How Crumlin became a real home

A LOT has changed in this country since I moved to Crumlin in 2005.

It is almost exactly 10 years since myself and my then girlfriend reluctantly left our small seaside apartment in beautiful Sandymout to move into the ex-council house on Kildare Road that we had bought at almost the height of the boom.

We paid a ridiculous amount of money for the property that is now probably worth half of what we paid.

And we weren’t the only ones.

Along with many others we never really expected to stay in Crumlin as this was the

‘starter home’ we believed we would eventually leave as we moved up or along the property ladder.

Of course, 10 years later we are still there and our starter home, much extended and improved, is now a family home for ourselves and our two little ones.

At first, when we moved into Crumlin it was only because it was one of the few addresses that we could afford at the time, and, to be honest we weren’t that impressed with the location.

But over the last decade I’ve noticed how the area has really become our home. This is where our kids go to school, where we frequent the nearby parks and enjoy local facilities.

All this has come as something of a surprise, but a happy one.

I’ve also noticed the number of good works that go on in the area on an almost weekly basis.

The local swimming pool has been refurbished and the village has been given a spruced up fresh look.

The park near us is busy every evening with sports clubs and kids out enjoying the sun.

Some local businesses fell by the wayside during the recession, most notably the iconic Submarket Bar but otherwise local trade in the village and the surrounding areas all appear to be thriving.

There are any number of eating options with a wide variety of choices and the local church St Agnes, where I got married, is busy on almost every single evening.

All in all, Crumlin really wasn’t the worst place to end up in.

Being from Skerries, I do miss the sea but a quick jaunt over to Sandymount and we are back on the beach were we used to hang out before we had a care in the world.

But it is always nice when, at the end of the day, we get back in the car and drive back to what has become our true home.