“I live with my husband Patrick and our four kids, ranging from age four to 13. Beforehand we were living in Castle Park, Ballybane in Galway, which is about 10 mins from where we are. Patrick’s mum and some of his family are nearby. I’m originally from Glasgow.

We were renting our last home for 12 years. Our landlord lived in England, but she decided to move home, as she wanted her kids to go to school here. She gave us notice to quit.  The experience was hard. We ended up homeless for eight weeks. My husband suffers from anxiety and depression and it really pushed him. It was hard going, but ultimately worth it in the end. This is our forever home now.

We got the keys on Friday 13th of all days and moved in that night.  We moved in and arranged everything as we went. We’re in the process of getting blinds put in. It’s a slow process, but it’ll get done, there’s no stress.

The new place is great. The living room is so big, there’s enough space for us all. The kitchen is so big the kids have space if it’s wet and miserable to play indoors. Our last place was a three bedroom, same as here, but the rooms here are so big compared to what we had. Now the kids have the space for their toys, their bunk beds, and everything else. It’s especially good for our four-year-old. She can go upstairs and play, she has her vanity table upstairs, her dolls’ house, her Barbies. She’s loving having the freedom to open the front door and go play with the neighbouring kids, or she can go out to the back garden.

We moved in in the summer of last year. We promised the kids we’d get them a trampoline when we moved house. They spent the summer on the trampoline, or out in the sun. We were the first ones to move in here, they had the freedom of being out and about.

The estate is a small community. We all kind of know each other now, it’s good to have that. My neighbour even offered to feed our dogs while we were away. We’ve never had that before.

We have a new baby on the way, so we have that to look forward to. It’ll be the first baby born on the estate. We’re looking forward to the kids enjoying the summer. Last summer everything was still so new to them, now they’re familiar with it all and we know the estate and the people in it so. There’s only seven houses, but every home has kids ranging from 16 months to 18 years old. Once one kid is out playing, they all are.”

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