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Cloughjordan, in the north of County Tipperary, was the birthplace of the poet and patriot Thomas McDonagh. Now it is the birthplace of Ireland's first ecovillage.
The town has a broad main street, with a tree-lined square at its mid-point. Main Street is lined by an attractive mix of houses and shops, including a post office, a library, ten shops (including a book/coffee shop, a butcher with his own farm, a pharmacy and a cycle shop), a garage, a restaurant, four pubs, a 'chipper', a fire station, sports clubs, two surgeries, two schools and three churches (Catholic, Methodist and Church of Ireland). Five of the shops have opened since the town was chosen as the site of this project, providing real evidence of rural regeneration.
Opposite the square is the entrance to the ecovillage. This location, right in the heart of the town, integrates the established community with the new, both architecturally and socially.
Around the town is a rolling landscape of rich agricultural land and fine cycling country. A nearby beechwood offers pleasant walks, while Lough Derg and the Shannon are within 20 km, as are the Slieve Bloom and Silvermines mountains.
Cloughjordan station is served by trains to Limerick (70 mins away) and Dublin (105-136 mins) with a locally-available day return fare of just 21 euro in february 2008. Intermediate stations include Portlaoise and the nearby market towns of Roscrea and Nenagh. Occasional buses also serve the latter, as well as Birr in Co. Offlay. In addition, the town will welcome Ireland's only car-share company (effectively a shared ownership scheme) in mid-2008.
  
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