Myself and my partner moved to Leitrim from Dublin (Kimmage & Tallaght) in August 2003. She used to live there briefly as a child and her family have been coming boating on the Shannon for years. We were helping her father find a house to buy and we spotted a very nice one for him lakeside in Jamestown, a cute little village 2/3 miles from the epicenter of Leitrim, Carrick-on-Shannon.
Before we knew what was really happening, her father had bought the house and offered it to us to rent for a few years until he could move there permanently himself. Neither of us had any real ties to Dublin so we decided to go for it for the crack! During the 2 days in which we made the move we had some of the best weather I’ve ever seen in Ireland and when everything was unpacked we went and sat at the end of our new garden, had a beer and watched the sun go down over the lake! Why would anyone want to live anywhere else was the predominant thought!
I took to Leitrim like a duck to water, despite living all my life in a housing estate in Kimmage and it remains one of the best decisions of my life. We are both now part of the local community with me running a sucessful Web Design business and my partner managing an afterschool. You couldn’t drag us back to Dublin even for a visit! I feel more like a Leitrimer than I ever did a Dubliner!
So just to outline some of the benefits of moving to Leitrim:
- Great scenery with lakes, rivers and hills a plenty.
- Great community spirit and friendliness.
- Fresh Air.
- Cheaper cost of living (my car insurance halved!).
- No Traffic.
From a business perspective, Leitrim has some fantastic supports also and I availed of some of them when starting my own business in 2004/2005. Leitrim Enterprise provided me with mentoring and financial assistance to get me off the ground and I havn’t looked back since! I continue to avail of their excellent Business Network Events.
Here are some useful links if you are considering moving to or setting up business in Leitrim:
- Leitrim Enterprise.
- Leitrim Business Network.
- Leitrim.ie
- Leitrim County Council.
- Carrick-on-Shannon Chamber.
Leon.
Reverb Studios Design 
Leon – I couldn’t agree more – I’ve been here in lovely Leitrim now for just over a year and it’s absolutely the best decision I’ve ever made. Of course it helped having a wife from Kesh!
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