Hmm - we're unsure

Another viewing.  House, in terms of space and facilities, probably about the optimum.  It has an air source heat pump and the heating system is designed for that.  The garden is a blank slate, so will need quite a lot of work.  And we will need to build garage and workshop for W pdq.  No solar panels in situ, but roof is almost ideal.  

Situation is almost perfect - up a cul de sac, about 1/4 mile drive to an R road which then takes you into Loughrea.  After the viewing, we spent an hour there*, and it seemed a nice town with good facilities.  Only about 10 to 15 minutes drive from the house to the Dublin motorway.  So good situation in all aspects.  And the price is right.  BUT the house is a very unexciting house.  A bog standard Irish quite new build.   Much less interesting than the one we viewed a couple of days ago.

We've a couple of viewing tomorrow, but although these houses look more interesting, they are probably just a bit more expensive than we want.

Then we move on to Donegal, where we've seen some houses on Daft.ie, though I haven't attempted to book viewings yet.  But the major disadvantage of anywhere in Donegal is going to be the accessibility.  

Hey ho - decisions to make!  Working out our priorities.

Ridgeback asked if our difficulties getting viewing had put us off Ireland as a destination.  We have, in fact, been really delighted with how friendly and welcoming the people are.  On our walk yesterday someone we met was really interested that we were living to Ireland, and all for suggesting suitable houses.  When we were in Tesco a few days ago, and contemplating the bread, one of the shop assistants stopped and suggested we might like one bread rather than another as it was softer.  Little things like that are what makes us feel welcome here.

*Bought another mobile and a Vodafone Pay as You Go sim, so now we have two Irish phones - neither are expensive, top range models, but both are functional smart phones.  We'll see how the Vodafone sim performs in terms of access, and if, as seems likely, it's better than Lyca, we'll put one in the first phone.