Move to Greystones?

Kris74

We are considering moving to Dublin next year from London where we have lived for many years-both Irish ,not from Dublin or Wicklow however,and are considering moving to Greystones.
I would be commuting on the Dart to city centre.
We have 4 small children-all with strong English accents!
We are thinking of Greystones as it seems to be great for sports,looks beautiful ,and ,I think, has a relaxed vibe for children to grow up in.
My question is regarding primary schools-is there an issue with oversubscription?What are considered to be good schools ?-we are open to any of them really.

Are there many "blow ins"in Greystones?!I get the impression it is a fairly diverse town(and this really attracts us)as I would imagine it would be easier to meet people/make friends if that was the case.I also get the impression it has an "arty"vibe-it this true-whilst we rarely get out with the children-it would be nice to have the option of going to events now + then!
We plan on renting for a bit to get everyone settled ,then buying later so that is not a massive issue at the minute.

For now though ,we are just trying to fix on an area to live-v.hard trying to do from the other side of the water.We had thought about Malahide as another option,but house prices are so high there,and I get the impression the Greystones is v similar to Malahide ?(but correct me if I`m wrong!)

Much Thanks for all advice given!

Annasopra

moved to greystones forum

audreyp

Greystones is a fantastic town and everyone is a blow in as far as I can see! Including me. It's great for sports, running clubs, wicklow tri, countless sports teams and a brilliant Pilates class. Through these activities it's quite easy to meet people.

The book club is also a good way to meet people. The beach is a great amenity for kids and I have heard good things about the schools here though I don't have kids. There ard great restaurants and cafes perfect for people watching when the weather is good. I love living here and have been here 5 years now. Can't recommend it enough. I drive to sandyford every day for work but my husband gets the dart and its pretty reliable, a reliable 10mins late every day :-)

But it's a big decision to move to might be worth visiting lots to see what you think!

pixbyjohn

I think you and your family will love Greystones. Your kids will have lots of sports clubs to pick from, 2 soccer clubs, tennis club, badminton clubs, sailing club, 5 golf clubs within 6kms of centre of Greystones. There is a gaelic football club and a bridge club also as well as a lawn bowls club. Plus all the athletic clubs and others I have probably forgotten about. Having a strong English accent won't matter. Greystones is well served by primary schools so I think getting a place should not be too difficult. There is 1 secondary school in Greystones with another being built shortly. Nearby Kilcoole has primary schools and also a secondary school. Bray has many secondary schools also and is only 8kms away approx. We will have 5 supermarkets in the area by Sept/Oct. as Aldi have their store near completion. Tesco, Supervalue, Superquinn and Lidl are the other supermarkets. There are lots of new residents in the area which adds to the value of Greystones. Unfortunately we do not have places of huge employment locally other than the supermarkets and many restaurants.
I have lived in the area all my life and would surely be biased as to how great a place it is. Get as many views as you can. Visit the town and check it out.
Best of luck in your decision to move to here.

Annasopra

My understanding from this is that in fact there is pressure on primary school places

http://stephendonnelly.ie/a-new-school-for-greystones-delgany-kilcoole/

Maudi

pixbyjohn wrote: »

I think you and your family will love Greystones. Your kids will have lots of sports clubs to pick from, 2 soccer clubs, tennis club, badminton clubs, sailing club, 5 golf clubs within 6kms of centre of Greystones. There is a gaelic football club and a bridge club also as well as a lawn bowls club. Plus all the athletic clubs and others I have probably forgotten about. Having a strong English accent won't matter. Greystones is well served by primary schools so I think getting a place should not be too difficult. There is 1 secondary school in Greystones with another being built shortly. Nearby Kilcoole has primary schools and also a secondary school. Bray has many secondary schools also and is only 8kms away approx. We will have 5 supermarkets in the area by Sept/Oct. as Aldi have their store near completion. Tesco, Supervalue, Superquinn and Lidl are the other supermarkets. There are lots of new residents in the area which adds to the value of Greystones. Unfortunately we do not have places of huge employment locally other than the supermarkets and many restaurants.
I have lived in the area all my life and would surely be biased as to how great a place it is. Get as many views as you can. Visit the town and check it out.
Best of luck in your decision to move to here.

+ 1 to all the above and pretty soon we will have a Mc Donalds burger joint to add to the list of attractions

Quiggers59

We moved from UK in 1994,in full possession of UK accents that I still cannot shake.Its simple,Greystones is one of the best places in Ireland one could ask to live in and the best decision we ever made.

I agree that access to Schools is a little fraught and get your name on waiting lists immediately,but do not make the mistake of living anywhere else on Ireland's East coast. It really is that simple.

bobwilliams

Quiggers59 wrote: »

We moved from UK in 1994,in full possession of UK accents that I still cannot shake.Its simple,Greystones is one of the best places in Ireland one could ask to live in and the best decision we ever made.

I agree that access to Schools is a little fraught and get your name on waiting lists immediately,but do not make the mistake of living anywhere else on Ireland's East coast. It really is that simple.

come on,are you for real?
Killiney,Dalkey,Blackrock,Sandymount,Portmarnock,Howth,Sutton............to name just a few.
in saying all that i wouldn't put the op off Greystones but there are other options

stevestevenson

Moved into Charlesland 8yrs ago and loving it. Well maintained area with plenty of blow-ins, and Loads of restaurants/coffee shops in Greystones village. Plenty of organised amenities for kids, and free entertainment up at the beach. Have lived in many places around Ireland, and none better in my opinion.

All in all, a fantastic place to live, and within easy commute of city centre.

Cheeky Chops

I absolutely hate this term "blow ins" and have only come cross it in Greystones. I find it a very odd term and it exudes exclusivity.

If I could choose a location to live it would be Dalkey area or Clontarf. Better public transport, nearer to Dublin. Greystones is really quite far out if you do not have a car or even if you do.

Cerco

Cheeky Chops wrote: »

I absolutely hate this term "blow ins" and have only come cross it in Greystones. I find it a very odd term and it exudes exclusivity.

It is a very widely used term right across the country. I have been one myself. Maybe I still am :eek: :eek:

Cheeky Chops wrote: »

If I could choose a location to live it would be Dalkey area or Clontarf. Better public transport, nearer to Dublin. Greystones is really quite far out if you do not have a car or even if you do.

Ah yes but do they have swingers and bush eaters?

Stereomaniac

They probably do, you know. I lived in Blackrock for a year and it was very much anything goes in terms of what you ate. From time to time I still go back there and munch on some bushes.

Zoe zebra

I am also a blow in to greystones. There are plenty of amenities and everyone seems to meet through sport. Just be aware if you are commuting to/from Dublin by dart that the darts only run every half hour so it is very difficult if both of you are commuting and trying to get back in time to pick kids up from crèche (quite overpriced in this area).

There is a shortage of primary school places this year but it may be sorted in future years as educate together are getting a large new primary school built across from lidl.

House prices are now at a reasonable level-at one stage they went up to around 700k for houses in estates such as applewood.

Good luck with your decision.

burnaby

Greystones is almost a self-contained community. Apart from the absence of local employment mentioned by others, its one significant weakness is distance from third level education facilities. TCD is an hour away, and UCD, although a few kilometres closer, is time-wise slightly further way. Consider the longer term significance of this before settling here.

audreyp

Most places outside of Dublin are at least 1 hour away from colleges. 1 hour commute on a dart isn't too bad for college. I ended up having to move up to Dublin from Kildare for college (before eventually setting in Greystones)

I wouldn't see that as a deterrent.

The Bishop Basher

audreyp wrote: »

Most places outside of Dublin are at least 1 hour away from colleges. 1 hour commute on a dart isn't too bad for college. I ended up having to move up to Dublin from Kildare for college (before eventually setting in Greystones)

I wouldn't see that as a deterrent.

I would agree. I went to secondary school in Dublin and on to college there. It was never an issue and that was in the days before we had the Dart.

burnaby

Distance from Dublin is not a deterrent - it's merely something that should be considered.

If you are accustomeed to a 20 minute commute at the moment, the change to a 75 minute commute by car on a wet November morning, or a 60 minute commute by DART (including some time to get to / from the DART at either end) represents a 'loss' of between 6 and 9 hours per week. That's worth considering

I agree that for all its other qualities, Greystones is still well worth that 'cost'.

Cheeky Chops

burnaby wrote: »

Distance from Dublin is not a deterrent - it's merely something that should be considered.

If you are accustomeed to a 20 minute commute at the moment, the change to a 75 minute commute by car on a wet November morning, or a 60 minute commute by DART (including some time to get to / from the DART at either end) represents a 'loss' of between 6 and 9 hours per week. That's worth considering

I agree that for all its other qualities, Greystones is still well worth that 'cost'.

With 4 small children that is a very high cost in family time IMO. Also if the children are in childcare then when something goes wrong on the transport network it is a nightmare to get back.

Will you be travelling for work? A taxi to the airport costs around 90 euro (the aircoach is not practical for business travel) and it is not always feasible to drive with long days and little time. I really enjoy living here but at a certain stage in my life with small children and a busy work life I found myself living in this idyllic landscape yet unable to enjoy it because I was so time poor. That created it's own stresses. Certainly if you will be travelling I would consider Northside.

Now if you working in the locality that then would be a fabulous work life/ balance. ll you'd need is the dog

Annasopra

The aircoach is every hour - I'm not seeing any impracticality for business travel!!!

Cheeky Chops

mango salsa wrote: »

The aircoach is every hour - I'm not seeing any impracticality for business travel!!!

When you are catching the red eye the last thing you want is to be sitting on a bus for an hour and 20 when it takes 35 minutes on the M50 at that time in the morning. And if you are coming in from work travel whether short or long haul you do not want to wait for a bus and sit on it for that time. You also can't get a taxi to the aircoach in the early hours of the morning.

fenris

We moved to Greystones last year and are very happy.

We were made very welcome by our neighbours and feel really at home.

School wise I was transferring in a 6 & 8 year old, the school was fantastic and the kids settled well, the other kids and parents made things very easy. There are plenty of clubs and activities most within very easy walking distance, so many that you will be spoiled for choice, I like to keep my two active and that has certainly not been a problem!

I work in the city centre and the commute was a bit of a bitch, the choices are car, 84x or DART, they all take roughly the same amount of time when you take door to desk time into account, I tended to use the bus as much as possible because at least on the bus I had a seat and could watch Netflix, check email and make a quiet call if necessary whereas the background noise level and coverage on the DART is not great reducing its viability for finishing off a few work bits and pieces on the way. You save surprisingly little time over driving and even less so if you take into account the loss of flexibility inherent in getting to the bus/DART, count the time in terms of door to desk.

If traffic is manky then an option that I sometimes take is car and LUAS from Cabinteely or Balally, any further out is just a waste of time as you would nearly have walked to town in the same time. This is an expensive option when you include parking.

Commuting on two wheels makes a huge difference, 35 - 40 mins including getting geared up, the time saving comes from being first away from the lights and not having to wait more than one turn of the lights, no messing or silliness needed. A few extra bob gets you a helmet with bluetooth integrated so that you can take a call if necessary on the way.

Greystones is very self contained in terms of shops etc., you can do most of what you need locally and I am still finding new places/shops in nooks and crannys, there is quite a bit of exploring to do off the main street, now I just need to stop treating Donnybrook Fair as a corner shop!

treecreeper

i am in greystones five years, shortly i will be moving out.
i came with such high hopes and great excitement.
i am sorry but i cant wait to get away.

the move has been disastrous.
I am not from here of course and its selective who it allows be part of this town/village.
i feel incredibly isolated.
it has a limited attraction and basically a young persons place and a commuter belt.

my only real worry being how quickly i can move.
be under no illusion, all along the east coast of south county dublin is equally if not even better to live in.
it appeals on many levels but also can be disastrous if you do not do your research first and find out what is here, who is here, who can place themselves well here.

its predominently for the young.
i hate it with a passion and more or less did from a few months of arriving and buying a place

FirstIn

treecreeper wrote: »

i am in greystones five years, shortly i will be moving out.
i came with such high hopes and great excitement.
i am sorry but i cant wait to get away.

the move has been disastrous.
I am not from here of course and its selective who it allows be part of this town/village.
i feel incredibly isolated.
it has a limited attraction and basically a young persons place and a commuter belt.

my only real worry being how quickly i can move.
be under no illusion, all along the east coast of south county dublin is equally if not even better to live in.
it appeals on many levels but also can be disastrous if you do not do your research first and find out what is here, who is here, who can place themselves well here.

its predominently for the young.
i hate it with a passion and more or less did from a few months of arriving and buying a place

Many of us living here a long long time aren't too happy either. To see the heart and soul being ripped out of what was a beautiful small village is so sad. The harbour fiasco. Really poor planning leading to such bad congestion on the Main Street and up Jink's hill. The demise of the small village feel and shops we loved. A McDonald's on the way. Blocks of flats at Killincarrig. The La Touche hotel shambles. The increasing crime levels.

There has been progress on some fronts but it's come at a heck of a cost.

Don't Chute!

FirstIn wrote: »

Many of us living here a long long time aren't too happy either. To see the heart and soul being ripped out of what was a beautiful small village is so sad. The harbour fiasco. Really poor planning leading to such bad congestion on the Main Street and up Jink's hill. The demise of the small village feel and shops we loved. A McDonald's on the way. Blocks of flats at Killincarrig. The La Touche hotel shambles. The increasing crime levels.

There has been progress on some fronts but it's come at a heck of a cost.

Yeah, don't you just hate it when other people want to come and live in your nice little town? Why can't they just leave it to the few who were born here?

Ps block of flats? Really?!

loyatemu

The town is expanding rapidly, it has been since the 60s, there will always be growing pains. The harbour will be finished someday, the La Touche will be redeveloped, new houses and apartments will be built. I'm not sure what we can do about the increasing traffic but it's still a great place to live.

I've seen Treecreeper's rant on Facebook as well, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you here but thousands have moved to Greystones over the last couple of decades, settled down and made a life here (young and old). I don't agree that the town is hostile to outsiders - how could it be, most of the people here are blow-ins too.

The Bishop Basher

black and amber wrote: »

Yeah, don't you just hate it when other people want to come and live in your nice little town? Why can't they just leave it to the few who were born here?

Ps block of flats? Really?!

Why the sarcasm ?

Those of us that fondly remember Greystones as a small fishing village are more then entitled to reminisce from time to time and to express concerns at the way the town has been developed over the years.

Contrary to "popular" opinion. Not all progress is good progress....

And yes, the traffic has become a real problem now. It can take me 5 mins at times to get in and out of the driveway. And that's off peak times. I completely avoid going anywhere till the school rush has passed as its impossible to get in or out.

3 schools in Blacklion was attrocious planning.

Zoo4m8

treecreeper wrote: »

i am in greystones five years, shortly i will be moving out.
i came with such high hopes and great excitement.
i am sorry but i cant wait to get away.

the move has been disastrous.
I am not from here of course and its selective who it allows be part of this town/village.
i feel incredibly isolated.
it has a limited attraction and basically a young persons place and a commuter belt.

my only real worry being how quickly i can move.
be under no illusion, all along the east coast of south county dublin is equally if not even better to live in.
it appeals on many levels but also can be disastrous if you do not do your research first and find out what is here, who is here, who can place themselves well here.

its predominently for the young.
i hate it with a passion and more or less did from a few months of arriving and buying a place

I feel there is more to this post than meets the eye..I'm sorry you found living here such a bad experience but it seems a little strange , to me at least, that you disliked it so much after just a few months. May be you haven't given the place a fair chance?
Having lived here for such a short time you haven't experienced the major changes that longer residents have put up with as you can see in the other posts, but they,for the most part, still enjoy the place..
I'd tend to agree that to the casual observer it's mostly a town for the young but that is to be expected what with the development of the large satellite town of Charlsland which after all was here when you arrived.
As has been mentioned above there is a large percentage of the population who are newcomers so I'm not sure how you can say that the citizens are selective, fifty years ago there might have been some justification but not now.
To feel isolated is no joke, I wonder do you live on your own? Have you sampled the local clubs etc? What are your expectations? What was it liked where you lived before and was it better than here?
Like I said before I feel there is more to your post so I hope you find whatever it is you want or need...

Blandpebbles

audreyp wrote: »

Greystones is a fantastic town and everyone is a blow in as far as I can see!

Not everyone

Blandpebbles

Swanner wrote: »

Why the sarcasm ?

Those of us that fondly remember Greystones as a small fishing village are more then entitled to reminisce from time to time and to express concerns at the way the town has been developed over the years.

Contrary to "popular" opinion. Not all progress is good progress....

And yes, the traffic has become a real problem now. It can take me 5 mins at times to get in and out of the driveway. And that's off peak times. I completely avoid going anywhere till the school rush has passed as its impossible to get in or out.

3 schools in Blacklion was attrocious planning.

Couldn't agree more... it's still a great place to live but so much has changed too... the ghettoization of estates, increases in burglaries, poor planning and the sadness of walking down Church Road knowing you may not actually meet someone you know.

Zoo4m8

Your last point for me says it all, it's the same in restaurants and pubs, in fact we now rarely use either here and socialise outside the town where ,ironically we are much more likely to come across someone we know.
When my wife first came here over thirty five years ago she loved the fact that Greystones had a largely residential Main Street and as I knew most of the occupants she quickly got to know them as well and so the simplest errand in the street could often take way more time than intended..:)

Cerco

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Couldn't agree more... it's still a great place to live but so much has changed too... the ghettoization of estates, increases in burglaries, poor planning and the sadness of walking down Church Road knowing you may not actually meet someone you know.

Can you explain what you mean by "the ghettoization of estates".
I have not seen that but perhaps I am not that observant.