It could be write for you

THE dream house that a couple had their eye and hearts set on, and finally managed to buy, is unexpectedly about to become the home of some new occupants.

Writer Ruth Allen Mulryan and partner, RTE producer Peter Mulryan, dreamed of this house at Derinacahera, Dunmanway in West Cork, for days, sleepless nights, through weeks and intermittently for several years.

Ruth, originally from Scotland, wrote a house hunter's diary over several months for the Irish Examiner' property pages. This house was the yardstick by which she judged all others. "It was never really for sale, or so we felt, it was on the market, but yet it wasn't. We had the impression it was just there to test the market, but they clearly weren't keen to sell," says Peter Mulryan.

Weary from bouts of it being put up for sale and then taken off the market again, Peter and Ruth bought another (first) home, at Camus near Clonakilty.

The day they were to sign those contracts, they checked about this house one last time and were told that it was just about to be put back up for sale.

Having had this sort of hope-raising experience before, they went ahead and bought at Camus. When they realised that it was genuine this time, they sold the Camus property in double quick order, and bought this five-bedroom 3,100 sq ft restored property on four acres. But, they had also had a baby, son Tadhg had come along, other family circumstances had changed, and they now need to be back closer to Cork city where Peter Mulryan is currently based as a RTE TV producer.

His latest project is a cookery programme Soul Food, working with chef Seamus O'Connell of Cork's Ivory Tower restaurant.

Some of the filming was done in the kitchen of this hillside hideaway, making this West Cork home one of those "as seen on TV" special offers.

Guests on the programme, to air in the New Year, will include Pete McCarthy, author of McCarthy's Bar and On the Road to McCarthy, as well as Tony Hawkes (another 'round Ireland traveller this guy hitched with a fridge for company), wine writer Oz Clarke, and actor and writer Pauline McGlynn, still trying to shake off her Fr Ted, Mrs Doyle persona.

Both Peter and Ruth say they never expected to have to sell the house, and have just spent a number of months upgrading it... only to go back on the house hunting ladder.

Their house is on the market with estate agent Henry O'Leary of Clonakilty, who guides it at €280,000, and says it is already a very large house with scope for even more living space, in a scenic and private rural setting.

It is four miles from Dunmanway, about a 50 minute drive to Cork city and airport, and is on four acres with gardens, including lawns, mature screening and a paddock, plus garage building/stone outbuildings and a studio with conversion potential.

The main section of the double fronted house has hall, large kitchen/dining area with solid pine units, a dining room, living room, play room, and five overhead bedrooms. The property is basically an extended farmhouse with modern extension carefully grafted on, and is at the end of its own private drive with rural and valley views.