We ran away from home, laughs Gerry Dignam, talking about his move to Sligo with his wife Noreen. Originally from Swords, Co Dublin they married and raised a family before deciding it was time for a change of scene.

"I thought it was time for a break and I was offered the chance to work in a Korean company in the West of Ireland. While I didn't actively seek out Sligo, I knew the place and liked it," says Dignam. Noreen was happy with the move as well and quickly became fully integrated with the local community when they made the move in 1995. After living initially in Sligo town, they moved out to Grange, a small village on the Bundoran Road, about 12 miles outside Sligo.

"At first I liked being away from all the hurly-burly of city life, and the quietness of the place attracted me. We didn't miss the city at all," he recalls.

For two and a half years Gerry was kept busy at his job as personnel manager, trying to sort out industrial relation problems in the new company. Noreen took up work with the Multiple Sclerosis committee and with Grange Credit Union. She also joined a hill-walkers club which she thoroughly enjoyed.

The problems started when pressure of work eased off and Gerry found himself with too much time on his hands. "I began to miss involvement in business and contact with colleagues. Human resources and personnel is a dynamic discipline. You really have to be around where it's at and all things happened in Dublin. "I found I missed Dublin, the theatre and all the diversions you don't have in Sligo. There's very little to do and I found it getting a little boring.

"For me it was a lonely place. Although we had very good friends in Grange and I really

miss them, I found it too isolated. I've a melancholy streak in me and I love to write poetry, and you would imagine the isolation would help that, but it didn't. I really missed the city, my extended family, and even the traffic."

And so the decision was made to return to Dublin after nearly five years of country living. Although Noreen would have happily stayed in Sligo they returned to Swords last April.

Still, Gerry advises people who are contemplating a move to the country to go for it. "The mistake people make is to think a move to the country is permanent - it doesn't have to be forever. It can be a short spell and for us it was a learning experience. I don't think it was a mistake returning to Dublin, but I don't think it was a mistake to leave either.'