Civil servants might not want to decentralise, but many people dream of escaping city life. Michael Parsons talks to three couples about how they got away

Green acres is the place to be/ Farm living is the life for me/ Land spreading out, so far and wide/Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

Does that ring a bell? Well, sorry to mention it but you're no spring chicken if it does. Younger readers may care to know that Green Acres was a hugely popular American TV show broadcast on RTÉ television in the late 1960s.

The "sitcom" featured a successful New York lawyer, who decided to get close to nature and buy a rundown farm in Hooterville. His extravagant wife, Lisa (played by Eva Gabor, sister of fabled Hungarian beauty, Zsa Zsa), was a Park Avenue Princess aghast at rural life who fed the pigs while dripping jewels and sporting a full-length fur. Good thing it wasn't a mink farm.

For a nation then marooned in the monochrome drabness of Riordans' country, the very idea of city slickers wanting to swap the penthouse for a cabin was laughably preposterous. The flight from the land was in full flow - to Dublin for a Civil Service job or to Do The Hucklebuck far from Minnie Brennan's disapproving gaze.

Ironically, four decades on, many people with childhood memories of the 1960s - Ireland's first "TV generation" - are to the forefront of a growing trend to up sticks in the city and move "down the country". Auctioneers and estate-agents nationwide confirm the trend. If you've been to a social gathering in Dublin recently, the chances are pretty high that you've had to listen to someone wittering on about their dream of selling the three-bed semi in, say, Cabinteely, for the "guts of a million", buying something decent in, say, Clonegal, for half the price, banking the balance and starting a whole new life.

This can be particularly distressing if you've been scrimping and saving to put down a deposit on a one-bedroom apartment the size of a pigeon-loft with "panoramic" views of the Red Cow roundabout - and absolute torture if the wine's run out.

With prosperity, job opportunities and the rollout of broadband (though still scandalously slow in European terms) allowing teleworking, this dream is increasingly feasible anywhere in Ireland.

"Re-settlers" (as opposed to reluctant commuters forced out of Dublin by high prices) are not quite seeking the much-mocked Good Life of Spartan self-sufficiency, the theme of another once-popular TV series. Three main factors seem to be driving the trend: traffic congestion in the city; the tempting disparity between Dublin and country house prices; and the nebulous search for "a better quality of life".

People are not going back to "farm living" of course but they are getting closer to nature. Some are repentant culchies, others, born-and-bred urbanites. Some are experiencing a mid-life crisis or are struck with a Road to Damascus desire to return to their roots after years in the city. Many are driven by a desire to give their children more freedom and space. All are seeking a different, less stressful and more tranquil environment.

Ganly Walters and Colliers Jackson-Stops, two of the major Dublin estate-agencies with specialist country house departments catering to the new gentry, report strong demand for houses within an hour to one-and-a-half hours' "maximum" of Dublin.

Wicklow, Westmeath, Carlow and Wexford are especially favoured. Those prepared to venture deeper into the heart of darkness may also consider Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny - although Offaly is, apparently, "coming on". (Sssshhh - it's "good value" - and not yet "discovered"). Harriet Grant at Ganly Walters said "improved roads and the availability of broadband are two key factors in attracting people to live in the country - many work from home but still want, or need to, visit Dublin once or twice a week".

Edward Townshend of Colliers Jackson-Stops, who specialises in older houses with land, said, "customers with children in the five-to-15 age bracket like to have "a few acres for the ponies". Clients of both these firms tend to spend "from €1 million up".

But what about more "affordable" options? Auctioneer Anne Lait in Co Wicklow says that "many couples in their fifties whose children have grown up are looking to sell the house in Dublin and move to villages such as Tinahely in south Wicklow. Where once they might have sought "the cottage with climbing roses" they now want "185sq m (2,000sq ft) houses in the €350,000-€400,000 bracket with room for the children and grandchildren to visit".

Ed Donohoe, an auctioneer who sells across counties Carlow and Kilkenny says prices are still good value from a Dublin perspective. He has seen an influx of "retirees and professional people" and says that Barrow Valley towns and villages (from Bagenalstown to St Mullins) are "hot".

For those seeking small-town rural life, as opposed to the potential shock and awe of raw countryside, he's just launched the first phase of Friars Hill. It's a new development on the outskirts of Graiguenamanagh, but within walking distance of the mediaeval town centre, where "a detached four-bedroom house is available for €275,000, or a three-bed mid-terrace at €210,000".

Over on the River Nore, the village of Inistioge has long been fashionable - and expensive - but nearby Thomastown is more affordable and has a greater choice of property. Auctioneer Gerard Walsh said "people like the fact that although it's a small town there are nice pubs, shops and a couple of good restaurants but they are still just minutes away from walking in the hurling field down by the river".

Apart from holiday homeowners and, incredibly, a growing number of commuters (it's a 140-mile round trip to Dublin) about 15 per cent of his business is from Dubliners "prepared to make the leap". He says "a nice 130sq m (1,400sq ft) bungalow on half-an-acre can still be had for €300,000 - but demand is outstripping supply". Sites are available but "it is very difficult to get planning permission for 'one-off' rural houses from Kilkenny Co Council unless you have roots in the area". But he can offer a newly-built three-bed semi, close to the railway station (on the Dublin line) for €215,000.

Further afield, Green Valley Properties can find you anything from a "cottage to a castle" in Clare, South Galway, North Limerick or North Tipperary. Proprietor Steve Symes says most of his customers "are from Dublin and the east coast, wanting to move west for a better lifestyle". He "only sells rural houses - never estates, even in small towns" - and caters for those "wishing to find an alternative to urban or suburban living".

Charles McCarthy, an auctioneer in Skibbereen says about 25 per cent of his business in south-west Co Cork and its islands comes from people "seeking to resettle for a better lifestyle" - often families seeking "more freedom for children". He says the average price for a refurbished farmhouse on a few acres is about €400,000.