Considering a move to Ireland - advice needed

[Cobbytype]

Apologies in advance for a long winded post.

I've been on about this for the past 2 years or so (moving to Ireland), but circumstances prevented me from doing much about it. My mum was poorly last year, so I wanted to be around to help look after her during her final months.

I live in a rural location, which over the past few years has lost much of its charm. My previously sleepy village can be quite noisy and busy these days, as we have a couple of local entertainment venues that create a lot of noise and traffic both day and night. The hacking used to be pretty good, with the local farmers allowing restricted access along their tracks, but that's all gone now and the local roads have a 60mph limit, which many motorists take full advantage of, so hacking can be quite unpleasant at times! I lost my horse last year, but the thought of hacking a new one on our local roads fills me with dread; I' don't bounce well these days. My paddock is 400m away from home too, but I stable at home, so have to lead through the village twice daily. We can't afford the 'dream' location here, but could comfortably do so in Ireland.

I'm self employed and do okay and work long hours, but it would be nice not to have to work quite so hard. If we sold here and moved to Ireland we'd be mortgage free, so wouldn't need to earn as much, but we'd still need to have an income. My business is relocatable, but I do a lot of postage (about 50 - 100 small parcels a week), so the postage in ROI could present a problem unless I can find a way of overcoming the costs issues (perhaps living near the border, so I can drive over a couple of times a week to do postage in N. Ireland)? The alternative is to accept I'll have to pay more postage (resulting in a reduced profit), so will probably have to cultivate additional income from another means.

In short, we want a quieter life and miss the peace and tranquility that we once had here. I want to buy another horse and enjoy some nice hacking without having to worry about the busy roads, big firework displays (they go off over my stable on an all too frequent basis) and discos going on until the small hours.

We're used to living without local amenities - we're 8 miles from the nearest town here and have no local shops, so the rural aspect of Ireland isn't going to be all that different to here.

I'd initially thought that Monaghan would be a good place to look, but have now got completely bamboozled because I like the look of Co.Cork and think we could probably do some wholesale business to the tourist shops there.

I'd really appreciate some practical advice from those of you that have taken the plunge and relocated. Are there particular counties that are good for hacking (I realise that there are no bridleways in ROI)?

A double chocolate muffin and a pint of Guiness for getting this far.

 

[Cortez]

I live in one of the most rural counties in Ireland, it's a border county too. I wouldn't hack on the roads if you paid me a million euros! I'm always struck by the number of people you see out hacking in the UK; you hardly ever see anyone out on the roads here. Yes, it's much cheaper to buy a rural property here, and keeping a horse is cheaper too, but Ireland is perhaps not as horse-friendly a country as you lot seem to think. If you're into racing, hunting or show jumping there will be competitions, etc. to go to. Anything else and it's a bit sparse.

Co. Cork, especially West Cork, is a very touristy area and this means the locals struggle to afford to buy. I have a couple of ex-pat English friends who've done the same as you're contemplating, and they are quite lonely and isolated where they are, and they miss the horse culture they've left behind. Having said that, I couldn't see myself living in the UK either

 

[only_me]

Monaghon is a great place to live, but have you thought about living in Northern Ireland?
You can still live in a rural place, especially if you live round the border but it has some great advantages in that you don't have to pay for healthcare and you are still within the UK so stay in sterling.

If you want proper rural Ireland with the benefits of staying in Uk I would look at living towards Fermanagh direction, it is lovely! Plus the hacking is great there. Or even anywhere bordering the mourne mountains, you would be able to hack there and would be less HGVs etc.

 

[Henry02]

Cork is rammed full of tourists, and you don't want to hack on the roads! Ireland's idea of riding is mostly different to the UK's as well!

 

[happyclappy]

OP, can I come with you? I love Ierland, but hubby although he loves it, won't move.
I appreciate I have seen it as a tourist and, like Cornwall, it is different living there to visiting.

Whatever/wherever you decide, enjoy!

 

[Cobbytype]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'd hoped you'd reply Cortez, as I'd seen you mention that you lived in Ireland. Forgive me for prying, but if you don't hack out on the roads, where do you ride?

Tbh, my village isn't exactly horsey, it's become popular with commuters.

I realise that Cork is touristy, but that could help with part of how I earn a living. Up until a year ago I used to run monthly weekend courses and was surprised how popular they were (given where I live; it's not exactly the centre of the universe, being a long haul from any major cities). I stopped when family commitments and work hours all became a bit much, as I was working Mon - Fri too. We were contemplating the idea of doing a similar sort of course in Ireland and a few of the properties I've seen have enough space/outbuildings to make it work. It's all ideas and possibilities at the moment, but I need to discount some areas/possibilities so that I can draw up a sensible list of places to see. I'm hoping to go over in the next month or two and spend a week house hunting/viewing.

On the other hand, I've seen a few places in Sligo that really look beautiful, but I'm a bit of a wuss with rain and I think it's a tad wetter along the Atlantic coast than the other side!

I'll take a look at Fermanagh properties later - oh dear, I was hoping to cut down my list

Of course you can come too Happy Clappy - but do break it to your husband gently

 

[laura_nash]

We made the plunge last June, we've moved to the Mayo / Galway border which has a lot of tourist areas as well as being close enough to the city for shopping trips. I have been keeping a blog, it is more about the work on the house than the horsey stuff but there are some category filters on the side - http://towercottage.weebly.com/. The house buying process was a nightmare so if you do move be aware it will take longer and be much more stressful than it should be.

Everyone has been really friendly and we've settled in very well. We had much more "anti-english" sentiment when we lived in Wales TBH, and there are plenty of ex-pats about. There's very few cultural differences, the only noticeable thing is the church with everyone going to church on Sunday and making a big fuss about things like communion.

Some things are more difficult to get hold of and expensive, the horsey side is very different as most of the horses around here are broodmares owned by farmers. I had a lot of trouble getting hold of fast fibre (my preferred feed) and only managed it because we have a big equestrian centre down the road attached to a posh hotel and they get regular deliveries from a depot in NI. No-one else hacks on the roads but they are very quiet and lots of people walk (with loose dogs) on them so I think its more a cultural thing. We've been too busy to ride much yet so I don't know how it will work out in the end on that side, but when I have ridden out everyone has stopped to say hello and I've certainly not had any "horses shouldn't be on roads" type of reaction. I wasn't that immersed in the "horse culture" in the UK anyway, tend to do things my own way and hack out alone, if you are used to doing a lot of local competitions or fun rides you would definitely miss that as they don't do those things here.

I got a nice rescue pony for my daughter very easily as they are so over-run, I would consider that if you do move over and don't need something that has been there are done that, lots of perfectly nice horses being abandoned at the moment.

If your looking at properties on the Internet be aware that there are some seriously cr*p properties about in Ireland and some of them look reasonably okay from photos, we had a bit of a shock when we looked at some (mostly poured concrete jobs from the 40's) so make sure you have a lot of properties lined up to look at as probably at least half will be no-go's from the start.

 

[Cortez]

It's wet everywhere here! No escape. Sligo is beautiful, as is all of the west. Northern Ireland is perhaps a little more organised than the south, but it's still not horsey life as you know it in England. I ride as part of my business, so have 400 acres of parkland to roam over when working, plus our own farm fields and an arena for training. There are gallops available to hire, and some cross country courses, indoor arenas for when the weather's too awful, but all are a fair distance away and involve boxing up.

It's not awful, it's different, and hacking as a primary riding goal wouldn't be prevalent here as in the UK.

 

[Polos Mum]

If you not keen on the bad weather have you thought about quite rural Lincolnshire - it gets the least rainfall of the UK and most hours of sun, close to beaches for some fab hacking and in the fens very very cheap.

I sold a 2.5 bed ugly semi on an estate in Berkshire and bought at 12 acre 3 bed double bed detached for the same money (under £300k) only a few years ago.

 

[Polos Mum]

If you not keen on the bad weather have you thought about quite rural Lincolnshire - it gets the least rainfall of the UK and most hours of sun, close to beaches for some fab hacking and in the fens very very cheap.

I sold a 2.5 bed ugly semi on an estate in Berkshire and bought at 12 acre 3 bed double bed detached for the same money (under £300k) only a few years ago.

 

[Cobbytype]

Thanks everyone.

Thanks Cortez for clarifying; your set up sounds lovely. I'll make sure that we look at a few of the favourites in Co. Sligo.

I'll take a look at your blog later Laura - it sounds fascinating. Glad you're enjoying Ireland.

I live in Lincolnshire now Polos Mum - but I'm 70 miles from the coast. I'm not far from the East Coast Main Line, hence the jump in prices here, as it's only an hour to London. There's nothing equestrian with a few acres under half a million.

Lots of food for thought. Looks like we'll have a lot of driving to do once we get over there to view.

Thanks again.

 

[ZondaR]

Daft.ie and Property.ie are the two main web site for looking for property, also check Donedeal.ie. There are no bridle paths here and priority is given to walkers and cyclists. An awful lot of people don't keep their dogs on leads. Rural motorists are good on the road, urban motorists don't know how to drive past horses and a lot of them are not very tolerant. Road surfaces are not as good as in the UK, road tax for your car and insurance are expensive but diesel and petrol is cheaper. The mildest weather is here in Wonderful Cork. In Cork, you are never very far away from horses and there are plenty of hunter trials in winter and show jumping all summer and lots of hunting too. There are a lot of active riding clubs. West Cork is the most touristy and, consequently expensive. There are very quiet rural roads if you buy a property away from main roads, but as I said, surfaces are not as good as UK and they are not salted or gritted in freezing weather. I am obviously biased as I am from Cork.

But why can't you relocate in the UK? Moving to another country is a drastic thing to do and even though we are very similar to the English, we are very different too, there are a lot of cultural differences.

 

[Orangehorse]

If there are no bridlepaths in Ireland, where do people ride if they don't own their own land?

Even if they hunt all winter, there must be places they go to do the fitness work.

 

[only_me]

We hack on roads, forest parks, national trust land, mountains, beaches etc.

Just cos we don't have bridlepaths doesn't mean we don't hack!

 

[madmav]

This is not the first thread to upset me as to how unhorsey the land of horses -Ireland for flip's sake - is.

 

[Polos Mum]

I live in Lincolnshire now Polos Mum - but I'm 70 miles from the coast. I'm not far from the East Coast Main Line, hence the jump in prices here, as it's only an hour to London. There's nothing equestrian with a few acres under half a million.

.

I had a quick look on rural scene and ruralandequestrian and there are at least 10 over 2 acres under £300k - you just need to head out into the fens !! Much less risk than Ireland.
We sold our house 12 acres, lovely American barn big school and large 4 double bed house 10 mins from grantham for well under half a million less than 12 months ago. Lincs is lovely have another good look further afield.

 

[Polos Mum]

£220k for 2 acres

http://www.ruralandequestrian.com/1132.html

£295k for 5 acres

http://www.ruralandequestrian.com/1129.html

 

[stormox]

Come to the Kingdom- (thats Co Kerry) great weather, hardly ever goes below freezing in winter, lovely beaches to ride on, several forestry areas you can get a permit for, lots of tourists in the summer but they mainly stay on the main roads, friendly Riding Clubs, and a few show jumping leagues.
There are downsides, its fairly difficult to rent land coz the farmers can get subsidies, and the huntings not great unless you travel to Limerick or Cork. Ive lived in both countries, and cant really say I prefer one or the other......

 

[Wheels]

I moved from Notts to Northern Ireland a good few years ago - I live about 12 miles from the north coast - it is absolutely stunning here.

Hacking is limited I have to say, yes there are forests etc that you can ride in but it's not the same as having a bridleway 100m from your front door. 30 mins away by trailer however is a 7 mile long beach to ride on so it's not all bad!!

If you don't like rain then don't move here!!!

There aren't as many comps, there is a different attitude to horses and riding in general. Loads of people own horses, not many seem to ride lol. In my area at least saddlers are few and far between and mostly not good, same with trainers, farriers (not all qualified), 'back people' etc.

Now of course there are good and well qualified people about but it takes a while to sort the wheat from the chaff!! It took me 5 years to finally track down a good trainer

All in all though I love it here but when I see clinics / comps / demos etc that are happening all over the rest of the UK I wished there was more horsey stuff happening here

 

[Henry02]

Cork is the best place in Ireland!!!

 

[Aoibhinn]

Come to the Kingdom- (thats Co Kerry) great weather, hardly ever goes below freezing in winter, lovely beaches to ride on, several forestry areas you can get a permit for, lots of tourists in the summer but they mainly stay on the main roads, friendly Riding Clubs, and a few show jumping leagues.
There are downsides, its fairly difficult to rent land coz the farmers can get subsidies, and the huntings not great unless you travel to Limerick or Cork. Ive lived in both countries, and cant really say I prefer one or the other......

Whatever you do OP, stay away from Kerry Cork is the place to live! No bridle paths that I know of to be honest but I'm living 20 minutes from the city in a rural area and just hack along the roads. 99% of drivers are very considerate when they meet horses. There are loads of riding clubs, hunting, hunter trials, local shows etc. maybe one or two dull weekends in the year!

Laura-nash, you're not anywhere near Delphi Connemara by any chance? I was up there twice in the last year and it is a beautiful place. Don't know if I would stomach living there though, really puts the nowhere in to the 'middle of nowhere'

 

[laura_nash]

Laura-nash, you're not anywhere near Delphi Connemara by any chance? I was up there twice in the last year and it is a beautiful place. Don't know if I would stomach living there though, really puts the nowhere in to the 'middle of nowhere'

Hi Aoibhinn, we're in that general direction but on the other (east) side of the lough's, which is much tamer and more populated. It's under an hours drive to get up into Connemara from us, but I agree that while it is beautiful I'm not sure I'd want to live there - where we are it is also under an hour to Galway city and the nearest supermarket is only about 7mins away.

We have an amazing forest park about 7 miles away (at Cong) which is over 1000 acres that the Guinness family used to own and they set up really well for horse riding, it is still well maintained since it is used by the Ashford Castle hotel's equestrian centre. Some day in the future I will get transportation sorted out and will be able to get there - at the moment I just go walking there and wish I had the horse with me!

 

[Aoibhinn]

Hi Aoibhinn, we're in that general direction but on the other (east) side of the lough's, which is much tamer and more populated. It's under an hours drive to get up into Connemara from us, but I agree that while it is beautiful I'm not sure I'd want to live there - where we are it is also under an hour to Galway city and the nearest supermarket is only about 7mins away.

We have an amazing forest park about 7 miles away (at Cong) which is over 1000 acres that the Guinness family used to own and they set up really well for horse riding, it is still well maintained since it is used by the Ashford Castle hotel's equestrian centre. Some day in the future I will get transportation sorted out and will be able to get there - at the moment I just go walking there and wish I had the horse with me!

The east sounds like a better bet if you want any human interaction Id say! oh that sounds lovely, we don't have anything like that down here that I know of which is a shame. Yes, once you sort that there won't be any stopping you

 

[sare_bear]

I moved to Ireland 18 months ago. My OH is originally from Ireland and we couldn't afford to buy anything with land for the horses in the UK. We decided to come over and have a look and see what we could get for our money here. Fell in love with a house with land and the rest is history. Buying process was very easy for us and relocation happened very fast. We like you were not tied to a particular location so I made sure all properties were near forestry or beach for hacking. Where I am there are a few of us happy hackers and we are 10 mins trailer ride away from forestry with endless hacking. We have set up a riding club and there are several places to SJ and event nearby. When I first moved I thought there was not much of a horsey seen, but the more I have got involved there is nearly something happening every weekend if I wanted! It has taken a while to find a decent farrier, dentist and more fibre based horse feeds, but all they are out there.

It does rain A LOT, so if that bothers you its not the place to come to. I was quite depressed the first year, but have started to get used to it. Would I move back to the UK? No, I have made some good friends and am happy here. I think area is very important as ending up in the wrong location could be isolating.

 

[Dry Rot]

No one has mentioned Scotland. I don't like rain and that is the lasting impression I have of Ireland! I am not bothered by the cold, so the east of northern Scotland suits me with only 27 inches of rain a year. (My native Devon is far too hot in summer and I simply could not cope after 40 years up here!). I would not go west or too far north as the midges are terrible. I've literally thousands of acres of forestry hacking on my doorstep and huge beaches just a mile or so away accessed mostly by tracks and a couple of hundrd yards of quiet road. There is free responsible access to most land up here and properties are still cheap but getting harder to find. It is surprisingly horsey and there are lots of shows and country venues during the summer. There is racism but the Highland Scots are basicaly gentlemen and you get used to the funny hand shake clubs and tribal local society. I'm a recluse anyway, so that does not bother me!

 

[Cobbytype]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

One or two of you have queried why we'd like to move (abroad). Well, sometimes in life it is time for a change. Hubby and I have both had devastating family losses over the past few years and we both feel that a complete change would do us good - a new broom sweeps clean and all that. Whilst there's no true escape from loss, a fresh start might just be the thing to help us both. We've always spoken of moving somewhere warmer when we retire, but that's a few years off yet and in the meantime we quite fancy Ireland, as it ticks many of the boxes.

It's looking as though I'll be making a trip to Co. Cork in the next few weeks and if I've time, I might go up to the border for a couple of days and check out a few places in Co. Sligo and/or Monaghan.

 

[Cortez]

Whereas I dream of moving to Spain, which is really the land of the horse (my type of horse anyway)................. Grass is always greener, etc.

 

[pairciban]

Monaghan is where my family come from, I did think about going back over there a few years ago but never got round to it. It would depend on what part of the county you went to but round our way is quiet but right on the boarder so easy to do things in the north. Once you are there a while you would know which roads to avoid, busy times etc. The only thing with Ireland is the lorries, everyone seems to own one or drive one! Monaghan is the county of little hills, it is beautiful and you would have a fit horse

 

[Pennythetank]

What type of riding are you into op? That may influence you as places like limerick and Kerry have quite good hunting or cork and Kilkenny are very into their sj (I'm generalising here!) Or if racehorses are your thing I could recommend South Tipp (fethard area)
As already stated, no bridleways but if you are in the countryside, most roads are quiet and drivers are generally friendly. If you ask around, most farmers will let you ride in the headlands provided you are respectful. You should be able to ride on most beaches and on forest tracks (some you need a permit) but the hacking is definitely different to the UK.
The whole horsey culture is different, not as many physios, backmen etc and lots of country people will have a broodmare or two. Horses (all rounders types especially) are generally cheaper over here especially is you look for young/recently backed stock. As mentioned on another thread recently, a lot of our young stock goes through the sales, it's just how we do things and most riders will hunt or sj. Not a ton of dressage around and the eventing scene isn't massive (despite the Irish being amongst some of the best eventer breeders in the world!) but it is possible to be competitive. The showing scene is quite large and easy to get into depending on location.

 

[only_me]

What type of riding are you into op? That may influence you as places like limerick and Kerry have quite good hunting or cork and Kilkenny are very into their sj (I'm generalising here!) Or if racehorses are your thing I could recommend South Tipp (fethard area)
As already stated, no bridleways but if you are in the countryside, most roads are quiet and drivers are generally friendly. If you ask around, most farmers will let you ride in the headlands provided you are respectful. You should be able to ride on most beaches and on forest tracks (some you need a permit) but the hacking is definitely different to the UK.
The whole horsey culture is different, not as many physios, backmen etc and lots of country people will have a broodmare or two. Horses (all rounders types especially) are generally cheaper over here especially is you look for young/recently backed stock. As mentioned on another thread recently, a lot of our young stock goes through the sales, it's just how we do things and most riders will hunt or sj. Not a ton of dressage around and the eventing scene isn't massive (despite the Irish being amongst some of the best eventer breeders in the world!) but it is possible to be competitive. The showing scene is quite large and easy to get into depending on location.

There is a huge amount if dressage and eventing here! Dressage Ireland had the biggest numbers so far at the champs and classes are always usually big. Eventing is also big - ballindenisk run 2 international events as well as national, tattersalls is international and runs national, camphire is also national and tyrella has also run a international event before. The eventing season works differently here - the south generally event on Sunday's whereas the north generally event on Saturdays. Season starts mid March and runs till early October. In the north there is a break between spring and autum season (usually no eventing end of May towards end of June) to allow the landowners to cut hay.

Plus there is lots of unaff events and 25mins from me is a premier arena which runs sj every weekend and affiliated as well.

There may not be as many events or as many dressage comps as England but both scenes are pretty big here.

Irish hunting is generally different to English hunting - tends to be a lot more ditches and wire jumped and depending on area can hedges/stone walls.

Tons of people are very competitive - it's a bit weird when you say "there is a possibility to be competitive".

Yes if you live in the corners of Ireland (Colraine, Donegal, far west Mayo or Kerry) you many not be close to any big comps but for the rest the horsey scene is pretty big here - just because it mightn't be as busy as England doesn't mean the horsey scene is quiet!