Fancy some pastoral care at Lislee

Tommy Barker says Lislee House has a virtual private world at its doorstep.

LISLEE HOUSE is a package holiday place with a difference - even if you only choose to live a holiday lifestyle here.

The period West Cork home and one-time rectory, on 11 acres near the sea, has a virtual private world on its doorstep and rural hinterland, with cliff and coastal walks, beaches, boating and bathing, fishing, golf and gardening as distractions.

But, in recent ownerships, Lislee's occupants have chosen to share its bounties, variously via market gardening and, latterly, the self-catering market (see www.lisleehosue.com for a flavour of the riches.)

It has had a selection of cottages, wee courtyard building and annexe conversions to give it four to five self-contained rental units, so there's an income to be had for anyone else moving in to take up reins of care and ownership.

Alternatively, the largest of the lot, picturesque Rose Cottage (pictured here) could be hived off, sold or rented year round, and the other cottages subsumed into a private residence complex.

The period property, an October market arrival as the tourism trade slows down and the organic gardens go into a semi-hibernation, gives a range of options for purchasers, says estate agent Peter Cave, guiding it at €2.25 million and who last sold it just over a decade ago.

Location is a huge selling point, given its position in a gentle and easily reached part of West Cork, less than an hour from Cork city, airport and ferry terminal.

It is by Blind Strand and Broad Strand, a couple of miles from Courtmacsherry village, with Bandon, Timoleague, Clonakilty and even Kinsale all nearby and the roads a pleasure (and scenic distraction) to drive, walk or cycle.

It's a natural and still unspoiled part of the world, with ruins and archaeology to tap into and explore, along with popular walks all round the Seven Heads area, as well as at the Coolim cliffs which are part of the developing 30 km Millennium Walk.

Coming at the end of the growing season, Lislee has an attractive mix of property, with its walled organic garden, orchard and grounds as crowing glory: in fact, taking 'self-catering' at cheeky face value, some Lislee guests have been known to snaffle the fruit and the vegetable produce before it ever ripens, a horticultural holiday equivalent of getting up early for the best sun chairs.

Set off on a bend on a quiet country road by Lislee's disused protestant church, the privately-set main house is in two linked parts, a very old farmhouse section and a later, c 1800 Georgian residence built as a rectory for the princely sum of £1,000.

Combined, the two sections give five bedrooms, all in a pretty shape and wearing its ages well, and it's currently decked with appropriate antique or plain old, good furniture.

The main reception rooms are interlinked, and south-facing, with marble fireplaces, sash windows and all the original feel you'd hope for in a home of the era, while the back section contains the various halls, stairwells and circulation spaces.

There's about 5,000 sq ft of space in all in the main dwelling, and then there's the one and two-bed rental cottages ranged around the enclosed lusciously-planted courtyard, with Virginia creeper making for an autumnal cloak for the walls. All of the cottages are spotlessly clean and immediately rentable, and typical annual income is in the order of €40,000.

There's options to extend, or to add on further business uses, too, such as guesthouse, restaurant, cookery school, health farm and as a base for other residential courses.

Lislee is almost a self-contained niche, a new owner could lose themselves in meticulously minding it, or keep a relaxed approach to it all.

Trees - including a giant sequoia - have been bedded down for the next several centuries.