A New Life:From London's busy streets to a smallholding in Clare, David Egan has found the good life. Sorcha Griffithreports
It's a long way from living under the Heathrow flight path to owning your own smallholding in the Clare countryside. But for London-Irish David Egan, the life-changing move is now a distant memory.
Eight years ago, Egan, then an exercise physiologist who trained Olympic athletes, was living in the sprawling metropolis of south London with his wife and two children.
His wife, Elaine, worked with antisocial behaviour orders (Abso) children. Their lives were busy, successful and rewarding, but still, Egan says, something was "missing".
As a child, Egan regularly visited the Clare countryside, the home of his emigrant parents, and he and his wife always shared a dream of moving back there and buying their own smallholding.
But it wasn't until after the birth of their first son that this dream, as well as Egan's increasing concern for a healthier and safer lifestyle for his family, led him and his wife to take the plunge and buy the same plot of land his own family worked on years before.
While Egan says he was never totally fed up with London, living under the Heathrow flight path might have aided them in their decision-making.
"I had an extremely happy childhood and I wanted my kids to have the same. You couldn't let your kids out in the front garden to play where we lived," he says.
Luckily, in 1999, no sooner had they bought the land, than Egan got a call from an old professor who wanted him to apply for a job in the University of Limerick.
This help from "fate" afforded his wife the opportunity of being able to give up her job and for them to sell up and finally move their small family to where they'd always dreamt of living.
"My own family were extremely supportive about the move. But whenever you emigrate, it's a bit of a wrench and it wasn't always plain sailing."
However, Egan says they quickly settled into country life, renting a house initially, and building their home as well as getting started on the farm.
"I think other locals were initially fascinated by my rookie plans to be as near to self-sufficient as possible on one acre of land. But many of them went out of their way to help us and I have made enduring friendships with them."
Five years ago, they brought the pigs to an abattoir for the first time. The following year, they made friends with a butcher who offered to show them how to do it. And the following year, they did it themselves.
David now makes chorizo, salami, ham, as well as keeping hens, geese, goats and growing vegetables.
"Getting good, nutritious food is very difficult. I've never eaten so well in my life," he says.
While many friends have asked to buy their produce from them, they don't make enough to do so at the moment and the only people making money off the land are two of his now four children who sell eggs at school.
Egan is delighted they do this because he says they are motivated to ensure they get the most from their stock. "They understand that if the fox gets the chickens, they'll have less money," he says.
Working the land has also taught Egan a thing or two. "The weather has taught me that nature will beat human effort every time. I mean, you work so hard, and then sometimes nature just won't repay you for that effort.
"But my life is very much in keeping with the rhythms of nature and I wouldn't change it for the world," he says.
Three years ago, 2004 proved another year full of change for Egan. Besides giving up his job in University of Limerick, a visit to a local school inspired him to set up Redbranch, a not-for-profit organisation aimed at improving the sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles of the children there.
"I couldn't believe how little exercise and what poor food they were eating," he says.
Egan says their programmes are now in operation in more than 80 schools in the Republic, and not before time. On one occasion, Redbranch staff came across a child who was hospitalised from scurvy.
While he is keen to stress the importance of healthier living for children and parents, he says that doesn't mean everyone has to be as "extreme" as they are. "I just have a lot of energy and it's what I like to do. But anyone could keep a few chickens if they wanted to," he says.
Egan's time is now divided between the smallholding and Redbranch, but he says the great thing about it is that his personal life and his work have achieved a level of "synchronicity" he never before thought possible.