Neighbourhood Watch

Celbridge is full of contradictions. It boasts all the usual trappings of a sprawling modern town but has retained the atmosphere of a rural village. It's both steeped in history and forward-looking - Celbridge was one of the first towns to launch its own website. While it is in Co Kildare, it has become a suburb of Dublin, along with nearby Leixlip and Maynooth.

For anyone unfamiliar with Celbridge, the official website www.celbridge.net is a good way to get a feel for the place. Set up by a group of local transition year students several years ago, the site has since been revamped by 18-year-old local "webmaster" Dave Cochrane. Some of the features of the site include a Celbridge Ezine, a chat room for residents to air views on local issues, regularly updated local news, a comprehensive history of the town, bus and rail timetables and a list of local businesses.

To really take it all in, there's no substitute for a stroll along the lengthy main street, starting at Castletown House at the top of the town. The street is a hotchpotch of rustic stone-faced buildings and elegant period buildings alongside modern designs. It has all the amenities of a busy town, including banks, dry cleaners, takeaways, an Italian restaurant, pubs and newsagents.

More than 15,000 people now live in the town, which is only 13 miles from Dublin and has a regular train service to Heuston station. Celbridge has its own community/ business centre in a converted mill on the main street and has attracted workers, largely young professionals, from nearby Intel and Hewlett Packard.

Traffic congestion on the main street and over the bridge leading to the motorway is a major problem, but Kildare County Council says that work on a direct link to the M4 will start in late summer in a project that will cost £3m this year alone.

The council is also in the process of introducing traffic-calming measures on the main street, which will include much needed parking bays adjacent to the footpaths.

The town has three primary schools, one of which is a multi-denominational, and several second-level schools, although overcrowded classrooms have become an issue. Leisure facilities include a GAA clubhouse, tennis club, a shopping centre, salmon and trout fishing and a riding school. Celbridge Abbey, once the home of Jonathan Swift's Vanessa, has a tea room, gardens, a model railway and scenic Liffey walks.