The midlands of Ireland

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I live in the midlands of Ireland. Im in Westmeath.

I work in a job, where I answer calls and emails from all over the country .

People often ask where I'm from and if i say Im from westmeath, they always say "sure there's nothing there".

For example I was chatting to a woman from kilkenny on the phone.
She asked me where I was, and I said I was in westmeath.

She said that she'd never been to westmeath and I said "you'd love it if you came". And she said 'westmeath? Sure there's nothing there!

My colleague is also from Offaly, and she also gets things like this said to her

I know the midlands of ireland are not the most glamorous parts of ireland, but why do they get totallt written off by people.

I was just thinking this week how absolutely lovely it is here in the midlands

There's the lakes outside Mullingar. Theres the Shannon in Athlone. You can get a boat trip up the Shannon.

In county offaly, there are stunning hill walks. The nature is beautiful.

I just wanted to give a little shout out for the midlands. It's a beautiful place. Come and visit if you're ever near!

I live about an hour from Westmeath also midlands I like it a lot. I lived in Dublin and loved that but for the traffic, it was always cat. The midlands have Beautiful greenways, blue-ways canal and river walks. Loads of nice scenery. I’ve been to Athlone and Mullingar in the last year, plenty going on there and plenty more generally in the Midlands.

I live in a tourist village in cork and there's feck all here either! I'm jealous you live in the Midlands, you're nearer the border 🤣 my English dh would sell his soul to go to bnm 🙈

I have to ask what you mean by bnm because here in the midlands we mean bord na mona and from context I don’t think your husband is dying to see some bogs, although if it is bogs you want look no further than the midlands, we are not short of them.

Shocking

Haha! We are definitely not short on bogs.

I have cousins in Portloaise and Abbeyleix, I think those are in the midlands? I'm in England, but my cousin post lots of pics of Abbeyleix on FB, and it looks lovely.

Yeah they are, that's right! Right in the midlands. In Co. Laois

B n m is a discount store in the UK, kind of like deals but far better. He just misses the variety of shops on the high street. Most towns have a bnm , pound stretcher , home bargains ect . In our town here in Ireland there's currently outrage because aldi want to come to the town. Prices of things are crazy here.

Yes Laois is definitely midlands.

Ye don't even have an aldi?

They'd be in a lot of small towns in Ireland .

Your poor husband!

Ah I love walking through the country lanes in Westmeath. Or up hills in Offaly.

There are such great places for walks

Wow no Aldi, there are two in the next town over from me and two Lidl’s where I work, also midlands and tonnes of discount stores here so your hubby would love it here.

I was only down in West Cork a few weeks back some parts of it are very remote but it is absolutely stunning to make up for it.

Has anyone been to that Bord na mona park with the old trains, in Offaly.

It's really unusual, and there's a lovely walk around it.

I think so, Lough Boora? Is that it? we hired bikes there is a fantastic cycle loop.

Yes that's the one! Its a stunning place isn't it.

Not even an aldi 😪 we do however have a shop where it's 85 euro for a pair of boxer shorts and we have a concept shop (whatever the f that is ) 🤣🤣🤣

It sounds very remote!

Well if it really doesn't suit you , you're not stuck anywhere forever.

There are places with better shops and links in Ireland!

Joe Dolan and Niall Horan... what's not to love! My granny was from Shinrone via Tipp and Kildare.
I really like the midlands. The turf heritage place was a great day out...we had a very damp holiday based in Tyrellspass!

Yeah the midlands is nice. Tyrellspass is a very small village isn't it. Where is there even to stay there for a holiday. Is there a hotel there?

Im actually less than an hour from cork city. So not too remote. We've a council house here and ds is In playschool. Would be very hard to move unfortunately 😕

My husband sourced a holiday let in Tyrellspass about 20 years ago. It was our second worst holiday cottage! There was nothing there so we did a lot of day trips.
My kids loved the shopping centre in Tullamore, it had a water wheel.

I don't think I have a favourite county. Lots of favourite places.

Dun na Sí in Moate is great.

Have to say, Lough Boora freaked me out a bit.

But then again, I moved from a well know very scenic county (think Galway or Cork or Kerry or Clare) to Offaly, so what would I know? 🤣
I was one described as “the only person who’s moved to Offaly”.

Agree with you though, the midlands is fabulous. I’m near Tyrellspass (there is a hotel- Browne’s on the Green! Lovely restaurant too.
Great location- can get to Tullamore, Mullingar, or Athlone in no time. Dublin is about 1hr 20mins depending on traffic.

Abbeyleix is stunning and a lovely little foodie destination.

Hello from Scotland. I love this conversation, makes me want to visit Westmeath. We also have loads of place no one rates at all, but they are fucking fabulous.

Just up the road from me we have national park with Highland cows , all sorts of creatures and landscapes. It’s not even on anyone’s radar apart from the locals and not even 15 miles from Glasgow.

Ill definitely add midlands of Ireland to my to visit list

Scotland has lovely small towns too. We are often up and down the motorway between Cork and Dublin but when we have time branch off.
Birr is a lovely town and te garden centre cafe is amazing .