Spirit of independence rules in Wexford, a county where the sun nearly always shines

Wexford has a lively capital town with an identity all its own – and the county is fringed with golden sands

IF IRELAND were to nominate a holiday county, Wexford would most likely top the poll. But what’s it like to live there? For Colum Murphy, managing director of Kehoe Auctioneers in Wexford town, one of the biggest advantages it has is not proximity to big cities such as Dublin or Cork, but distance from them.

“We are lucky that Wexford town was always too far away to ever be considered a commuter town of Dublin’s, for example or have its consumers sucked up to big shopping centres such as Dundrum.

“We’re much more self sustaining here and, as a result, our main street doesn’t have that vacant feel that many places closer to the capital now have,” says Murphy.

The attractiveness of the county capital is a huge draw. “Wexford town is not a carbon copy or clone of any other town in Ireland; it has a very distinctive character offering a unique blend of independent retailers,” says Orla Nolan of Wexford’s Chamber of Commerce.

It’s why main street here is still buzzing, despite the downturn. And while there are vacancies, in recent months there have been lettings too, with retailers such as Jack Jones and A-Wear moving in. These complement a strong tradition in independent retailing, with stores such as wine shop Greenacres attracting gourmands from miles around.

“Many of Ireland’s larger towns and cities have become identical, each providing the same franchised chain stores stocking the same ranges. The town is well served by a small number of franchised chain stores but Wexford’s independent retailers stock a variety of distinctive and exclusive labels that are not available in other towns,” says Nolan.

“It is the authenticity of our local independent shops that bring people back again and again.”

But the county capital is only part of what makes Wexford a nice place to live. By far the bigger part is its beaches. From Courtown to Curracloe, Rosslare to the Hook, the county is fringed with golden sands.

And beaches are for life, not just for summer holidays, points out Helen Cousins, who lives in Kilmore and has two holiday homes there which she also rents out.

“The beaches are gorgeous at any time of year but my own favourite time for walking them is in winter when they are deserted.”

Seeing the county through her guests’ eyes has opened her own, she admits.

“When our kids were small we were always looking for places to go for day trips and many of the places we discovered in Wexford came from recommendations from our visitors.”

These range from well known operations such as Johnstown Castle, the National Heritage Park and the JFK Arboretum to hidden gems such as Kilmokea gardens.

Wexford town and the county’s larger towns, including Gorey, Enniscorthy and New Ross, all grew in size during the boom years. It was the north of the county however, in places such as Gorey and Camolin, that saw most development. In many cases here people were indeed taking advantage of the newly upgraded N11 in order to make the commute to Dublin.

“An awful lot of what we saw from 1999 to 2007 was people from south Dublin and north Wicklow selling up their homes, clearing their mortgages and buying similar-sized properties down here,” says David Quinn, a third generation estate agent in Gorey who reckons the town’s population doubled in that time.

Cheaper housing was the primary appeal, but he believes the community life people discovered when they made the move was a significant factor too, as were the beaches.

“In many cases I’d sell to one family member one year and a year or two later be selling to their siblings and even their parents, as entire families moved down,” he says.

It is in the ribbon development of holiday homes extending out of seaside villages from Courtown down the coast however that the scale of development during the noughties is perhaps most clearly visible.

“There are a lot of holiday homes available now to buy,” admits Colum Murphy. “At the time they were built there was perfect demand for them but not now. Holiday homes are a luxury item and as such there is very little market, but many have become permanent homes.”

As places to relocate to permanently go, it’s not hard to see why the county is perennially popular, particularly among retirees.

“It’s a cliché but it’s also true that we have the least rainfall and the most hours of sunshine in the country. As well as older couples we also get a lot of people who were born in Wexford and who left coming back when it comes time to raise a family,” he says.

Certainly when it came time for Wexford native Edward Hendrick to raise a small business, it was back to Wexford he went.

His technology company, Sonru, sells video conferencing software to customers around the world and so, in theory, could have located anywhere.

“Wexford is an excellent place to locate a business because it is equally handy for airports at Dublin, Waterford and Cork and a lot of our work involves meetings abroad. But life isn’t all about meetings and being so close to beaches is wonderful. The quality of life here is second to none,” says Hendrick.

The recent arrival of companies such as Coca Cola and financial services company Zurich to the country backs this up.

The Department of the Environment has successfully decentralised here too, providing a significant boon to Wexford town.

While the town hasn’t the buzz of a university town (although it has an outpost of Carlow IT) it has always had a strong cultural life, including the annual Wexford International Opera Festival and theatres groups such as Bui Bolg and Young Raven.

For those looking to relocate, property prices have fallen significantly with country cottages now starting at €80,000 and three-bedroom semis in the town available from €160,000.

It is properties at this end of the market that are still seeing demand.

“The mid and top ends are much harder to move, people aren’t trading up anymore,” says Edel Keane of Keane Auctioneers. Some pockets have held up better than others however.

“Rosslare has retained its popularity, both for retirees and holiday properties.

“Proximity to Kelly’s Hotel is a big draw there for property as much as for tourism,” she says.

As is the case everywhere however, the real difficulty is not finding property but securing finance.

“We have a couple, both of whom have jobs, who have saved up their deposit and want to buy a two-bedroom house they have fallen in love with for €100,000, but they just can’t get a mortgage. There are many more like them,” says Keane.

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