Fairytale renovation

Tommy Barker marvels at the extensive refurbishment of Pound House.

DAVID RAMSHAW, part of a duo that renovated the old Pound House, in a scenic valley at Glentrasna, 15 minutes from Kenmare, describes it as “a proper ‘Belt and Braces’ job.”

He and his wife Lorna spied the house seven years ago, when it looked nothing like it does now.

It might be the clichéd description of run-down houses, but the truth was it did have its roof down on the living room floor. Yes, there was a birch tree growing in the chimney, and yes, the bed-frame upstairs had fallen through the ceiling, hanging invitingly but threateningly like a vertical hammock.

In other words, it couldn’t be more different than its current healthy, re-invigorated state.

Pound House got its name from the adjoining fairy fort which was used to hold animals in overnight as a compound, and the dwelling dates to the early 1800s.

The couple who put their own few pounds and more into it had owned a salvage business in the UK, and brought materials over piece-meal to renovate this house, now with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and over 2,000 sq ft of space, al done top to bottom.

It is up for sale after several years in occupation as they are set to open a restaurant, tea shop and guest house business in Adrigole, over the Healy Pass, come July.

The Pound House is on the market with Tom Spillane in Killarney, jointly with Hamilton Osborne King, on the grounds of two scenically set acres, with a boundary stream and with a guide price in excess of €550,000.

Stone-built, it has been fully-re-roofed with natural slate, held in with copper pins, and new joists and beams were fitted as well.

Salvaged material include American oak, pine from an English hospital, as well as elm from a Cornish tin mine. Pre-Dutch elm disease elm planks, felled in the 1970s, make an amazing set of kitchen worktops, complete with gnarly edges. The oak kitchen units also have as an extra feature stained glass, backlit panels at kick-plate level.

Lorna herself did much of the finishing work, and also hand applied the lime mortar plaster finishes, internally capping them off with Farrow and Ball paints.

David made up the pretty windows and dormers, and other features include inglenook fireplace with crane and basket in the lounge, a deep window seat in the breakfast room, a cast iron stove in the dining room, and a Geminox oil fired zoned central heating system as well.

The house has character restored to it by use of beamed ceilings, reclaimed wood floors, and it has two staircases, each in oak.

Water comes from a stream in the grounds, and there is a large roof tank and three-bar pressurised system to power the four en suite with their respective showers.

The main bathroom has a specially constructed shower for the disabled as well as the abled who want room to stretch in, with drench head, temperature guard (NHS approved in the UK,) slate floor and cobbled pebble surround.

Location is on the Cork-Kerry border, on the quiet Beara Peninsula, about a 15 minute drive from Kenmare and about half that distance from Kilmacillogue harbour.