Renovation and revelation at charm-laden Grove House

Tommy Barker is charmed by the renovated success of Grove House.

WHAT a difference a few years makes...

The couple selling West Cork’s Grove House fell for its dilapidated charms seven years ago, but despite repeated attempts to buy, it was 2003 before they managed to.

And, when they bought the house, “it had not been lived in for many years, had no indoor sanitation and really it had fallen in to a poor state of repair,” they recall.

It first fleetingly featured in these pages a couple of weeks ago, as the new year’s selling season began, but, truth be told, it needed this larger layout to make its renewed and renovated charms manifest.

The owners, now the vendors, with two small children, are an Irish/ English couple. He has West Cork and Donegal roots and came home to roost and renovate. They spent almost three years working on this pet project, and describe the finished result as “a happy-mix of original West Cork farmhouse and Long Island Beach house.”

It didn’t come easy, though. “We embarked on a major renovation programme, with the landscaping becoming as important as the work on the original house.

“The gardens and land were so overgrown that there were no views to be enjoyed from any aspect of the property. Now, three years later, every room has sea views either to the east, towards Castletownshend Bay or to the south, down the valley towards Toe Head and Tragumna Bay,” they say.

The proximity to Castletownshend helps underpin the €1 million price guide sought by Skibbereen agent, Charles McCarthy, and apart from the quality and style of its interiors, its other attractions include relative privacy, 1.75 acres of ground with a portion across the boreen thus precluding any building facing it, and outbuildings with a range of future new uses, from ponies to people.

The couple’s description of it as a cross between the traditional vernacular and a beach house is thanks to the add-ons: they took down crumbled bits of building, and used the stone to re-build the two lower sections seen along the front facade, and this then sweeps around into a 45’ x 15’ space, which they call the day room.

Elsewhere, the house has cosy snug areas featuring rough plastered walls, Inglenook fire opes with stoves, white washed beams, painted tongue and groove panelling, and other country style features, with a mix of wood floors, some tiled floors and sisal carpeting.

The open-plan kitchen area has a handmade, Shaker-style kitchen with pale blue painted units and Ash worktops, there’s also a study, office and playroom area, windows are teak with double glazing, some upper level Veluxes bring light into double height rooms and lofted bedrooms, which also feature low-level windows: ideal for spying out lazily onto the gardens while still in bed.

For those who can’t wait to get out and about on the prettily landscaped gardens, patios and herb beds, most of the downstairs rooms have access to the gardens through half-glazed timber french doors.

Although in a wild enough coastal setting, the 1.75 acres has a mix of enclaves and many sheltered areas, with a grove of pines by the road for screening and shelter, that also allow coastal views to sneak in.

The main house has about 2,500 sq ft of internal space, oil heated, and the courtyard beyond has retained character, with its stone-built stable block by a paddock, ideal for a pony, or with guest/ studio conversion potential and which would have sea views from down the valley towards Toe Head and Tragumna Bay.

Location of Grove House is three miles from famed, scenic and quite special Castletownshend. Skibbereen is also nearby, Cork city and airport is a manageable 90 minute trip away, and dotted all around are beaches and bays, and the sheltered Sandy Cove and Traharta Bay are within walking distance. A walk on Toe Head will blow away any remaining winter cobwebs.