With traffic, queues and people – so many people – town and city life can lose its lustre, and many dream of moving to the peace and quiet of the countryside for more space, and often better value.
Having land and property in picturesque rural settings can also provide opportunity in itself – in the form of tourism, food production and even pet training.
Siobhán Owens has devoted her life to animals since she began volunteering with the Dogs Aid animal sanctuary in Ballymun, north Dublin, in 1989. “It’s a small selection of people, along with plants and animals,” that make her happy, she says, speaking from her home in Athboy, Co Westmeath.
Her youngest daughter starting college was the catalyst for her and her husband Jonathan to bite the bullet and move with their family to the countryside, where Owens would have the land to expand her pet-training business, Dublin and Meath Pet School.
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“Every time we went away – we’d go on camping and caravan holidays in Ireland – and when we were sitting there in those caravans with all that green around us, we said: ‘Oh, isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this what we love?’ And then we thought, let’s just go do it.”
In 2023 the Owens family sold their four-bedroom semidetached home in Finglas and moved to a three-bedroom bungalow with a big attic (that they hope to convert) in Athboy, just over the border from Meath in Co Westmeath. Most importantly, the property is on more than 5.8 acres of land, providing more than enough space for Owens to carry out obedience classes and behavioural assessments on her four-legged clients.
She continues to operate home visits in Dublin as she always has done, but it’s much better to carry out assessments of dogs in a safe and secure space on her land in Athboy rather than in public parks where other dogs and owners tend to interrupt, she says.
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One of the Owens’s first logistical considerations was for two of their children, both in their 20s, to get their driving licenses so they could drive back and forth to Dublin for work and college. It turned out to be much quicker to get their driving test at the Navan test centre than to graduate from the waiting list they had been on in Dublin, and they both got sorted quickly – a benefit of living in a less populated area.
Not having a convenience shop within walking distance of their home was something the family had to get used to though, Owens says. “It could be a little annoying. I’d suddenly discover that there is this one ingredient that I’m missing and I have to get in the car and drive. But it’s just a seven-minute drive away, so it’s not the end of the world.”
Jonathan also has to commute to work in Dublin city centre more often now that the company he works for called for a return to the office, whereas he had previously been able to work from home in the wake of the Covid pandemic, she says.
“He just gets up a little bit earlier and he gets in just ahead of the traffic and that’s really all that you have to do. There’s always a way around it. If you really want to [move to the country], hesitation is going to be your biggest hindrance,” Owens says.
And despite the commute her husband has no regrets. “Listen, he’s out there on his tractor going around the land in the sun, having a great time. It’s great for the mental health,” she says.
“We adapted to the country lifestyle very easily and now we just come home in the evening and have all the green around and you have peace and quiet, and I just love it.”
The grounds have also become home to two donkeys and two horses, which Owens adopted from My Lovely Horse Rescue, as well as chickens which produce eggs for the household and are “whistle-trained” to come out and say hello on command. She also grows an array of vegetables, has installed a hive to attract bees and has plans to rewild an area of marsh land and add a pond.
Just a 10-minute drive across the border into Co Meath is another dog-friendly business, the Pheasant Lane short-stay retreat, near the village of Clonmellon. Geraldine Curran and her husband Derek Keogh bought the early 1800s farmhouse and outbuildings as their first home together in 2018 for €165,000, Curran says.
There are often pheasants around the place, she says, but her inspiration for the property’s name came to her was when she saw a hen followed by 10 or so chicks waddling up the lane.
She originally stumbled upon the listing for the property one weekend and thought she’d have to wait until Monday to view it, but when she called selling agent Chris Smith from Quillsen, he got the couple a viewing that Sunday afternoon, and they immediately fell in love with it.
“The driveway sold it to us because it’s a beautiful 300m-plus driveway and it was just idyllic; there was a new forest just planted around it, it was two or three years old at that stage, but now it’s matured over eight years and it’s all around the house ... and the birds are constantly singing,” Curran says.
Curran grew up living in a B&B run by her family in Spiddal on the Co Galway coast, and both she and Keogh have a background in hospitality, so they saw the potential to convert the cut-stone outbuildings into guest accommodation.
With a little help from their friends, they have converted them into three short-stay cottages – two of which are named after their mothers, Iris and Sarah – catering for guests who want to take a break and breathe in some fresh countryside air.
Trained in holistic therapies, Curran has a therapy room on the property where she provides a range of services from reflexology to Indian head massage. Also on site for guests are two hot tubs and a barbecue hut.
“I love having people around but I also like my own company so the short-term rentals work quite well; you have the best of both worlds” Curran says.
Potential ‘working homes’
Renovation opportunity in Rathosey
Rathosey, Coolaney, Co Sligo
€248,000, Sherry FitzGerald
The right person could make something really special out of this property near the village of Coolaney, and 20km outside Sligo town. It contains a fully converted, beautifully fitted-out outbuilding, where you could live comfortably while developing the rest of the property. The main house on the site is a derelict period farmhouse, but with a healthy budget and the right know-how, it could be transformed into a guest house or retreat space. There is also a hay barn and old farm sheds on this 7.4 acre plot.
Artistic inspiration in west Cork
Dunkelly Middle, Goleen, Co Cork
€975,000, Charles McCarthy Auctioneers
Artists, writers or craftspeople may find inspiration in the stunning views from this contemporary waterfront property on Mizen Peninsula overlooking Dunmanus Bay towards the Sheep’s Head Peninsula in west Cork. The property comes with approximately 30 acres of land and potential to add separate studio buildings, a workshop or guest accommodation to create an artist’s retreat centre. Extending to 235 sq m (2,530 sq ft), the home is B2 Ber-rated and has three bedrooms. It is just a 10-minute drive from Goleen village and 20 minutes from Schull.
Horsey haven in Co Monaghan
Annacramph, Castleshane, Co Monaghan
€250,000, Sherry FitzGerald Conor McManus
If you have ever dreamed of turning your love of horses into a business, this property on 7 acres may be the right place to do it. It is currently home to two horses and offers them plenty of field space, as well as two stables. The house itself extends to 67 sq m (721 sq ft) and has three bedrooms. It is in decent condition but could do with a cosmetic refresh, and the E2 Ber rating will need to be addressed. You can easily access both the Dublin Road (N2) and Armagh Road (N12) from this tranquil spot.
B&B by the Brosna
Riverside House, Charlestown, Clara, Co Offaly
€345,000, Mark Nestor Property Services
This four-bedroom, five-bathroom period town house sits right beside the River Park in the charming town of Clara. With a C1 Ber, this home needs an enterprising new owner to give the interior a modern refresh to restore it to its former glory as a B&B. It has a spacious driveway to the front for guest parking and a lovely back garden where you could grow fruit and vegetables to delight your guests. It is walking distance from the town and train station, where there are services to Dublin Heuston, Galway, Athlone and Westport.
