Buy chunk of Hog’s Head Peninsula

Tommy Barker says this unique parcel of land has a crannog, four houses and 90 acres of land in south Kerry.

FORGET McDonald’s urge to Super-Size it - go the Whole Hog instead.

A sizeable chunk of Hog’s Head Peninsula in south Kerry is up for grabs, with four houses - including, best of all, a dramatic and unique circular crannog, on almost 90 acres of land between them, thanks to the vision of US-born and retired Colonel John Brosnan.

Former US air force pilot John Brosnan had the ‘aerial view’ for the bigger picture, as over the past 30 years he assembled holdings on Hog’s Head, with the bulk of the headland now up for sale.

Once home to dozens of families, this peninsular headland (a preserved amenity area) now just has its old stone-fenced fields and John Brosnan’s houses, one of which has been used for romantic holiday lets.

It is just the sort of thing that acquisitive and private millionaires might helicopter into, and leave the rest of the world outside, given its status on the edge of Ireland, and outpost of Europe.

Location is off the beaten track - in fact, it is down several beaten tracks and literally the end of the road - but that’s the main part of its draw and charm.

For those in need of irregular human contact, though, chic Derrynane and golf ‘n’ fishing nirvana Waterville aren’t far away.

The properties include three individual detached houses built since the 1980s on decent sites, plus the open-plan and just finished crannog on 80 acres. They are all spectacularly sited, some come with water frontage, one has a thatched roof, and the best of the bunch, the modern take on the crannog, has a right of way to a beach, a sheltered deep water harbour and its own 10-acre island that mythical giants of old could have hopped over to.

The latter lot carries a contemporary €2.65 million price guide, and will test the financial mettle of many who’d aspire to such an assertive purchase.

The other lots are more affordably priced, with a 1981-built one-bed hexagonal house (winner of an An Taisce award at the time) on five acre and shore frontage for €465,000, a two-bed thatched cottage on two acres for €350,000 and a similarly priced stone-faced, two-bed bungalow built in the mid 1990s. Michael Coghlan of Sherry FitzGerald Coghlan is handling sales and inquiries, and while three will readily find buyers as holiday home haunts, he is expecting a very special buyer to come for the big prize.

The crannog, an evolutionary design by John Brosnan, is in effect two-inter linking circles, making for an ‘8’ shape, with conical slate roofs and soaring 35’ high ceilings in the main portion. A Valentia slate open fireplace soars into the space with an 18’ wide stone in its centre.

As the buyer will be unconventional, so too is the layout, with a largely open plan living/kitchen/dining over two levels and one oak-panelled bedroom at ground level plus bathroom, and a second circular bedroom overhead with a striking inlaid teak floor.

Wood work is of a high quality, all curves, circles and whorls, done by German ‘local’ and master craftworker Dirk Tomeranz, some of the exterior is stone-faced and the views are unobstructed and seem to go on forever. A bit like John Brosnan’s 30-year vision, in fact.