Moving to Westmeath

Hi, my husband and I are thinking of moving to Westmeath , ideally within half hours drive of Mullingar Iwould hope to get a job there .My husband would continue to commute to Dublin . We have three primary school children in a gaelscoil in dublin at the moment.We have looked on myhome.ie and daft at houses in the Delvin ,Castlepollard and Collinstown areas . Can anybody tell me anything about thes areas? We want a house in a rural setting not in an estate as we dont want to move all that way from Dublin to live in another housing estate .

I would suggest you look on www.propertypartners.ie also for more houses in the area. Good luck, it's a nice part of the world.

You could also consider Enfield - it's 20 minutes drive to Mullingar on the motorway and 1 hour to Dublin at peak times by bus/train.

Thanks to both of you for your replies .. . We would like to a bit further west than Enfield , just think if we're making such a big move we might as well do it right . Was hoping someone who knows the Mullingar hinterlnd might reply so that we might get an idea of what the different areas are like as regards schools , things for kids to do , etc.

I lived in Mullingar for five years and loved it only moved back to Dublin to be closer to family. I can't really give you any info about the surrounding areas as we were real "townies"! The commute to Dublin was quite hard though but the new road has made a huge difference. Best of luck with your search - its a really great county to live in.

Hi Ash3. Moved to Rochfortbridge 6 yrs ago, and would never go back to Dublin. We're a 20min drive from Mullingar, about 40mins from Athlone. No hassles with schools, great shops around us and plenty to do at weekends etc. The hospital is great, have had one baby there and due another one shortly. With the new motorway open, Dublin is a stones throw away. Have absolutely no regrets about moving down and would recommend it to anyone. Best of luck with your decision...

Hi Ash3. I'm from Mullingar but living in Dublin. Of the three villages you mention, Collinstown would be my favourite (my best friend recently moved there). Its a real village community. Nice primary school, (also a few schools on the way into Mullingar) good hurling club and lovely lake. It's closer to Mullingar than the other two. I dont know much about Delvin. Castlepollard is probably the biggest(more shops and pubs). The primary schools on the way into Mullingar I think are probably nicer than the one in the village itself (sorry but i'm not sure what they are called-you'll see one on the main road). There is a large secondary school in Castlepollard also but I know that there are school buses servicing the Mullingar schools as another option. It is a good idea to look in these villages as they have not yet been taken over by the building boom of housing estates as much as those on the direct commuter route eg Rochfortbridge. Mullingar itself is a great town. Plenty of clubs etc for the kids. However it is still a trek to Dublin for your hubbie every day-one that i definitely wouldnt fancy!Although the new road makes it somewhat shorter you still have to deal with the N4 traffic around Lucan/ M50. If you have any other specific questions i'd be pleased to answer.

Thanks so much for replying , HollyOlly , you have answered all my questions (so far anyway) !. My husband works flexible enough hours and wouldn't work 5 days everyweek. Its a quality of life move we're looking for , we want to alittle bit away ffrom the traditional commuter areas , though not too far off the baeten track.