hometown

　　1.Where is your hometown?

　　My hometown is on the south-east coast of Northern Ireland. It’s called Dundrum and it’s about 1 hour south of the capital city.

　　2.What do you like about it?

　　It’s an area of outstanding natural beauty and for me, one of the most beautiful places of earth. It has everything; fantastic beaches, rolling mountains, dense forests and picturesque countryside.

　　3.What do you not like about it?

　　It can be a little bit boring because it’s really tiny. There are only a few small shops and a couple of pubs and that’s it! In the summer, it’s OK because you can enjoy the outdoors but it would be nice to have a few more indoor facilities for the winter.

　　4.How often do you visit your hometown?

　　Not as much as I should. I only get to visit about once a year now to see my family because I’m really busy with work and it’s quite far away, but I hope to visit more in the future.

　　5.What’s the oldest part of your hometown?

　　There is an old Norman castle that sits on top of the highest hill of the town. It’s a ruin now, but there are some breathtaking views from it and it’s easy to see why they chose that site for a castle, because you can see for miles around.

　　6.Do many people visit your town?

　　Thousands of tourists visit every summer. They come from the capital city mostly to get away from the hustle and bustle and enjoy the peace and quiet. There are more and more international tourists visiting because lots of scenes from the TV show ‘Game of Thrones’ were shot just outside the village.

　　7.Is there any way your hometown could be made better?

　　As I said before, the best thing about the town is its rural beauty and you can’t really improve that. If I had to say something, it would be to improve the roads, they are in a terrible state and cause a few car accidents every year.

　　8.How has your hometown changed over the years?

　　Since I was a child the town has almost doubled in size and population. It used to consist of just one main street, but now there are many new housing developments and apartments next to the water. With all these new people moving in, it has changed the character of the town a little bit, people are not as friendly as before.

　　9.Are there good transportation links to your town?

　　The public transport system consists of just buses that pass through the town on an hourly basis. One bus goes north to the capital city which is really convenient if you need to do any shopping and the other bus goes south where you can switch buses and go across the border to the Republic of Ireland, so you could say we have international transport links which is not bad for a little town like ours.

　　10.Would you recommend the town to people with children?

　　Yes and no. It is obviously a great place to bring up kids because there are so many things for them to do like swim in the sea, play in the forest and run on the beach. However, the good schools are pretty far away and I remember having to get up really early every morning to catch a bus to school that was 20 miles away.

　　11.Is there much to do in your hometown?

　　Oh yes, there's certainly lots to do there as it's a fairly big city. If you like going out in the evening there are a lot of good restaurants and bars. If you prefer cultural activities there are museums and art galleries. But if you like nature there are lots of other things outside of the city which are easy to reach.

　　12.What are the people like in your hometown?

　　They are mostly quite friendly, but as with most big cities everyone is often busy so it may seem as if they are not interested in speaking or having a chat. But if you live there you know that most people are quite happy to have a chat if they have time and will help you if needed.