Happy in my blue heaven

THE Irish cottage — you could write a book about it, and many have.

It’s the vernacular housing form that has many multi-gabled imitations and regional permutations, but there’s no mistaking the real thing. Unlike its imitators, it never goes out of fashion. It keeps out the rain and keeps its incumbents snug and warm.

Like a classic car, or a superb antique, it’s a style that’s timeless, which is why, when you walk into Timmyowens in Oysterhaven, Kinsale, the surroundings are immediately familiar. There are the deeply glazed floorboards, aged almost to the colour of mahogany, the sprigged Laura Ashley curtains that look so fresh and so right and the inglenook fireplace with the stove you know will be perfect on a mid-winter evening or garlanded at Christmas.