Pheasant Run, Clonee

smithp27

Hi Guys

We are currently looking at a house in Pheasant Run, Clonee. On the face of it, I think estate seems really nice, great location close to Littlepace shops, schools etc. Can I just get peoples opinions? We have young kids so looking for family friendly, safe (as anywhere can be these days!!), bit of a community feel?
Any thoughts/advice would be really helpful!

BGozIE

smithp27 wrote: »

Hi Guys

We are currently looking at a house in Pheasant Run, Clonee. On the face of it, I think estate seems really nice, great location close to Littlepace shops, schools etc. Can I just get peoples opinions? We have young kids so looking for family friendly, safe (as anywhere can be these days!!), bit of a community feel?
Any thoughts/advice would be really helpful!

My parents have lived in Hunters Run (across the road) for the guts of 18 years and for a lot of this time it was where I grew up.

IMO its a decent area, its generally quiet enough. I wouldn't be able to comment on the community feel, I suppose its there, just depends on how involved you want to get.

One thing I would say is something that has changed since I moved out (around 5 years ago) is there is a few more rented houses in my estate, thats not necessarily bad.

My partner is a teacher in Mary Mother of Hope JNS and by all accounts its a lovely school.

Someone may know particulars on pheasants run, but Clonee as a whole is a decent quite place to live, IMO.

gabsdot40

Very nice estate unless your house faces the M3. It's so noisy there.

slavedave

Lived here for 15 years and love living here. The estate is quite small so you do bump into the same faces regularly. If you have kids it gets even easier since the school runs etc introduce you to lots of families. The estate is a good mix of established families and renters. There is a nice mix of cultures. Lots of kids in the area that have aged with the estate. There is a lot of life about the estate. I couldn't ask for better neighbours in the cul-de sac that I live in. It is safe, friendly and social.
The area near the M3 can be a little noisy but it is a lot better than it was before the acoustic barriers were built.
Great access to the playing fields that are well used by excellent GAA and Football clubs, as well as residents and dog walkers. No 70 bus stops very close by for commuting into town and the 270 will take you to the Blanch town centre (or you can walk 5 minutes through a cut through to get to the well serviced 39 route.
There used to be an active residents association but I don't hear much from them these days. Most of the roads end in cul-de-sacs so you get limited traffic into each one (except on the main access road into all the cul-de-sacs) which means very safe areas for little ones outside your house.. The houses are generally well built but are approaching 20 years old now so if they haven't already been redcorated/ modified then plan in some of that. The gardens should be well established by now and the trees in each road are maturing nicely and give good cover and aesthetics in the growing season. The greens within the estates are tended by Fingal Co Co and are maintained regularly. They are buzzing with kids in the Summer so can get a little noisy but it is usually just kids playing soccer etc. There is a community clean up once a year that brings people out to tidy up the estate. People look out for one another e.g. checking out the reason for a house alarm going off etc.

These are all the good points so I may as well try to balance them ( and most of these can be applied to any estate in the area - and I have lived in three of them now - the others being Hazelbury Park and Manorfields). Leaving for work in the morning can be congested due to school runs and only one route out onto the M3 - traffic can be very slow moving. In winter the estate roads can be quite treacherous. I have noticed, anecdotally, that there seem to be more people renting than previous years so there is a little more movement into and out of the population in Pheasant Run. Some of the cul-de-sacs don't have pavements so parking can get a little tricky in them, especially if you have a number of guests. The Park can get a little noisy due to the proximity to the playing fields. Most, but not all the dog walkers clear up after their pets. The gardens have clay soil so they don't always drain that well and many of the residents that I have spoken to say that builders rubble under the soil was the bane of their lives when doing any gardening. We have had a few isolated incidents over the years - burglaries, car thefts and a couple of assaults but they have been people who have come onto the estate to carry out their activities. We have a lot of teens on the estate - they have grown up here so most are well known. You could see this as a downside, but they are a decent bunch by and large. We seem to have intermittent "hoverings" over our estates by the Gardai throughout the year and sporadic bursts of patrol cars that tear around the wider estates at times, so there must be unsavoury elements using the wider Littepace/ Castaheany / Ongar area to warrant it.

Hope this helps. We have friends in Hunters Run, Hazelbury, Deerhaven, Littlepace etc and they would probably say the same things about where they live. Essentially, the whole area is a nice place to live if you don't mind living a little further out from town. Schools are good. The Castaheany community centre is active ( Res Assoc, sports, scouts, martial arts, dance etc). There is a friendly gym in Phibblestown Community Centre 5 mins walk away. Great basketball team for all ages - Ongar Chasers nearby. Parish Church in Littlepace and a community church that meets in Hansfield Educate Together NS. The Paddocks does nice food and the shopping precinct is decent enough. Clonee village gets you Lidl and Aldi and a range of restaurants and you also have a train line into town (albeit a limited service) a brisk 20 minute walk away in Hansfield.

smithp27

Thanks so much for your replies, so helpful and reassuring, I could see us being pretty happy in Pheasants Run considering positive and negative points raised...no where is perfect anymore unfortunately so overall sounds pretty good. I have lived other side of "Clonee" before closer to Ongar shops but think over towards Paddocks/Littlepace shops is a nicer area with the more mature estates etc. Someone else mentioned the possible M3 noise so will def have to check that out, house we're looking at is close to front of the estate though and in a cul de sace with a walkway through to another estate so think it's away from the noise. I personally love the idea of the kids out playing on the greens and interacting, having moved my poor 4 yr old now 3 times will be thrilled to finally get settled somewhere and making friends etc before he starts school next year. Thanks again everyone Fingers crossed now

slavedave

All the best with it! The negatives really are minor compared with the positives, in my experience.
PS Approach the school as early as possible regarding next year. It can be difficult to secure a place there. The other schools in the area are good too though (Sacred Heart in Huntstown, Scoil Grainne in Phibblestown and the Educate Togethers / St Benedicts in Ongar ( as I am sure you are aware)

daireman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/105206971#Comment_105206971

First of all, thank you for such a thorough, insightful reply. Excellently written and very informative. I was just curious if this still applies to the area today? We are thinking of buying in this area at the moment. The estate looks nice but we are not from Dublin. I am originally from Kerry but have been renting in numerous places around Dublin for the last 10 years

rameire

I'm in the area 6 years now and the comments from slavedave still stand.