Work of art in Ardmore

ARDMORE’S Michelin-starred Cliff House Hotel has brought the rich, the famous, and those in need of pampering and fantastic food to the west Waterford seaside setting.

More than a few of them have also developed a grá for the place’s understated charms, many beaches, rolling rich pastoral charms, and the village’s welcome.

It worked for artist Brenda Harris, ever before the architectural stunner Cliff House Hotel set out its stall and reaped garlands of praise and media column inches for its food. Brenda’s gone on to teach art classes here for hotel guests, as well as in her home studios, and is working towards a big exhibition coming up in the Ardmore hotel in October. Inspired, or what?

The Dublin artist and interior designer stumbled down Ardmore’s way from Kilkenny in the early 2000s, decided it was a place she and her husband David could call home, and they went house hunting. What they found was a site, and what a site.

This is the result, and with a developing business-move back to Dublin beckoning, the duo are selling up the 4,000 sq ft home they built in 2005/2006, to a high eco standard for comfort and performance.

Location is at Ardoginna, overlooking freshly mown silage fields towards the blue sea and sands of Whiting Bay and Ardmore, and the finished block-built and triple insulated (and triple glazed) home is on a site of 0.8 of an acre, a mile or so from Ardmore itself.

Estate agent Robbie Grace of the REA network in Callan, Co Kilkenny seeks offers around €850,000 for this very special one-off, with restful interior design, colours and finishes.

Right now, it is described as a large three-bed home, but there’s immediate scope to make it a five-bed: the upper level’s 29’ long studio with its bank of Veluxes has a bathroom, and could switch to a huge master bed en suite with minimum fuss.

Design is described as ‘New England,’ it has about 1,200 sq ft upstairs (Brenda has used it for studio classes) and more than double that, 2,750 sq ft, beneath.

Windows are slick imports, and there are solar collectors on the roof. The three reception rooms are interconnected, two open to the back terrace via French doors (the one in front could be a fourth/fifth bedroom) and floors are timber, some painted, others varnished. A minstral’s gallery/mezzanine overlooks one of the living spaces, from the studio overhead which has painted wood sheeting – very New England indeed.

Paint has also been applied to the free-standing kitchen units, where units have teak tops, there’s an island, second wash-up area and a purposeful range cooker – for when budget won’t stretch to supper at the Cliff House Hotel.