FOR DR EVA Orsmond, RTE’s Operation Transformation weight loss specialist, moving to Wicklow from Shankill four years ago was one the healthiest decisions she ever made.
“Originally my clinic was just next to my house and I ended up not being able to walk out the door on my day off without meeting a patient. It meant I was never off duty.
“Moving to Wicklow was a way of restoring my work life balance,” she says.
With her engineer husband and her two teenage sons, she now lives in a 300sq m house (3,229sq ft) in Kilquade, just east of the N11 half way between Bray and Wicklow Town.
“I knew there would be a bit more of a commute but it is just 15 minutes to my clinic in Loughlinstown and half an hour into town, so it’s not a problem. Best of all though, it means that when I am home, I am home. The only ones overlooking me here are the sheep.
“I have fields to the front and back and the sense of space is fantastic,” she says.
The move wasn’t without its challenges however.
“The house needed a lot of work. For the first year and a half we lived in the downstairs part only and all we could afford to do was recarpet and paint.”
Since then the family has gradually renovated all of it.
“It’s a large bungalow and not particularly attractive from the outside but it has a big kitchen which is important because I love cooking and a large entrance hall which is great for parties – I’m hosting one this weekend for the production crew,” she says.
“My boys love it here too because we have just under an acre so there is plenty of space outside.
“I love to garden and the house is perfect for that too. In Shankill I had no garden. All in all, the move has worked out so well that I wouldn’t move again now for anything.”
