Canal town Athy has a gentle, friendly flow

So you want to move to Athy?With its pleasant canal and good transport links, Athy has become a popular choice for people looking to relocate from the capital, writes Michael Parsons.

Have you ever sat by the banks of Dublin's Grand Canal on a sunny summer afternoon and, like Patrick Kavanagh, noticed how: "Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges"?

Or daydreamed about a life somewhere beyond the lock and quay? "And look! A barge comes bringing from Athy and other far-flung towns mythologies".

Sadly there is no longer any commercial traffic plying the waterways between the midlands and Dublin. Today, barges on the canal cruise purely for pleasure.

Athy no longer seems "far-flung" and is attracting a growing number of city dwellers disaffected by depressingly high house prices and who are seeking a less hurried lifestyle.

Helen Dowling, the town clerk, says people are choosing to come and live in Athy for "the quality and value of houses and the good road and rail links to Dublin". There is also "capacity in all the schools".

Local historian and solicitor Frank Taaffe claims "you will not find a finer inland town within 50 miles of Dublin - beautifully situated on the banks of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal, with fine open public spaces, very good schools and tremendous recreational facilities". Tall praise from a Kilkenny man who moved to Athy "a lifetime ago".

Chris Fingleton, a native and journalist with local newspaper, The Kildare Nationalist, says newcomers to the town frequently cite its "friendliness and strong sense of community spirit".

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? But a lot of people seem to agree.

In the last five years alone, Athy's population has grown by 33 per cent with significant numbers arriving from north Kildare, Dublin and overseas, especially Poland. Dowling observed that in some of the new housing estates "up to 60 per cent of the cars have D registration plates".

A sundial on Emily Square in the town centre overlooks a limestone tablet with the inscription: "A Market Square - Meeting Place of People Urban and Rural". The monument was erected "to commemorate the founding of Macra na Feirme in 1944 and the establishment of its first headquarters in Athy Town Hall".

Six decades on, Athy, like other provincial towns, is being transformed by the influx of urbanites.

A few streets away is the spanking new Carlton Abbey Hotel which opened last year on the site of the former Sisters of Mercy Convent. The old nunnery has been sympathetically preserved and stylishly extended. Its former chapel is now the Abbey Bar - where contemporary art hangs next to pastel stained-glass windows.

Incidentally, if you're thinking the nuns might disapprove, fear not. The sisters reportedly had a right old knees-up at the opening night bash.

Athy still has many traditional shop fronts, which are a pleasant relief from the bland high street look sweeping through Irish main streets. There's a street market every Tuesday morning and a farmers' market on Sundays.

But some locals complain that shopping is not up to the standards expected in the new consumer age and flock to Newbridge, Naas or Carlow tempted by shops such as Marks & Spencer and Tesco.

Public buildings of interest include the lovely old court and market house and St Dominic's church, a relic of post-Vatican II 1960s' futuristic architecture.

The 15th century White's Castle sits alongside Ireland's most oddly named bridge, the Crom-A-Boo (apparently named after a Geraldine war-cry).

Traffic can be dreadful. The town is one of many awaiting a bypass. Memories of less crowded Kildare highways and by-ways are evoked by an annual vintage car rally, to commemorate the 1903 Gordon Bennett International Car Race - a sort of precursor to modern grand prix.

According to Bernard Hennessy of Sherry Fitzgerald McDermott: "People move to Athy because of good-value houses"; an entry-level three-bed semi can be had for €245,000, he says. Most demand is coming from "Dublin and north Kildare - especially Naas and Newbridge".

Sometimes, a young couple buy a house and a year later parents, relatives or friends will also buy having realised that "there is value to be had". He says: "The dream of owning a house - which has become unattainable for many in Dublin - is still possible in Athy."

Even better value can be had a few miles outside town at Maganey, where he's selling Bruach Na hAbhana - 44 houses on a 13-acre site in "the luscious Barrow Valley" where he recently had a three-bed semi for €215,000 and a four-bed detached for €325,000.

And for those selling a property in Dublin who want a new life, he says: "There's fantastic value" among a selection of houses on "their own grounds with 2,000 plus sq ft of space from €450,000 to €650,000".

About 50 per cent of the apartments he sold last year were to owner-occupiers. The average price for a two-bed is between €180,000 and €220,000.

Overall property prices have "been shooting up". In January 2005, he says "a detached four-bed house with 1,400 sq ft cost €279,000. Now the same house would cost about €350,000." But he insists that relative to greater Dublin, there is still very good value.

Bryan O'Doherty of O'Doherty Real Estate Alliance is selling Section 23 apartmentsat The Harbour, a development overlooking the Grand Canal.

There is a lively rentals market, especially to "non-nationals working in Naas and Newbridge who live in Athy because costs are lower".

But he believes that "the apartment market is now pretty much satisfied" and most of his clients are first-time buyers.

The average price of a good three-bed semi is €270,000 to €275,000, he says, and a top quality, top-of-the-range four-bed detached house costs in the €400,000 to €420,000 range. He expects prices to settle this year after increases of about 15 per cent across the board last year.

Dooley Auctioneers is one of three new estate agents which have opened in the last year, bringing to nine the number in Athy. It's run by Mike McGuire who has relocated from Dublin. He had worked for Dooley's in Dún Laoghaire and Bray. He says: "There will be a lot of commercial development in Athy and a massive transformation over the next four to five years."

Apart from getting lots of enquiries from "young couples who are priced out of the Dublin market", he claims "investors see opportunities here because prices are lower than they should be".

McGuire finds the town very welcoming and friendly, likes the bars and restaurants. He says the value for money is incredible. "Visiting friends from Dublin are always surprised by the amount of change they get when buying a few drinks."