We moved to Northern Ireland in May 2011, making Northern Ireland home for the first time since I left to go to University in Manchester in 1994, graduation was followed by a spell in London before heading to Australia for an extended  and rather wonderful 7 year stay.

When it was time to make a decision about whether we settled in Australia permanently or thought about coming home, home won. While Australia has so much to offer in terms of weather and lifestyle, it is very, very  far away and as children were definitely in our future the appeal of being close to family was always in our minds.

We left Melbourne airport , with 2 mini dachshunds (who incidentally missed their flight, although we were thankfully unaware of this until we landed in London) and started our life back in the Northern Hemisphere in Dublin. During that time Mr Belfast Mummy set up his own business and a move to Belfast was finally possibly so with a 7 week old and 15 month old I finally moved full circle and we returned home so our children could grow up close to their Grandparents.

It was no mean feat to convince Mr Belfast Mummy that a move to Belfast was a good idea and a good place to raise our children, his ears were ringing with tales of the “troubles” but he was convinced that Northern Ireland had finally moved on and it was a predominantly peaceful country. I had regaled him with tales of my own childhood during the troubles and how you would barely have known anything was going on (I may have glossed over the bag checks before you went into M&S and the army presence on the street).

Unfortunately, Mr Belfast Mummy’s faith in Northern Ireland being the right place to raise a family is wavering due to the recent and much publicised “flag” issue (and if I am completely honest, mine is too, just a teensy bit,  I think I fear the children growing up somewhere they are keen to leave as soon as A Level results pop through the door. So I thought I would remind myself about everything that persuaded us to come home in the first place.

Where we live.

When we first returned to Northern Ireland we lived in Belfast but always had a hankering for coastal life so now live by the sea, it still warms my heart that every morning we wake up to this rather spectacular view as well as having lots of lovely beaches and coastal walks on our doorstep.

This was the view from our apartment in Sydney, not dissimilar really I think you’ll agree, and while we may not have the sun we also don’t have the Sydney price tag.

It’s small.

Northern Ireland is small, very small, this appeals to me greatly as I am inherently lazy and small to me means easy. Nothing is too far away, you really can live where you want without giving up the convenience of city amenities and for the kids everything from the zoo to the planetarium to the Giant’s Causeway is within easy reach. We particularly love that Donegal and Dublin are so close, as smaller girl is demonstrating below at Ballymastocker Beach in Donegal, which was apparently voted the second most beautiful beach in the world.

The food.

Food is very important to our family, we are big fans of it and luckily Northern Ireland has a vibrant food and restaurant culture which has improved and continues to improve since we arrived back. Most of the restaurants are really child friendly, we have taken small and smaller to many and they have always been made to feel so welcome. We started 2013 with a fabulous meal at one of our favourites, Il Pirata and it was really lovely to celebrate the New Year with our two most favourite people.

We have also taken small and smaller to restaurants which, at first glance, may not look to be the most child friendly option. James Street South Bar and Grill had the inspired idea of DIY sundaes, which was hugely appreciated by small and smaller and the manager, Paul, is such a natural with children, we are often begged to go back and see the ice cream man.

The Education System

While small and smaller are too young to be in formal education it’s something that is never far from our minds. Northern Ireland has a world class education system, some say it’s the best in Europe, others dispute this. It does have some staggering inequalities, I’ve heard that while Northern Ireland  produces the best A Level results it is also responsible for the highest number of school leavers with no qualifications whatsoever but on the whole it’s very good. The primary school system has recently been ranked first in Europe in maths while it is also first in reading as compared to all other English speaking countries. The secondary system is based on the grammar model, it has better A-level results than England and without the extravagant fees (being Scottish, Mr Belfast Mummy pricked his ears up at this) and apparently the highest number of acceptances at Cambridge are from Northern Ireland (can you tell education was one of my big guns in my propaganda campaign).

So what’s not to love? Well, if Im being really honest the lack of a John Lewis, even a Waitrose would be lovely, oh and a COS and a Massimo Dutti would just be the icing on the cake.