THOUGH Bere Island lies just 2km offshore from the busy fishing port of Castletownbere, in West Cork, it manages to retain that special ‘’island feel’’ and a sense that you are away from a noisier and more rushed world.

Having tweaked their house design to suit their preferences 11 years ago, now that it’s time to sell and move on, the owners of No 6 Cois Fota are bound to have mixed feelings.

IF the neighbours weren’t used to it, they’d demand the destruction of my house. It is one of the ugliest buildings in the neighbourhood. In fact, it wins the prize for being ugly, leaky, and disfunctional.

Frank Hederman’s Belvelly smokehouse is also a hard-working, food- producing and tasty family home. Tommy Barker goes to visit

Renovated, old master gunner’s house is for sale, says Tommy Barker

JUST as paintings “go into a wall” over time, as their owners become so used to them that they hardly notice them any more, so a once-dominant feature of the Irish coastline has become almost invisible.

EDDIE ENGLISH, who runs a sailing school in Cobh, has no doubt about it: People in Cork city and county have a “chip on their shoulder” when it comes to his home town.

IT was at the kitchen tables of family homes in Monkstown, Cobh and Ringaskiddy that the 10-year campaign to stop two incinerators being built in Cork Harbour was spearheaded.

THREE years ago we bought a Martello tower, because we’re nuts.

IRELAND has more than 6,000 lakes and, according to author John Dunne, we don’t appreciate them. They are, he thinks, a neglected part of our heritage.

POLITICAL party canvassers didn’t make it to the door of this unusual home, a rounded Martello tower with the ‘For Sale’ boards going up, just as the election posters come down.

CLEAR planning guidelines must be put in place for all new coastal and off-shore developments as poor building decisions are wreaking havoc with the environment, the country’s heritage watchdog said yesterday.

THE siting was obvious - what better place to guard the access point to Great Island than at its narrowest point to mainland county Cork?