I spent a few most enjoyable days in County Tipperary in June (09). Tipperary is divided into Tipperary North (where the local car registration is TN) and Tipperary South (where the car registration is TS). It is in the province of Munster and has good road and rail connections from Dublin. (Approx under 2 hours drive from Dublin.

The county is in the midlands and bordered by the counties of Waterford in the south, Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly to the east, Galway to the north and Cork, Limerick and Clare to the west.

As my wife was participating in a four-day course in at the Tipperary Institute in Thurles in north Tipperary we needed to find accommodation that accepted dogs. There are several hotels in Ireland that are “pet friendly”, but from researching this on the Internet, the majority appear to be in the west of Ireland. We stayed at one of these last June at Renvyle in Connemara. In the end I found Ashleypark House, situated near Nenagh via a website that listed B & B accommodation that is pet friendly.

Although they have a very informative web site  full of information and great pictures, I used the old fashioned way of contacting them – telephone to sort out our booking. They have a small flat adjoining the property and a renovated gardeners cottage that can be rented for self catering or a mixture of self catering and eating in the main house.

We drove from Dublin on a hot sunny Thursday afternoon using the new toll system  on the M50 then via the N4, M4, and M6 and through Tullamore famous for Irish Whiskey Tullamore Dew. We found the house after asking a couple of locals, although it was well signposted on the N52 road and the AA route planner directions were good.

Ashleypark House is set in 76 acres of woodland, formal gardens and a lake and with two entrances, both with gate lodges it has a long drive of approximately 1 km.  It is an 18th century country house that has been restored by its present owners. It is full of character and apart from providing bed and breakfast accommodation there are excellent four course dinners with wine.

The first night we were in a back bedroom overlooking a grass covered courtyard that is home to peacocks and cockerels. As it does not get dark till nearly eleven at this time of the year and is getting light soon after 3, these birds don’t have much sleep and are calling out from just after 3.30 and they are noisy. Sean the exceptionally active 80+ resident owner of the house suggested we move to a room at the front of the house that has superb views over the lake and much quieter. This was the room that President Mary McAleese  stayed in a few years ago. What an honour for our Irish born dog to sleep in the same room that the president had slept in!

The house was very good value costing around €100 per person a day for bed (with en-suite), full Irish breakfast, a four-course dinner with coffee or tea and this included the wine. Prices of wine ranged from €22 to €30 a bottle on average (and we found a very good red at €25 a bottle).  

Each day I had to take my wife to Thurles (some 40 km + away) and return for a full Irish breakfast and then take in some touring with my mother in law who had come with us and Joss the dog. On the first day we decided to explore the local area – Tipperary Lakeside in Shannon’s Lough Derg District. Lough Derg is the largest lake on the River Shannon. Although there is not a lakeside ring road, you can drive up to the various villages situated around it. Taking in a visit to the newly built “Thatched Cottage” pub in Ballycommon plus a factory shop was a great day. The area was full of recently built houses, many large properties with electric gates illustrating Ireland’s wealth over the last few years.

On the second day we went shopping in Nenagh. Nenagh is a very prosperous looking Irish midlands town. There only appeared to be one shop that had closed down and the town has a centre for tracing your ancestry, a cinema, modern out of town shopping complex plus many traditional shops in the town. There are a couple of shops that years ago would have been described as “drapers”. These establishments are on 2/3 floors offering ladies and gentleman’s clothing, soft furnishing, furniture etc.  One was Gough O’Keefe and Naughton drapery store and each shop was well stocked and busy.

After the shopping trip we moved onto Limerick, driving into the city from the outskirts is now similar to any major Irish city where the out of town shopping centres are full of UK retailers. The city is not large and unfortunately has a reputation over the last few years for gangland activity. This appears to be family gang members of one gang attacking members of others. This should not put off visitors to the city that has many fine streets and great scenery.

We crossed over the Shannon again and moved into Co Clare and stopped at Bunratty Castle. This fine old castle that has a “folk village” adjoining it is well worth visiting. I had been then some twenty years earlier so on this occasion did not go around the village. They hold mediaeval banquets in the castle. Bunratty now has a bypass, but it has been well landscaped and you certainly don’t miss the turning off the main N18.  Limerick and Bunratty are just a short distance from Shannon Airport.

It is a very popular location for holiday makers with a large development of self catering holiday homes run by the “Dream Ireland” company who feature many of their properties on the jmlvillas.com website. We parked outside Durty Nelly’s which is one of Ireland’s most famous pubs.  

After coffee in the spacious craft shop complex we moved onto the smaller roads following signs for sixmilebridge. This is a picturesque little village and has a pub by a stream that has miniature version of the pub next to it called the “Duck Inn”. Following on from the recent UK Parliament’s expenses saga when an MP was claiming for costs involving his floating duck island house, I could not resist taking a couple of pictures of this floating “duck pub”. 
We then followed signs to Knappogue Castle. I remember going there one summer when visiting Ireland with relatives over thirty years ago for a Mediaeval banquet. The more popular even at Bunratty was booked out so we went to Knappogue, which is not so much on the tourist route. That Saturday in June it was deserted, the weather by that time had changed to rain, but the notices said they still hold these banquets and wedding receptions there.

The next objective was drive to Thurles via Limerick and not taking the road to Nenagh which would be out of the way. You needed a map with the villages you would pass through as the route was deliberately not signposted to Thurles until you were some 30km from it. Although it was raining it was a great drive through these picturesque villages, most of which has a shop, pub and church. Rather like the day before there has been a lot of new houses built over the last few years and property, old and new are in very good condition. No doubt the owners would be working in Limerick.

Wherever you went to be it in the remote countryside, a town or city there were hundreds of poster pictures  of candidates for the Irish local elections and the European Parliamentary elections that was held in Ireland on the Friday. Visiting Ireland again a  couple of weeks after the event, there was something missing with all the bare lampposts and telegraph poles where these posters had been. It was rather like when the Christmas decorations have to come down at twelfth night with just the odd poster slipping through the removal net.  

Before getting to the Tipperary institute we drove around Thurles itself, even though it was raining you got a very good idea of the town. This town is  a very prosperous looking place full of shops, pubs and restaurants.

Sunday was the final touring day and as we were in Tipperary could not miss the opportunity of visiting Tipperary itself. The day was warm and sunny again turning off the familiar Nenagh to Thurles route we drove down a very bumpy road that at one stage turned into a single track road with grass in the centre, rather similar in width to those country house properties like Ashleypark House. The worrying factor was that there were not many passing places and fortunately no other traffic was coming in the opposite direction.

The car was very low on petrol and none of the picturesque villages had filling stations. We arrived on the outskirts of Tipperary without incident and refreshed the car’s tank.

Tipperary was very similar to Thurles, Nenagh and the other local towns. After looking around, we moved onto Thurles again this time following the route via Cashel which is One of the most spectacular tourist attractions in Ireland and one of the most visited. It is  home to the iconic Rock of Cashel.

Monday was the day to leave Ashleypark House a place that was so tranquil. There is a rowing boat available for guests to use on the lake and plenty of walks and the bonus is that they accept dogs.

There are so many people travelling with dogs to Ireland that it seems very strange that there are not more establishments that are pet friendly. Maybe the economy has been so good for such a long time that they have had full occupancy without needing to encourage people with pets. Now that tourist levels are going to be lower and fewer visitors from Britain because of the high ferry costs on the Irish Sea routes (unlike going to France) and the weakness of sterling against the euro, hotels will have to look at their market and restrictions they impose.

Ashleypark House is listed with “The Hidden Ireland” here they 30 similar types of accommodation in locations around Ireland. Apart from Ashleypark House there was only one other house advertised that would allow pets and in that case, stating “Kennels and Stables available”. It is a great pity that others are not pet friendly, as we will be looking for another area to visit next year.

It looks like prices in general will have to be reviewed to attract more custom. I discovered in a hotel in Malahide, near Dublin the other day that a pint of Kilkenny beer was costing €4.90 and this is higher than the same brand in the south of France. A pint of real ale back in my local pub in England will set you back around £3.00 so they do need to look at costs to attract the important tourist industry.

On the subject of Dublin, we drove back via Roscrea and the N7 before negotiating the M50 toll again, paying the fee this time at the local Spar store instead of online.

After visiting Ireland for the past 35 years it was really great to go to Tipperary for the first time and managed to cover a lot of the county, be it Tipperary North! It is a very prosperous, place to visit and you get a great welcome and prices appear to be much, much better value than Dublin.

When you’ve got kids at university, when you’re not too busy missing their angelic little faces, you’re probably making the most of having a spare room in the house; where you can put old and new possessions without having to think too much about them. A spare bedroom is an excellent place to store all those objects of furniture and bits and pieces in while you decide what to do with them – but when it’s time for the kids to come home, you’ve got a great deal of work on your hands.

If you’ve been using their bedroom as a storing cupboard for some months, the chances are that a fairly large amount of stuff has accumulated. And, as the Christmas holidays last over a month as opposed to a couple of weeks, your not-so-little one probably isn’t going to appreciate having to wade their way through piles of books and old television sets in order to get a night of sleep.

So what can you do with all of the extra possessions when there’s absolutely nowhere else to put them?

You may be enjoying using the spare room as another room altogether, meaning that you’re not too keen on relinquishing its use for a month – but that doesn’t mean you can recreate the room again once your scholar heads back to the university campus – at least until summer, anyway.

However, there’s still the problem of what to do with your various possessions until then. The solution can actually be quite simple. Rather than clogging up the rest of your house as you attempt to evenly redistribute your accumulations in other places, why not hire out a self storage facility and simply store it away for a while?

You can rent storage facilities that you can place all of your extra things in while your kids are home. There are a surprising amount of companies operating all over the country, meaning they tend to be located in areas that are very convenient to you. And, by storing items rather than packing them all around your house, you can enjoy how not only are you ensuring your home stays neat and tidy, but your possessions are being kept in an incredibly secure place at a minimum cost.

In fact, you could find that you end up putting a lot more things into storage than you previously expected – including a certain student’s bed for those many months during the year that they’re not around!

Some of you will say – well if so many countries are going downhill economically what about the Republic of Panama? Well this is a good point. Panama is actually not dependent on any one country to any appreciable extent. In Panama 15%-20% of the economy is dependent on banking. Panama has about 150 banks that are from many different countries around the world which due to Panama’s Neutral Status and Bank Privacy Laws has turned Panama into the Switzerland of Latin America. Panama is not in any tax treaties is one reason this goes on. Income tax evasion is still a civil offense in Panama. Panama is the Switzerland of Latin America but in reality the protections and privacy laws in banking and in general are better here than in Switzerland, check it out for yourself. What this means is that it is unlikely for Panamas banking system which is a vital part of their economy to ever get hurt since it is spread out into so much of the world.

In Panama there are still Bearer Share corporations which are owned by no one on record anywhere but by the person who has the papers for the corporation. Thus corporations can be transferred in a few seconds with no recording of anything. It is very common to have a bearer share corporation own real estate in Panama thus making the real estate ownership untraceable and most inconvenient for an entity that goes around confiscating assets which governments and lawyers are so fond of doing. This has given Panama a healthy business regarding corporation registration and formation which again is another aspect of the economy of Panama likely to not be threatened. Similar to this is the maritime ships registration business which also brings in a lot of money to Panama and again is most unlikely to be at risk.

Any sort of property can be owned by a bearer share corporation in Panama – a store, real estate, artwork, collectibles, jewelry. It is a way of owning and controlling things that are impossible to trace back to you thus protecting the asset from litigation etc.

To further assist people with privacy and protection Panama has foundations which no one really ever owns and one can have the bearer share corporation owned by a foundation. If you could ever penetrate the corporation far enough to see who owned it the circumstances would be most confusing so it is a commonly employed asset protection tactic used by people worldwide. Any sort of property can be owned by a bearer share corporation in Panama – a store, real estate, artwork, collectibles, jewelry. It is a way of owning and controlling things that are impossible to trace back to you thus protecting the asset from litigation etc. A bearer share corporation can not have a bank account without providing the bank with what is called the beneficiary owner of the account which sort of reduces the privacy value of this vehicle when it comes to banking. Could one have a bearer share company own the house they live in and pay rent to the corporation in cash getting receipts from the corporation, sure why not.

Panama does not import or export that much to the USA. Panama trades a lot with many other countries. I can not ever once remember seeing an advertisement of any sort in the USA for tourism to Panama. Panama has a nice and flourishing tourism industry but it is not all that America dependent. Lots of tourists come from Central and South America. Mostly American go to the Caribbean. Prices are good enough and the travel times are somewhat less. Panama tourism involves tourists from many different countries not being dependent on any one of them. Let’s not forget the Panama Canal which generates one billion dollars a year in revenue which is a lot for a country of only 3 million people. They are considering expanding the capacity of the canal to handle super ships but in any event this revenue is most unlikely to go away, thus it is another ingredient adding to the stability of Panama. Panama is just beginning to exploit ecotourism another fantastic source of revenue. After this medical tourism will be pursued as another source of bringing revenue into the country. Panama grows things and manufactures very inexpensively – two vital ingredients for stability and economic growth. If this is not enough Panama uses the dollar as currency so you can have all the stability of the dollar and since oil is priced in dollars demand for dollars will be high especially with rising oil prices so you avoid any currency conversion costs and have stability. My bottom line is that Panama may very well be more stable and economically secure than your home country plus offer you a better lifestyle! Think about it!

Now there is a migration of people who want to live here which is just starting a real estate boom which you can still get in on at close to the ground floor. Remember such booms in the USA and how easy it was to make money. Remember buying a house and selling it at a profit before the construction was finished. Here is your second chance because this is happening in Panama right now. What is my point- sell your house while you can still realize some gains and come enjoy the good life in Panama while real estate is still a steal and what the heck buy a couple of spec houses or lots if you have the money – opportunities like this don’t come around that often.

Housing in Panama

Housing costs are not what they used to be. Housing prices are shooting up in recent years as more and more Expats discover the advantages of life in Panama. The peak in housing prices will be at the very end of 2007 or in 2008 (my guesstimate) then prices will stagnate for a while and probably fix there. A price decline would require a shortage of incoming Expats which is something I do not see happening any time in the near future. Most Expats are probably buying homes/apts for an average price of $160,000 taking into account many live in many different rural areas of Panama (see our real estate advertising section for details). As long as the Expat can sell their current home for more than the cost of their Panama home they will keep coming. Many Expats are getting $300,000+ for theircurrent homes trying to cash out before the bottom falls out due to rising unemployment, rising interest rates, rising bankruptcies, energy costs affecting commuters and home heating oil costs soaring too. Many Europeans are coming here to take advantage of the high Euro. Since Panama real estate is priced in dollars it is like getting a 20% discount for the Euro buyer. Now when the Euro falls they sell their real estate which in Panama is priced in US dollars thus when they convert back to Euros post sale, they will buy more Euros with their dollars which would rise in value if the Euro fell. Sort of a fail safe for the European speculators which there are plentiful of these days.

I would speculate that Panama City houses run about $1000 a square meter (a sq. meter is slightly over 10 square feet). So a 200 square meter apartment (approx 2100 sq. ft.) would be $200,000. Now this would be the starting price and you could surely negotiate this down somewhat. Prices in other outlying areas will vary so do check our real estate section for current prices and offering with pictures so you can see what you’d be getting.

Rentals in Panama city come in two flavors – furnished and unfurnished. Furnished units are hard to come by. Most furnished units will not have really nice furniture, got it? The furnished apartments will usually have furniture that shows wear and may not be so clean, even if you spend $1900 a month. So what we learned was this. Furniture in Panama is very nice and cheap, real cheap. Like a king size bed, no headboard with frame for $210. The mattresses are great, not cheap foam but hand built and firm. We bought a nice sofa, love seat, plush chair with an Italian fabric we picked out, custom built for us in five days, delivered $595. The furniture here is not upholstery over fiber fill but solid foam, it is hand built and really solid. You can easily nicely furnish a 2 bedroom apt for $2000-$3000 assuming there are appliances which it probably will have. A nice brand new with warranty washer, dryer, stove, refrigerator will run about $1600 – $1700 delivered and set up. To really put the dog on and go first class for a 2 bedroom figure $5000 for furniture (not including appliances) and we are talking really nice stuff – rosewood, plush sofas with big pillows, solid wood all the way. If you spent $8000 on a four bedroom house it would look like $35,000 of furniture stateside but would wear better and be more comfortable. Dishes, lamps and stuff like that are really cheap. Consider not bringing your furniture down. Sell it and buy new stuff here with the proceeds, you can really do it. Anyway if you rent unfurnished there will be many more places to look at in the city or in the outlaying areas. Unfurnished rents are cheaper and you can take the savings and invest in your own furniture.

If you spent $8000 on furnishing a four bedroom house it would look like $35,000 of furniture stateside but would wear better and be more comfortable.

Okay in Panama City you can get a nice two bedroom apt in a decent neighborhood where you will be happy for about $900. If you want to live in a high end neighborhood by the water it can get up to $1800 which would be top drawer. Three bedrooms would start at about $1000 for a nice apt unfurnished up to $2500 for top drawer in modern buildings on the water on a high floor with an unobstructed view. We saw nice furnished apartments with views, three bedrooms for $1100 a month. Most all of these building will have some view – city or water. There will usually be a balcony. There will usually be a swimming pool and a gym but do not expect much with the gym typically too under equipped to be of any value. There will be enclosed parking (2 spots usually) and very adequate security. Nice comfortable apartments that do have closets. In the outlaying areas rents are less and the amount of available rentals is also less with furnished rentals being especially hard to find. If the project of building the extra canal goes through it is expected to result in an apartment shortage due to extra workers being sent here by their companies which of course means you could buy an investment unit furnish it and rent it out for big bucks for many years while the new canal is being built, not kidding about this. As a Pensionado, if you buy or build a new house, you won’t pay property taxes for 20 years, nor will you pay taxes on foreign-earned income. Make sure you check out our real estate section to get up to date prices on rentals and purchases.

Most apartments and houses have maids quarters. They are usually the size of a large walk-in closet with a full toilet attached and not air conditioned. This is the way things are down here. A maid will run about $200-$250 a month, her benefits will be about $27 a month. The maid is on 6 days a week, off Sunday (is this why so many people eat out on Sundays). The maid will cook, clean, do laundry and even shop for groceries. She may or may not iron – this is a sore spot with maids????? Maids will also serve as babysitters but many have an additional nanny. You can also hire a driver for about same money if you let him live in. Some may elect to have a live in driver and have a day maid. Most dwellings only have accommodations for one servant to live in. A driver drives you to restaurants and then when ready to leave you call him on cell phone and he comes to pick you up in front, same for going to mall, movies, bank etc. He will also help with errands and around the house.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.panamaexpertos.com

http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/real_estate_overview&pagenumber=2

http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/real_estate_overview

It will not be tricky to find the’hottest’ home decor trends out there at the moment. Occasionally, though, you end up financially and stylistically limited. Some of those’in’ color schemes or themes may just not appeal to you. Ironically, perhaps you can’t afford the furnishings you desire in your house. Really, wood furniture doesn’t always have to be pricey ( or old ) for it to play a crucial role in the overall feel of your place. You don’t always have to go antiquing or spend enormous amounts of money just to decorate or furnish your house.

Straight off there’s always an option to BUY second user furniture for home-decor. Purchasing second user furniture may present a risk but the benefits far outweigh this. Almost all of the time, people simply give their perfectly usable solid wood furniture to charities or thrift stores. They even sell them in straightforward yard or garage sales. Always be on the look-out and you might be surprised if you find a cedar chest that looks precisely the same as the extremely pricey one you’ve been salivating over at the mag you latterly read.

With your buying comes your selling. Try and sell furniture that you infrequently use anymore or the ones which feel out of kilter in your house. This serves a double purpose — more space for new furniture that is more appropriate for your house and more money to buy them! Also, selling might help you create a network of other home dcor fans who can offer you tips in buying and selling hardwood furniture and at the same time lead you in working out the final feel and appear you would like to go for. Just post on your local classifieds or join online forums and you’ll be surprised at how much people are willing to help.

Lastlyly, perhaps you may even try and make your own furniture! Naturally, this isn’t an individual job but maybe you can ask help from your youngsters or your hubby. It can be a time-intensive project but this is customization at its finest. You get to make furniture that’s tailor-fit to your same exact needs. You can have as many drawers as you need on your bedroom dresser and even color it as obnoxiously as you need. What’s important is that you’re making the furniture that fits well with your intended home dcor theme. There are various books on handiwork and/or carpentry that may strip down things for you. Don’t be afraid to look at home decor magazines, too, for ideas on style and functionality!

As you can see, you don’t always have to conform to current home decor trends that are enormously hyped by the media. You can make your own trendy baby crib that is more tailor fit to your concept of how your house should look like. Who else is the better judge but the individual living in the home, right?

Of late, furniture, especially bedroom furniture plays a great role to demonstrate the mindset and standard of living of an individual who owns the house. Actually, there are a number of things that you should keep in mind while purchasing bedroom furniture, which include durability, versatility and so on. Items of bedroom furniture like bed, nightstands, cupboards, dressing tables, wardrobes and mirrors are available with various designs and choices of style, and made with materials such as wood, stain, and fabric. People do not hesitate spending on bedroom furniture as the bedroom is considered as a private haven in the home where one relaxes after the day’s hectic schedule.

Bedroom furniture is totally different from furniture decorated in rest of the house and almost invisible to visitors. These furniture has been become the most important part of any house nowadays. Bedroom furniture should be stylish and comfortable according to you and your living standard of the family. Being considered as a part of the private life, these pieces of furniture are crafted with the purpose to provide coziness and relaxation. These can be used without much effort and accessible with ease. Couples who have children or planning to have are advised to search for versatile and durable furniture. Moreover, bedroom furniture must be stain resistant to withstand childish pranks.

It is pertinent to decorate your bedroom according to the size. In a case of lack of space, remove all the unnecessary items that are not required. The colour of your bedroom furniture much depends upon the colour of wall in spite of the colour of your bed. No matter where you shop, but it is vital that you find pieces of bedroom furniture that will not only fit in your style, but also complement the space and budget. Creating an alluring and relaxing bedroom doesn’t seem as a daunting task with the availability of nice pieces of furniture at pocket friendly rates.

Bedroom furniture suite can do wonders by unifying the look in your bedroom, with stunning finishes, carving and designs. Nowadays, the pieces of furniture available in the online market are enough to woo modern customers with its eye-catching beauty and stunning looks. The internet is a proven source to avail various items of furniture at cost effective rates. In fact, most of the online furniture stores offer home delivery system to lure their customers.

Furniture is considered as the popular medium to display the accents of style to the house. Thus, contemporary home decor furniture is inclined to outfit all room of the house with unique style of furniture.

The living room of the house is a prominent and essential section of the house. The furniture that is placed in the living room reflects your sense of style and taste broadly. Therefore, the modern and contemporary living room furniture helps to bring a new life to the living room of the house.

The decoration of the living room largely depends on various geometrical factors of the house. It primarily includes the size of the living room as the fleeting look of furniture depends on the space of the living room. The exact measurement of the room can decide the size of sofa, chairs and other living-room furniture. Thus, it is essential to plan and set the budget for buying the furniture to avoid overboard in expenses.

There is various ways to decorate the living room of the house. It includes sofas and chairs, coffee and side tables, display cabinets, dressers, futon chairs and beds, and bean bags and bean chairs. Also, the matching shades of the walls and decorative plants with stands in corners enhance the decoration of the living room. Thus, it adds to the adornment of the furniture placed in.

There are many types of sofas and chairs specially designed for the small sizes living room. The modern and stylish corner sofa not only helps to decorate the small space of living room but add smart look to the room. Also, sectional sofas are widely used as living room furniture. It facilitates number of family members to expand seating capacity and enjoy the family get-together. Hence, it brings out modern tastes of furniture and creates a new look to the contemporary living room.

Among other essential section of the house the room of the children room is special part of the house. The themed children rooms create a unique and vibrant atmosphere for children. Thus, the home decor furniture carries a great selection of functional and charming children’s bedroom furniture for all the age including and baby furniture sets.

The contemporary furniture is widely appreciated by the parents and children. This furniture includes bunk bed to baby and medium sized bed for the teenagers. Also, furniture like oversized bean bag chairs and pint-sized tables add to the distinguish look of the children’s room. The expensive teakwood tables and leather sofas furniture add to the comfort and beauty to the room of college going children Thus, the home décor furniture serves the need of the baby, children’s, teen or college dorm furniture.

Thus, to know more about the home décor furniture, shop online to make your house look elegant.