A chance to join the jet set on west Cork’s gold coast

LAST year, a 40-acre coastal farm in the townland of Whitehall in west Cork was withdrawn, leaving potential buyers from all over the world disappointed.

Nearly a year later, in a nearby location, again listed with estate agent John Hodnett of SWS Property Services, another sale is imminent, at Whitehall, Church Cross, Skibbereen.

This 35-acre residential farm is close to the ferry point for Heir Island. While last year’s Whitehall farm was guide priced at €1.1 million, this property has been upped to €1.7m.

The major selling point is a private beach, at the opposite side of the farm to the residence. And there’s the option of an extra 15.5 acres for those looking for a larger privacy belt, says the agent.

This farm doesn’t have any road frontage, but if it had, it would play second fiddle to the sea frontage. The additional acreage is also without road frontage.

The main house is a substantial, traditional, two-storey farmhouse in good condition. It offers four double bedrooms, two living rooms and a kitchen-dining room with panoramic views of Roaringwater Bay.

The farmyard has a range of stone buildings with great potential for conversion.

The property is handily located between Skibbereen and Ballydehob, on west Cork’s ‘gold coast’, home to a selection of the rich and famous. The ferry to Heir Island leaves from Cunnamore Pier, at the end of the nearby headland.

Also nearby is the 100-acre Whitehall Estate, sold five years ago for a reputed €1.5m, and now being made over to a high standard. That sale didn’t include Rincolisky Castle, which is about to be restored; it faces Jeremy Irons’ McCarthy Ríoch Castle across the bay.