy pubs, music venues, beside the DART and bus lanes yet I seldom use all of the above facilities. When I go to the airport I nip across the toll bridge, up Collins Avenue in no time or use the Aircoach on my doorstep if it's not raining. Yet, I am off to Sligo next week for a quick break and to west Cork in July for another break and can't wait to get there. Strange.
 
cuchulainn said:
purple:
surprised nobody picked you up about being lucky enough to love in an area you both grew up in. most of the rest of us have to make do with bedrooms:) ( if we're lucky)
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That's why we have so many children;)
 
Purple said:
I work on the other side of the city but it only takes 20-35 minutes each way around that excellent road, the M50.
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Ahem... I've heard the M50 called a lot of things but 'excellent' isn't one of them...

I am however terribly envious that you live where you grew up. It is option that most people now growing up in Dublin will never be able to experience. The irony is that those living in non-Dublin locations can still probably afford to live in their locality but leave to come to Dublin for work...
 
Ron Burgundy said:
1. Sorry but dublin roads are no better and speed bumps are a pain in the ass

2. agreed, but there are parts of dublin with little or no public transport either

3. something to do, golf courses all over the place, must regional towns have librarys etc.

4. once again transport to the airport is ok if your anywhere near a train station, same time table as public transport in dublin.

5. depends on the sport, i have tennis, golf, bowls, rugby, soccer, gaa, swimming, slydiving within 10 mins of my house.

6. oh and we all hate the jackeens down the country;)

the above is my view as someone from the county who lived in dublin for 10 years.
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Ahh go on, your only bitter cos your house is only worth 25% of the value of us Dub's houses :D
 
larry1 said:
Ahh go on, your only bitter cos your house is only worth 25% of the value of us Dub's houses :D
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well i got mine for free so i'm ahead anyway:) , plus my mortgage is in the low 3 figures:cool:
 
I've lived in Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick City, currently live in Cork county and commute to Limerick city daily.

There are pros and copns to living anywhere but for me I think city living is ideal when you are young and have no children, or older and have no children but factor in children and I feel it is a much easier life in a rural location.
Persoanally I would hate to live in any city with small children.

When you talk about down the country I think it is only useful to compare rural and city living.

Living in the suburbs of Cork city in my opinion would not be all that different to living in a Dublin suburb.
 
Lived in Dublin and enjoyed it but it was never really a runner in the long term as:

1) Quality of Life - traffic & general hassle
2) Price of houses. Built mine in the last few years, a house I wouldnt see for decades if I'd stayed in Dublin. Fair enough it wouldnt sell for as much either but I aint selling ..... ever, so I get to enjoy a fine house with a low 3 figure mortgage.

Am in the general Limerick area but rural setting. Not my home place but not much over an hour from it and not "culturally" any different.

Careerwise I dont think I've lost out much, same type of job, fair enough it pays less than Dublin- though not hugely less - but the costs are way less so definitely financially better off.

So weigh up the loss in earnings with the money savings in terms of mortgage costs, and then factor in the big quality of life benefits.

The best bits of Dublin are always available at weekends if you want - I never did much on "school" nights anyway. Now I like going up there now and again.
 
Bamhan said:
Persoanally I would hate to live in any city with small children.
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For us this was a major factor in not moving out of the 'burbs. In a rural setting children are prisoners in their own homes as the roads are so dangerous. I spent all of my summer holidays as a child in a rural setting but the roads are so dangerous now that I woudln't go for a walk on them, let alone allow my children out on them. I a town or city, or a village, children can walk to their friends house.
I was also concerned about them driving when they are older as country roads are so much more dangerous and public dransport is not a real option in many areas so even if my children were not drink driving they may be in a car with someone who was.

I agree with your point that it is more an issue of urban V rural than Dublin V "down the country". I also think that location in Dubli is a very important factor for quality or life.
 
I wouldnt get obsessed with the dangerous country roads issue. It all depends. Particularly if you are off the national routes then there isnt a very high danger - I dont recall rural pedestrian deaths ever being spoken of as a big issue.

You do get quite a few 1 car accidents at 2am Saturday & Sunday mornings but driver speed and/or intoxication are the big things here.

Normally country roads are so quiet that its easy for pedestrians and cyclists to hear approaching traffic.
 
Purple,

I have to agree with you and stand up for Dublin a little bit. I've lived here for the past 6 years with one year of a break in Waterford. I hated living in Waterford and had a real feeling of coming home when I moved back to Dublin. I'll probably have to move again in a few years because of the job and I'm dreading leaving Dublin.

We don't own our own house so we aren't restricted to living in the outskirts iof the city. We have a great apartment in Ranelagh that we never want to leave with fantastic restaurants, pubs, parks etc on our doorstep. Like you said, the Dublin mountains and the Sea are only minutes away and if you want to go down to visit the folks, the roads are improving all the time (it's now only 3 hours to West Limerick).

Even something as small as the quality of the take-away food available drove us mad in Waterford - all you could get was pizza and poor chinese and Indian food. There was nothing to do except go out drinking in the pub and we were living on an estate for the first time in our lives so you couldn't really walk anywhere.

I think people have a jaundiced view of Dublin because of the obsession with property ownership with its attendent long commutes. You don't have to buy. There are plenty of really nice rentals in every part of Dublin for reasonable rents. Unless you feel that you have to but, you can pretty much live next to your workplace, no matter where that is.
 
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