New life for donkeys means you could enjoy the good life
THE man, the wife, the doll’s house and the donkey thieves — there’s a bit of a story wrapped up in this bayside property at Feorus West, Kenmare.
Early retirees, Gwynne and Barbara Lyons, were looking for a holiday home in Ireland, (they are second generation London-Irish-Welsh), and were being pushed towards west Cork by friends. However, a visit to the Kingdom changed all that.
“We went to Kenmare for a visit and instantly thought — this is the place for us. We were looking around for a place and then, a man in the pub sold me a site in 1993. It took 18 months to get permission on the two-acre site,” says Gwynne.
They built their stone bungalow as a holiday home, but ended up living there full-time, especially when the donkeys came along.
Barbara has long had a passion for them, says Gwynne and they started off with three, but fell in love with them so much, they added to their herd. Which required more land, so they approached their local farmer again and added another ten acres to the site.
The donkey population rose to 10 and then, four years ago, two of their donkeys were stolen.
A campaign in the local and national media, plus a reward of £1,000, saw the furry animals rescued from Limerick and Galway and returned home.
They are quite spoiled and pampered, says Gwynne, and they are very partial to Polo mints and ginger nut biscuits — they also have rather salubrious stables as accommodation. Now the Lyons are moving further down the peninsula, (they have bought a 100-acre farm and have added a flock of sheep to go with the donkey herd). T their present property is a new listing with Suzanne Teahan of Sherry FitzGerald Daly, Kenmare.
And with 12 acres, a modern residence in an utterly private location, the guide price of €1.5 million shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, especially considering the list price of new house schemes in the heritage town.
Awelfor is approached via a long driveway and apart from the wide-ranging views over the bay, it also has waterfront access via a slipway — a valuable commodity in a time where shorefront licenses are very difficult to get.
The 2,000 square foot bungalow has three bedrooms and a range of living rooms: the attic also offers conversion potential, according to Suzanne Teahan, but the detached office/ craft room could also fit as a guest house.
This is used by Barbara Lyons as creative space for building her doll’s houses, worth around €1,500 a piece.
The Lyons have made a great job of their gardens — the bungalow is almost shrouded by a mixed shrub and herbaceous border and there are lots of quiet, sitting areas around the lawn. Part of the land is paddocked for the donkeys and the rest forms a dense, tree-lined shelter belt for the house.
Then, there’s the Good Life corner — an orchard with 20 apple and pear trees, a soft fruit area with strawberry beds and raised vegetable beds. The final flourish is the addition of a greenhouse and potting shed.
Other buildings include a detached, stone-faced garage, the craft room/ office, machinery shed, a small animal house and three stables with rubber mat floors and a hay storage area located in the paddocked fields.
The main property is a comfortable and homely space with windows making the most of those sea views.
Rooms are large and include a living area of 16’ by 24’ with inglenook fireplace and wood burning stove, a dining room with plenty of space for a formal suite and a country kitchen in old pine with slate floor. Also included is a fully fitted utility, breakfast area and guest bathroom off the main hallway. The master suite has a full bathroom with roll top bath and two other bedrooms share a main bathroom.
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