Advice on where to live Cahir/Cashel etc

Olivia Pope

Hi, we are currently living in Cork City. We are going to move in the next year or so. We have no connections to Tipperary but logistically it would make sense for us to live there near the Dublin/Cork motorway. We are at the early stages of looking and are thinking of Cahir or Cashel. We would be happy to be in a 5 mile radius of either. Can anyone give me any advice? We will be working from home a good bit, so decent broadband/WiFi needed. We have two children so a good primary/secondary school would be very important. Our children are only 1 at the moment. We would love somewhere that has a very strong community spirit that would welcome blow ins who would be happy to get involved in the parish. We would want a stand-alone house on the edge of a village/town or out on its own. Thanks in advance for any advice.

pooch90

Personally, I love Cahir. I'm a blow in and lived there for 3 years in total. There are nice villages on the outskirts that would be suitable for easier access to the motorway-Ballylooby, Burncourt etc and property prices are much more reasonable there. I'm assuming you want to buy rather than rent? I'd have a better knowledge of Ballylooby but it has a great community spirit, nice small school etc. It only has a pub, church and school though so no shop as the local one closed in the past year. It does have a playschool and parish hall that runs toddler group once a week AFAIK.

Olivia Pope

Thanks Pooch, that sounds like a good place to live, Ballylooby. Can you remember how long it would take to get to the motorway or to a shop in Cahir? We would be selling up where we are to buy our forever home.

Xenophile

Some nice little estates tucked away in Cahir. Have a good look around as some of them are hard to find,

Schools are good.

Take a very long view to the time when you have free travel. Bus Eireann connections to Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. Also train connections but they may not last very long more.

In my opinion Cahir is a very nice place to live.

All in all

Clerihan is also a nice spot, good community activity there with underage sports teams, etc. Also nice park/playground. There is a convenience store and takeaway there. Located about 15 mins from Cashel, Clonmel and Cahir. There is a good few one off houses about on the edge of the village.

pooch90

Actually Clerihan would be lovely too! That's about 10/15 mins to motorway but you're in Cashel at that stage.
Ballylooby is very much a rural, agricultural type village whereas clerihan wouldn't be as rural. Clerihan also has a lovely park and playground and a really nice school. Property prices a bit higher though as you're very close to Clonmel

Ballylooby to Cahir is 5 minutes so about same distance to reach the motorway.

mikep

Can I spread this out a wee bit...whats Fethard village like?

Xenophile

mikep wrote: »

Can I spread this out a wee bit...whats Fethard village like?

Great community spirit. Fethard is a small town.

The_Honeybadger

If it’s not too far north then Thurles Is another options if you’d prefer to be in a town rather than a village and you need quick motorway access. Houses in and around Thurles looked like very good value the last time I checked and there are some excellent schools there. It also has a good swimming pool and town park, nice cinema etc., and much better amenities generally than Cahir or Cashel. It also has a train service to Cork and Dublin.

Of the two you asked about, I’d pick Cashel personally. It’s a lovely town with fabulous pubs an restaurants and a real nice buzz about the place, particularly in the summer months.

Be very careful about moving out of town if internet speed is important to you. It’s very hit and miss outside the towns, although it is improving you will always have much better speeds in the urban centres, and after storms you could be without service for some time while the towns will be restored ASAP. I know that’s probably nitpicking but a week without broadband would be an absolute nightmare if you work from home and depend on it.

Olivia Pope

Thanks for all the input. Thurles would be too far, which is a pity as there is great value there house price wise. Fethard would appeal to us aswell.
The broadband is something we will have to investigate. Few nice houses on the market between Cashel & Fethard. Will possibly track a few houses in this area and the Cahir/Clogheen area and try and come up with a plan. Looking at ppr there are very few houses after selling in the last two years in the 300k+ region in Cahir/Cashel. Hard to know whether we would be better off buying a basic bungalow and doing a job on it. I wonder would it be easy to get planning to double a 1200 sq foot bungalow in size?

The_Honeybadger

In terms of travel time I would guess that thurles is closer to Cork than Fethard, given the quality of the road.

My advice would be to make a few day trips to the places that interest you and try to get a feel for them. Then really look at practical issues like access to services and broadband, schools and clubs etc., especially if you are looking at the countryside or a small village rather than a town.

The right house will come along if you know where you want to live.

Olivia Pope

Thanks MikeyK, we must do that. A few Sunday drives are in order. It’s a massive decision so we need to do our homework.

mikep

I have traveled from Cork Airport to Thurles in an hour and 20 mins at off peak times...the morning snafu at the dunkettle etc would add to this substantially. Knock 10 mins off this for Cashel.

jlm29

As above- fethard would be further from cork than Thurles, the road from fethard to Cashel isn’t great.
Will you both be commuting to cork? I used go Clonmel to cork daily, and I wouldn’t go any further up than Cahir personally, if it’s long term and you have kids. That said, if you’ll be working from home a lot it’s much more do-able.
Be very careful about internet speeds- it’s often not great outside of towns.
As regards secondary schools, Cahir secondary school doesn’t seem to have a great reputation

callaway92

jlm29 wrote: »

As regards secondary schools, Cahir secondary school doesn’t seem to have a great reputation

Went to school there and literally don’t have one complaint. In what regards does it have a ‘not so great’ reputation???

jlm29

callaway92 wrote: »

jlm29 wrote: »

As regards secondary schools, Cahir secondary school doesn’t seem to have a great reputation

Went to school there and literally don’t have one complaint. In what regards does it have a ‘not so great’ reputation???

I just know a number of people from the area who have chosen to send their kids much further afield to secondary school when they live very close to C d I. I’ve heard it said that it’s not a great school, but I haven’t looked into it further because my kids are nowhere near that age yet.

callaway92

From my perspective as someone who went to the school/from Cahir I’m v surprised by that.

If it’s in regards to qualities of teachers I’d have no complaints. It can’t be much different to Cashel/Clonmel high schools. Rockwell is different so wouldn’t include that.

There’s never any trouble/not a bit rough.

Genuinely surprised by what you wrote is all.

Olivia Pope

Jim, where have these children gone to school? As in what other towns/schools.

jlm29

callaway92 wrote: »

From my perspective as someone who went to the school/from Cahir I’m v surprised by that.

If it’s in regards to qualities of teachers I’d have no complaints. It can’t be much different to Cashel/Clonmel high schools. Rockwell is different so wouldn’t include that.

There’s never any trouble/not a bit rough.

Genuinely surprised by what you wrote is all.

I’ve heard better things about Cashel, but as I say, it’s not personal experience.

Olivia, I know of a couple who’ve gone to Thurles, and a couple to Rockwell.
(I don’t know a huge amount of people in the Cahir area though, though, so my relevant database isn’t too large!!).