- and community spirit comes free

Families who’ve made the move explain why they won’t leave Meath

WHEN Dubs Trish and William Smith came back from a decade in Hong Kong during the last recession, they could have lived anywhere in the country they liked. They chose Meath.

The couple bought Beechwood Lodge, a house on 35 acres just outside Trim. They planted trees on the land as an investment and built a number of self-catering properties in the gardens.

“My own mother had run a BB and I wanted to do something that would allow me to stay at home with my kids,” explains Trish.

“We picked Meath because of its central location. It meant we could have all the benefits of country living while having easy access to our family in Dublin.”

It proved a good move on all fronts. Not only has the business thrived but so too has family life. “Trim is a great place to live, with lovely river walks and the majestic castle overlooking the Boyne. It’s a small town with a lot of character and charm,” says Trish. “Our children went to the local school so that they could integrate into the community and they did very well.

“They loved growing up here and, now in their 20s, have gone on to study aeronautical engineering and biotechnology.”

The aeronautical engineering may be a case of the apple not falling far from the tree, in that the Smiths’ great passion is for ballooning.

They learned about it from a guest a number of years back, and ended up buying their own. Today they balloon regularly for pleasure. “On a calm summer evening you will often see a number of balloons flying over the town. It’s a wonderful sight. We absolutely love it and there is no nicer place to look down over than Meath. It is just so beautiful.”

The M3 has shortened the Navan-Dublin commute - and has changed things dramatically for one man who left Dalkey to live in Navan

DALKEY man John Coen moved to Navan 11 years ago, simply because his wife, Deirdre, is from the town. Now he loves it as much as she does.

"What I love about living here is how close everything is. You don't have to spend ages driving to get things. This morning, for example, I had to go down to Woodie's for some DIY stuff, and I was down and back in 20 minutes," says John.

Thanks to the opening of the M3, he saves time on his daily commute to Dublin too.

"It has changed things dramatically for me, taking 40 minutes off the journey at peak times."

He's able to spend more time with his three children as a result, as well as work on his other, unpaid job, as secretary of Navan Rugby Club, which is next door to his house.

Indeed, the town's legendary love of sport is one of the reasons why it's a good place to raise kids, he reckons.

"In the summer they switch to Gaelic, in the winter they play rugby. It's funny for me to see my kids in a Meath jersey at match time but then the town has lots of Dub supporters too. You see a fair few blue jerseys hanging out of windows these days," he says.

Membership of the rugby club reflects the healthy influx of new blood to the town during the boom, he reckons.

"We have Polish and English and people from all sorts of places and it's great," he says.

And even though it's so close to Dublin, to many who live there, that fact is irrelevant. "I know guys down here who only go to Dublin twice a year, if at all."

And he can understand why. "Navan is a great place to live. In fact, the only thing I miss about Dalkey is the sea."