Don’t miss the boat on this offer

WATCHING the tides will be a new fixation for the buyer of this slice of Galway heaven: access to Omey Island off the Connemara coast is across the beach, twice a day at low tide.

If you miss the tides it is time to break out the boat.

A spectacularly sited stone ruin, occupied by two men until the 1980s, had the final indignity of having its slate roof torn off in the Christmas gales of 1998 - as did many occupied homes.

Now up for sale on 29 acres of craggy island land, and ripe for renovation, this Omey Island spot has a €225,000-plus price guide and is already under offer, say Corrib Real Estate.

Location is eight miles from Clifden, the capital of Connemara, and an hour’s bumpy journey out of Connemara.

The stone ruin, with outhouse and lean-to porch, is at the high point of the island and overlooks Omey beach, the Atlantic and the wild coastline, while the almost 30 acres of rough grazing includes the ruins of St Feichin’s church and a small lake running up by its boundary.

The stretches of sand linking the island to the mainland host the Claddaghduff horse show, sports day and horse races.

This property’s vendor recalls cattle breeders coming out to the island to buy livestock from her father, as the land was considered suitable for finishing cattle.

Planning permission was granted in the early 1990s to renovate and extend the property, but this has now lapsed and a new application will have to be made, says Charlotte Barry of Corrib Real Estate.

Access is from Streamstown Bay, off the Clifden to Westport Road, a world away from pollution, noise and stress, with the only priority gauging the ebb and flow of the tides and the lunar cycle.