Globally Inspired

Belén is from Spain, she met Belfast man James in Belgium and began an adventurous nomadic life. From Belgium they moved to Poland, from then onto London, Russia, Dublin and then spent two and a half years in Brazil before returning to Dublin.

It is really when you have children that you have to look seriously at where you would like them to grow up, and that is why we settled in Dublin,’ says Belén. ‘We lived in some very big cities – Moscow and Sao Paulo have over twelve million inhabitants – and we knew we wanted a smaller, quieter place to raise children, we craved a sense of community and connection for them’. The couple decided to move to Dublin and started looking for a house to buy.

‘We knew we wanted to live by the sea, and that is why we started to look in Malahide’, explains Belén. ‘Living near the sea on the south side of the city was prohibitively expensive, Malahide is very beautiful. Several years later, they were still looking. ‘We weren’t getting anywhere, then an opportunity came up in James’s work to move to Brazil to set up a branch business. It wasn’t to be a permanent move, just a couple of years, so we decided to pack up and go. One week after the contract was signed, we found the perfect location.’

Although they were now packing to leave the country, Belén decided that they were going to need a base in Ireland. The contract was for two and a half years and she wanted to return with a plan in place. They bought the house and prepared it for rental before setting off for Brazil. ‘We were really looking forward to living in Brazil, we love to explore new cultures and cuisines,’ says Belén, who is a nutritional therapist. ‘But we knew we were coming back to Dublin to raise our children, and were very happy about that.