The peace and tranquility of rural Mayo is hard to beat

by Auld Stock

GREAT things are happening throughout rural Mayo at the moment.

New schools or extensions to existing schools are planned for many villages around our county.

Villages close to large towns have an advantage over communities in more isolated areas. Greater attention must be paid to those areas. They are a vital part of our Irish landscape.

There are many people who wish to live in such areas; they prefer the peace and solitude of areas with smaller populations, away from the hustle and bustle of large centres.

Sadly, daily news bulletins carry stories of murder and mayhem in our cities.

There is a lot to be said for living in rural Ireland.

Despite its drawbacks, living close to nature has many unique attractions - some poets describe it as the call of the wild.

Words like peace and tranquillity are more appealing to me.

*Michael Viney, journalist and author, left Dublin in 1977 with his wife Eithne and moved to Thallabawn, Louisburgh, to begin a new life.

His weekly articles in the Irish Times are classics and relate in detail the joy of living in an isolated and rugged area of west Mayo.

His wife Eithne, a chemist by profession, was formerly Eithne McManus whose family lived in John’s Row, Westport, many years ago.