'There’s so much magic': Meet the sisters running Strawberry Field Pancake Cottage
Mayra, left and Yosta Kerssens owners of The Strawberry Field Pancake Cottage & Craft Shop on the Ring of Kerry between Sneem and Killarney. Photo: Don MacMonagle
There will be many pancake-themed debates and discussions over the next few days: Do you prefer thin or thick pancakes? Do you enjoy them sweet or savoury? Are you someone who prefers a simple butter, sugar and lemon juice topping?
The humble pancake has seen many iterations of itself pop up around the world. In countries such as France, they are traditionally enjoyed in a crepe style.
In the US, it is prepared as a more dense version, one that has come to be a staple in many brunch dishes globally.
In the Netherlands, they are prepared and known as pannenkoeken, a wide-circumference pancake which is eaten as both sweet and savoury varieties.
Amidst some deep diving on Google, one food blog suggests that pannenkoeken “are an integral part of Dutch culture”, so it is no surprise then, that when Kerry-based Dutch couple, Margaret and Peter Kerssens, switched from trading as a tea room to trading as a pancake cottage, customers wanted – literally – a slice of the action.
“I think it was my dad who said it as a joke,” their daughter, Mayra, who now runs the restaurant, tells the Irish Examiner. “He said it as a joke to my mom one night – to start doing pancakes – and that’s where the idea started.”
But the joke-suggestion had merit, and so, the Strawberry Field Pancake Cottage was born, and it has gained massive popularity since its inception.
Tucked away in a mountain in Blackwater, Co Kerry, along the Sneem-to-Killarney road, it would nearly be considered a ‘hidden gem’, only that it experiences such strong footfall, that it has never really been hidden.
The building itself is a traditional two-storey farmhouse, which Mayra explains is estimated to be about 230 years old and, at one point, was even used to house livestock.
After some TLC from the Kerssens, it was transformed into a bright, unique, and colourful building; with the living quarters upstairs, and the business running out of the premises downstairs.
The overhaul benefitted from Peter’s craftsmanship as a talented carpenter and Margaret’s keen eye as a gifted artist.
Their dynamic worked well, and their talents were symbiotic in many aspects of the restaurant’s aesthetic – case in point: Peter’s vintage Harley Davidson from the 1940s that was displayed in the restaurant for some time.
But it all begs the question: What encourages a couple with two young daughters – Mayra, then aged 10 months, and her sister Yosta, who was two years old – to up sticks and move to a Kerry mountainside?
“They came here for a holiday and they fell in love with the place, then they came back in 1997 and moved here,” Mayra explains.
“They just fell in love with the whole place; they fell in love with Kerry, everything about it.
“Once they viewed the farmhouse, they had big dreams straight away. The location felt right for them.” However, transforming a home of that vintage was not without its quirks.
“At the beginning it was very different. We used to have a staircase in the middle of the restaurant that would lead to the living quarters,” she says.
“I have so many memories of being ‘stuck’ in the kitchen in my pyjamas waiting for all of the customers to go so I could go back upstairs,” Mayra says, somewhat fondly.
Nowadays, the cottage facilitates the restaurant which has a wide-ranging and tasty menu which caters for all allergies and diets including gluten-free and vegan.
Mayra and Yosta’s involvement in the family business, naturally, came very early on.
“I remember being involved from a young age,” she says, “living so remotely, and in such close quarters to the restaurant definitely had its challenges – especially in my teenage years.
“But I am grateful for my parents’ decision to move here, and build the lifestyle they did.” However, after the Leaving Cert in 2014, Mayra put the waitress notebook away for a while, and headed abroad to travel and to work.
Highlights on her travel CV include far-flung places such as Easter Island off the Chilean coast, and Cook Island off the coast of New Zealand.
(At the time of our chat, Mayra is just back from a trip to Reunion Island, near Madagascar.) Her work abroad included job stints in hospitality and maritime roles.
The travel bug seems to run in the family, as her sister, Yosta, once graduated from college, was inspired by Mayra’s love for travel.
She had the opportunity to work abroad in various hospitality roles: from the white sandy beaches of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, to the snowy ski slopes of the Alps.
She also worked on a motor yacht in the Mediterranean and has many fond memories of traveling around Europe in a van.
The pair clearly has a love for being on the road – so much so that during the final covid lockdown, they renovated their own van together, which they now use to explore the Irish coastline.
Prior to that, in 2020, Mayra was in Panama, preparing for the mammoth experience of sailing across the Pacific with some friends, when covid sent the world into lockdown.
She had two options: stay – with the possibility that the journey could eventually get greenlit in a few weeks’ time; or head home to Kerry.
She chose the latter – and just in the nick of time too, it would transpire, as Panama took all precautions seriously and enforced rules strictly.
“I got on the last flight out of there, to Holland [before returning to Ireland],” Mayra says. So how was it, going from exploring the world, to heading back to the rugged mountains of Blackwater?
“I felt like I had a choice,” she admits, “It felt like a choice to come home. We didn’t know what was ahead.”
The covid pandemic – like it did for many businesses – brought a myriad of challenges. As with other hospitality outlets, the pancake cottage had to shut its doors as the country went into lockdown.
Yosta describes that time for the family.
“Mom was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in June 2019 and her condition got progressively worse after summer 2020,” she says.
“In a way, the lockdowns were a blessing because we were able to care for her at home without the added worry of the business, which was closed,” she says.
“She sadly passed away in January 2021. Today, we sell canvas prints of her beautiful paintings, with all profits going to the Kerry Hospice Foundation. So far, customers have helped us raise over €5,000, and her art has travelled far and wide; just like her memory.”
And Margaret’s presence is still strong around the restaurant. Pictures and paintings which adorn the walls serve as a reminder of the trailblazing artist-cum-restauranter who took a leap of faith on an Irish farm cottage with her family some 20 years beforehand. Not to mention the culinary skills which have clearly rubbed off on her daughters, who – over the last few years – filled her shoes at the kitchen stove, so that her legacy lives on.
As Yosta now moves on to other ventures in her career and Mayra takes the reins, she explains that she is aware that sometimes things have to change in order to evolve and thrive.
“We’ve changed so much over the years as well. Some things have stayed the same, but – maybe we’re not changing, but fine-tuning,” she explains.
“It’s OK to do things differently as well, and let go of how things were before, you know?”
As she and her team of staff are preparing for another bumper summer of flipping pancakes in Kerry, it is clear she is ready and capable to take on the task ahead. She sums up the atmosphere of the Strawberry Field Pancake Cottage when she tells me: “There’s so much magic, but how to put that into words is so hard.”
The Kerssens' No-Fuss Pancakes
A classic, no fuss, no muss - perfect for Pancake Tuesday
Course
BakingIngredients
700g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
3 pints of milk
Suggested toppings: strawberries, maple syrup, fresh cream
Method
Combine the milk and the flours in a bowl and mix together.
Add the eggs and salt.
Mix all ingredients together until you have a consistency that resembles thick cream.
Decorate with toppings of your liking.
Tips for cooking pancakes:
- We use lightweight aluminum frying pans.
- Have the pan on high heat when you pour the batter.
- When you flip the pancake, turn it to low heat.
