Why Autumn is a wonderful time to move back to Ireland

I’m sitting at my desk, belly full of soup and taste buds tingling from salsa verde. I have drunk nearly a pint of sparkling water and am flexing my thoughts back to a place four years ago when we landed in Dublin airport ‘for good’.

Ireland has always straddled a love/hate relationship with many. Too small to spread your wings, haphazard weather, a remote outpost of Europe, the poor cousin of the UK yet famous for heritage and greenery, wild countryside and pubs filled with handsome farmers with wisecracks (at least that is what the Americans think).

Why Ireland, why Now?

I came home because I liked the idea of dropping in to see my Mum and Dad for a cup of tea without necessitating a plane ride and taking holidays from work. I also had a mad belief that the children needed roots someplace and to be grounded.

We arrived in late Summer, early Autumn when the weather was still bright and sunny, just before the central heating groaned into action and crucially in time to quickly find school places for the start of term.

Autumn

Autumn is a lovely season, busy with getting ready for Hallowe’en and baking lots of apple and boozy blackberry pies. It is handy to get to know where you are going without the headlights on. It also gives you enough time to buy hi-vis vests for all the family, including the dog, before the dark evenings draw in.

I joined the library. I borrowed so many inspirational home and hygge books that gave me a lease of life right up until November.

Time to make friends

Ireland is uncommonly rich in welcomes. Yet those won’t find you until you leap out and grab them. Joining as many networks as you can and saying yes to everything is a good way to start. I joined the PTA at school and baked cakes for coffee mornings, I joined the tennis club, the mums Facebook groups (all of them!), created WhatsApp groups with neighbours and became a soccer mum.

We searched for the nicest views in our neighbouring counties and explored gardens and parks and houses. There was a list of Things To See on the noticeboard, as soon as anyone mentioned, it was saved there for a bare weekend.

We have moved twice since arriving back four years ago. First we rented a cottage from my parents which meant I could nip over for cups of tea daily and pop half an apple pie on their window sill or share in a glut of runner beans from their garden. Then we drastically moved an hour north to find our own way from scratch, with a rented bungalow that boasts sea and mountain views, a new school, new supermarkets, new friends and 60km round trip for a chat around the kitchen table.

Still Autumn comes around with a flurry of leaves and an announcement from the robins that they will need to be fed soon. The mint has gone to flower and the runner beans are delivered from Dad’s garden, chopped and ready for cooking by Mum. Ireland is home for us now. I am a little more accustomed to the seasons and we have our own version of Irish hygge that I like to call Belonging.

For anyone moving back to Ireland, there is a helpful Facebook group called Irish Expats Returning to Ireland that I can highly recommend dipping into from time to time.

SOUP RECIPE

1 onion, diced
2 parsnips, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 bulb fennel, diced
Handful of pearl barley
Sauté in butter for about 10 minutes, the cover well with veg stock (from a cube if you're like me) and simmer for 50 mins.

Serve with lots of freshly ground black pepper and some slices of Brie - Wicklow Farmhouse Cheeses are particularly good.

SALSA VERDE RECIPE

Big handful parsley
Smaller handful coriander
Few stems of basil and mint
2 anchovies
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp good olive oil
1 garlic clove
Blitz in a blender or slavishly chop by hand.

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