Getaway home in harmony with its natural setting

WITH Ireland’s tidiest village, Rathbarry, on its doorstep, and views to a lake, the ocean and beaches, a lighthouse and a castle, there’s a lot to look at in this West Cork home, now up for sale.

Originally a farm cottage, this place has been extended and upgraded on its acre site, and the vendors pushed the boat out when it came to making the most of the great outdoors.

There’s a large, stone-fringed pond with abundant fish, stepped and productive gardens, a graveled Zen garden, and best of all, a large walled in courtyard area just ideal for outdoor dining whenever a weather-window presents itself.

This walled enclosure, about 500 sq ft, comes with 8’ high sheltering walls and low built-in beds for herbs and climbing plants, and has a series of windows in the walls as well, inserted for views by day and night.

There’s a built-in barbecue to the back, and a concrete block table, very much an all-weather affair, topped with slate and the accompanying benches are equally solid affairs, also slate-topped.

In fact, the whole courtyard is floored with Italian slate, making for an easy to maintain (as in hose/wipe the slate clean) party area, while overhead tensioned stainless steel cables fan out from the house gable wall to the courtyard walls, designed to facilitate trailing plants which will give a green canopy in summer and yet all but disappear in winter.

The work was done very much in a hands-on way by the owners, an Irish-Continental couple and family, and continues to a pretty high specification inside as well.

Provision has been made for solar heating to power the underfloor heating system, electrical and plumbing work has been done for a sauna, and wiring has been brought out to the entrance for electrically operated gates.

Guide price now is c€650,000, down from an earlier figure of €800,000 after low key attempts at a quiet sale, and details and contact references can be had via the website www.ireland-house.com.

Other features include ACV pressurised water heating system, high speed Internet access points in all the bedrooms and living rooms, satellite dish with video/DVD access to all the main rooms, low voltage lighting, a mahogany staircase and a French solid fuel stove in the kitchen area.

The considerably enlarged property has four/five bedrooms, under its slate roofs, with the room tally depending on whether or not a ground floor room is used as a study or bedroom.

Coming with about 2,200 sq ft of space over two levels but with the bulk at the lower level, it has two living rooms, a very large and sleek kitchen/dining room, and a glazed conservatory on the opposite end to the courtyard.

This conservatory, imported from the Continent, has a triple glazed roof and heavy-duty UV filtering double glazing and a hefty door on the approach, built to withstand any storms and adverse conditions.

Location is within a two-minute walk of Rathbarry village and Castlefreke Woods, beaches at Red Strand, Long Strand and Owenahincha are within a couple of miles, and Clonakilty is five miles away.