Outdoors
South Wall is like 40 minutes of therapy. I walk all the way into the sea and everything feels better. I grew up by the beach in Malahide. As a kid the beaches would get mobbed in the summer, but there’s something really nice about them in the wintertime.
Bars
Cusacks is my local in the North Strand. A few years ago it would have been Grogan’s. I wouldn’t mind a few lazy days hanging out there, but the opportunity doesn’t come up too often now I’m afraid!
Restaurants
Steps of Rome, Yo Sushi and Blazing Salads. If it’s a good day, I like to have lunch on the steps of Powerscourt. I think it just depends on my mood – at the moment we’re filming [Off the Rails] in town a lot.
Food
I love the Beaumont Drive-In, a weird and wonderful little market. It’s got a butchers counter, a fish counter and the best fruit and veg. I’m a northside girl and it’s a good one-stop shop for me when I’m not in the mood to face the supermarket.
Shopping
I prefer independent boutiques to department stores, generally. I was at the Vintage Fair in the Ballsbridge Hotel recently – it was great seeing all the vintage sellers in one spot.
Dublin Ups...
The fact you can be at the beach, in the city and up the mountains all in the same day. The accessibility is what’s so brilliant about Dublin. It’s such a tiny city, it’s really manageable no matter where you go.
...and downs
Some of the designers whose clothes and accessories I’d like to buy aren’t available here. Because it’s a small market and there’s no transient trade, we don’t get stand-alone designer stores like you would in London, Paris or New York.
Architecture
I love the Gas Building on D’Olier Street, and City Hall – I think it’s magnificent.
Area
There’s nothing else like the mental-ness of Thomas Street and Meath Street. Pithy comments wherever you turn – it’s really uplifting. The beating heart of Dublin, I suppose.
Heroes
The flower pimps on Grafton Street, as I call them. Once you pick your flowerseller, that’s your flowerseller for life.
Sport
I swim and I do yoga, but I’ve never been one for team sports. I’m a bit of a loner when it comes to sporting activities!
Prized Possession
I think it would be unfair to my many prized possessions to single one out. It’s mood-dependent too.
Music
I’ve always loved a diverse range of music and rode the clubbing wave in the early-1990s. About a year ago I realised there wasn’t enough music in my life so I made a conscious effort to listen to more. Spotify has changed my life.
Pets
I had a dog up until two years ago who I adored – she got sick and she died. Because I have twins who are nearly five years old there’s enough going on at the moment; maybe I’ll give it another three or four years and then I might introduce a four-legged friend into the family home.
Press
I try to do a roundup of the week on Sunday with the papers. Between my work schedule and the children, sitting down with papers is something that falls by the wayside. I’m grabbing bits and pieces online more now.
Sonya presents Off the Rails on RTÉ One, Wednesdays at 8.30pm. Off the Rails – the Total Experience (previously Off the Rails Live) will take place in the RDS from November 13th-15th. rte.ie/fashion/otr
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