The Woods, Laragh Road, Rathdrum,Co Wicklow

We have put a deposit on a 3 bed semi in this development and are signing contracts this week. Anyone else bought in this development or any thoughts on Rathdrum. We pulled out of buying a house in Arklow to buy here as it's a better location, we both work in D.18 & kids in school & creche in Bray where we currently live so don't need to make any changes there.
Would be interested to hear other's local knowledge and thoughts etc...thanks in advance.

These houses have been built for a number of years, and couldnt be sold due do hold ups with the water and swerage in Rathdrum generally, these seem to be coming to the end and they are on the market again ( 100k dearer than first offered).

Personally I think Rathdrum will expand alot in next few years
Railway staion , shops, secondary school, 2 national schools.

Its 35mins to the Shankill roundabout rarely longer, but behond there is anyones guess.

I wonder why so many people move to mid/ south wicklow and continue to school in Dublin, the stress on the chaps must be awful, asso as they grow older they wont have school friendsi n area. If one makes the leap to leave Dublin as we did try and become part of the community. Not the Dubs who just sleep in the town.

We moved 4 years ago, both of us now work less than 15 min form home, the chaps are in the local school, the local football, the local every thing. The boss does miss S/C and the ability to wander among shops, but Arklow will soon have the biggest shopping center out side Dunblin on the east coast( Bridgewater).

Do u have any local connections, cousins family etc makes things easier,

also get involved with thecommunity, and spend locally ,all helps to be accepted.

The location is lovely you have selected ( but remember there are 400 people working 5 mins away in a Pharma plant).

One thing to remember , Rathdrum seems to have its own micro climate, it rains alot here and its gets sever frost. Also there are large number of " council houses" in Rathdrum, long time residents hardworking but they dont take prisioners either.

Best of Luck ps we live 15 mins from Rathdrum.

Thank you so much for that, have to admit we are very happy with the house we bought it's a lovely house and a lovely development. The reason we are keeping the kids in school & creche in Bray for the moment is that I want to source a good childminder in the area before I change anything. I am looking for a position as close to there as I can get at the moment. we have done our research into Schering Plough, it was a big concern for us but turns out we were over reacting.
No family connections down there, we would love to get our son into the GAA/Soccer etc as he plays in Bray at the weekends and it would be great to get him involved where we live. The council houses are miles away from where our estate is, they are the far end of Rathdrum and to be honest I don't actually know where they are and it's not like you don't get a rough pocket in every town in Ireland, just keep a safe distance.
There is alot in the pipeline for Rathdrum and it's 35 mins from there to Sandyford to work, hubby has done the test twice now and we are delighted.
Are you in Aughrim or surrounding areas being that close??..what's the place and surrounding area's like for a few drinks/meal out??.

Hi, intrested in your reserch in to Schering Plough.

Yes we are in Aughrim, lovely house ,smaller village than Rathdrum, big in the tidy towns etc.

eating out-- our fav sport

Rathdrums finest is Bates, usually need to book, very good food, Dublin prices, but you could walk from The Woods.

Also Jacobs does good lunches and sundays.

The Meetngs isnt bad at all.

Wooden Bridge has the hotel food , and also the Itaian across the road, is good now ,was a bit patchy to start with.

Arklow has lots of places, Diabelos currently our fav, the gaudy green one the Wexford end of the main St.

Aughrim has the Stonecutter, change owners recently not the same as it was
Lawless is good in the evenings, patchy for lunch and over run on Sundays.

Brooklodge, not bad for a lunch for two in the pub, totally out ragesous and overated in the Strawberry Tree.not child friendly

Haven't drank in Rathdrum, but O tooles in Aughrim has good music local crowd, Phelans a bit ynger.

There alsorts of sports in Rathdrum Rugby is very popular at miniute obviously, but GAA, Soccar, community games, martial arts dancing scouts.
Farmers market in Aughrim at 11 on a Saturday s is worth a visit, but be there early.
anything else just ask

Was serious about the Mirco climate, sunny elsewahere rains here, and vis versa, something to do with its location and the Mountains.

Forgot to mention Glenmalure Lodge for food great value popular weekends.
Also Greenan maze for the kids and Avondale for walks and playground.

All with in 15 mins.

its 25 mins to Arklow, 40 to Gorey 1.10 to carlow, over the Wicklow Gap its 1 hour to the Square.

What sort of local work are you thinking about?

I'm an accountant so hoping to secure a decent position as near Rathdrum as possible but I know I won't get the city salary but it would be better for me and the kids if I am 15 mins from home and school. In saying that Sandyford is grand though but I know I need to get closer as I will go a bit la-la doing it after a while.
We put a deposit on Aughrim Hall actually, love Aughrim but the extra 14kms was the big thing due to where we work etc. I like the food in Lawlesses actually and fell out of O'Tooles not too long ago and had a ball. My friends parents live out there so had a big night out lately!
Love Avondale house for picnics, never been to Glenmalure Lodge or Greenan maze actually!. Kids and all nieces and nephews thrilled that we are so close to Clara Lara and have it all organised allready!!. LOL.
This micro climate is scaring me though...is it just Rathdrum that gets it and where can I get more info about this. I have a 5 year old and 18 month old to consider and don't want to make a big mistake or have problems if we ever want to upgrade in say 5 or so years time!

One of my husbands collegues has a brother that used to work there and he told us so much and was honest and helpful, will root out the email and pm it to you. My friends husband works in the one in Bray and said the same thing and hubbies cousin works there, in saying that she's a bit of a scary individual...crap maybe there are funny things coming out of there afterall...Gulp!!

HI you two!

We are in the process of buying in Derrybawn, Aughrim - the house should be ready in the next week or so. We have 3 kids - 5, 3, 1. Really looking forward to moving. We are overseas at the moment but will be home in the summer for good.

Do you know if there is a mum and tots group in Aughrim? Also my husband and son are keen on GAA, is there any hurling or is it all football?

Hi Flycon, haven't a clue about mum and tots group in Aughim. The GAA club in Augrim is supposed to be great, we will going to Rathdrum though to keep it local!!. All GAA clubs play both gaelic and hurling, my son loves hurling actually more that football. Derrybawn is lovely, we stupidly pulled out of buying one of those last year!!..thought the commute was too long and thought we would be able to afford to buy in Bray this year but sure what can you do!. I am trying to source info on the area myself at the moment so will share anything I find out with you. We should be moving ourselves in the next fortnight!. Best of luck with your move!

Hi I am originally from Rathdrum and have family still living there, though I have lived away from there for nearly twenty years. Just couldn't resist being nosey and seeing what people were saying about it. Regarding the micro-climate - I never heard that before - it used to get snow nearly every year in the days before global warming! (ie my childhood) but that is much less frequent now. Other than that it is much like the weather anywhere - nothing to worry about! I hope you enjoy living there. It's not a bad place.

Just wondering if anyone else the bought in this development has been called for their snag yet or given an explanation why the kitchen isn't it yet??...we signed our contracts and were told closing and keys in 2 weeks but went down yesterday and the gardens are not seeded either?!?..would love to see how anyone else is doing.

We are very interested in this development, its lovely. We will be putting a deposit down in the next week or so. I was under the impression they may not be ready for a couple of months though. Which agency did you go through?

O'Neill & Flanagan is the estate agent we are buying through. I cannot understand why you told a couple of months when the entire development is actually built, it's just a matter of fitting all the kitchens, wardrobes, fireplaces and seeding the gardens that have to be done. Our snag was done this morning so just awaiting the report. We have even ordered our phone line and sky in for mid April as we will be getting our keys in the next fortnight. Now, granted we were one of the first to put a deposit down plus our house is on the front row. All the front houses are sold so perhaps if you are purchasing one of the houses at the back it might be a few months longer as some of them are fully constructed but nothing in them as of yet!. Anymore info required let me know...it's a lovely development and we cannot wait to move in!.

Also, just to let you know our kitchen, wardrobes and fireplace is in, the garden is seeded & the house is fully painted & bannister on stairs varnished, all the houses on the front row are done so I do not know about the houses at the back as that part is still closed off.

At one time I used to do dublin<>rathdrum across the mountains. Be aware that due to bad weather that route can close.

I would only take that route in the summer if I had to, not too fond of back roads. Hubby got stuck there years ago in the bad weather taking a "short cut"...so we learned something there!. Anyway, the M11 is 15 mins away in the car via Gleanealy/Rathnew so it's a better route.

It was SherryFitz who said two or three months, but at that stage we hadn't said which house we were interested in. The ones at the front are lovely, we only looked around for the first time last weekend and the front row were all sold by then. The one we have reserved is in the middle section but at least we will still have the lovely views from the balcony.

We will be using O'Neill and Flanagan too as I made the initial enquiries with them, but won't be signing the contracts for a couple more weeks so I guess they will tell us a bit more then. If I think of any questions meanwhile I will let you know, thanks!

O'Neill & Flanagan way better to deal with than the other crowd. Yes the balconies are great, I can't wait to sit out on ours on a summers evening looking out at the lovely view. I like the proposed green area in the middle section & I initially wanted to go for one of there as I reckon as the kids get older that is where they will want to go & play with their friends which means I'll be around there all the time watching them but hubby prefered the front one and sold the idea to me & very happy. There is also the green area in front of our house so they can play around there aswell but you know what kids are like...as far away from mammies prying eyes as possible.
Just beware that the developer won't reserve the house for anymore that a few days without a deposit, he has a reputation for that. Their solicitors are a bit slow, we were waiting weeks on the contracts so I would say you will be waiting aswell!. Good luck with it!

Thanks for the advice, will be sending the deposit in the next day or two so fingers crossed it will all work out for us!

Wishing you the best of luck with it!, hope it all works out for you. Is this a big move for you commute or location wise??. We are moving from Bray!.
Oh we met our neighbours who bought next door to us last Sunday when we were down checking progress and they are sound, should be really exciting moving in now!. As I said, wishing you all the best!!.We've been throught the mill with the mortgage and broker being an eget so we are dying to be stress free!

We're in Kilmacanogue at the moment so just up the road from you! I currently work in Donnybrook and fiance is freelance around South Co Dublin / North Wicklow. I am planning to try the commute for a while but I can't imagine doing it forever. We have all the mortgage stuff ahead of us now so hopefully that will go through ok and we will be moving in over the summer sometime! Best of luck with the move!!