James Kavanagh and William Murray on their move to the countryside: ‘I felt stagnant in Dublin. Nothing felt new; nothing felt fresh’

When influencer James Kavanagh and chef William Murray swapped city life for bucolic bliss, it was the realisation of a long-held dream. But are faraway hills really greener — and have the couple finally found their forever home?

James Kavanagh and William Murray living the simpler life in Kilkenny

Liadán Hynes

James Kavanagh and William Murray had been talking about a move to the countryside for years before they eventually bought a house in Kilkenny in late April of this year. They wanted to leave Dublin — where they had lived together for over a decade — not because they were unable to afford somewhere in the capital, but because they genuinely gravitated towards country life. Although it’s unlikely, Murray points out, that for their budget — around €400,000 — they would have afforded anything like the beautiful home they are now settling into there.

“We wanted mountains,” influencer and broadcaster Kavanagh, 34, says grandly, waving his arm at the hills visible from their living-room windows.