MONTENOTTE, CORK €325,000

IF the stone walls of this eco-friendly west Cork house could talk, they’d sing. Or, maybe they’d beat a bodhran, or mix passion, pathos and poetry on a guitar, for this place has been a retreat and contemplative space for Ireland’s greatest troubadour, Christy Moore.

AHEAD of its time for the time, the depressed mid-1980s, and even still ahead of the posse is the Waterfall House, on the edge of the River Nanny in Navan, Co Meath.