Gale Scanlan (41), a "country girl at heart", from Co Tyrone, and her husband, Seán (56), a Corkman, had been living in Surrey but they returned to Ireland in the late 1990s having "tired of the lifestyle and pace of life in southern England".

They chose Carlow because they wanted "someplace in the middle" and "didn't want to live in the city but wanted access to it".

Unable to find a four-bedroom detached house, they decided to build and, after cold-calling farmers, they eventually found a site at Killeshin on a hill outside the town where they "can see five counties on a clear day".

Seán got a job with the old South Eastern Health Board (now the HSE) while Gale commutes daily to Dublin, by train to Heuston Station and then a short stroll to Kilmainham where she is operations manager for IMMA (the Irish Museum of Modern Art).

The door-to-door journey takes about one hour and 45 minutes each way, so she can "get a lot of work done on the train". The big increase in commuter numbers means "it is often standing room only".

Scanlan has noticed "huge changes in Carlow" which "used to be similar to Omagh in terms of size and social demographic" but is now "miles ahead".

She says: "I really like Carlow; the place has an energy about it, it's buzzing - it's no longer a small market town and has good shopping and nice places to eat."

She's also impressed by "the tremendous community spirit" noting that: "People are prepared to give their time and dig in to serve the community which you don't see too much any more."

If she was offered a house mortgage-free in Dublin now she says that she wouldn't swap because of "the quality of life we have here and the friendships we have made" and believes that "despite being blow-ins" it was easy to integrate.

The couple have two daughters, Saoirse (10) and Bebhinn (4), who both attend "the absolutely fantastic" Gaelscoil at Askea.

Gale says "the children have a good quality of life - better than what they would have had in affluent southern England".