Simple, serene, stunning addition to the landscape
A FEW signal things stand out about this new-build, west Cork home which replaced an unlovely 1900s block farmhouse.
First, and foremost, it’s just gorgeous. Simple, serene, sympathetic. Stunning, yet understated. It’s an adornment to an exceptionally beautiful landscape: it’s usually pushing it a bit to say a house adds visually to its setting, especially when that place is one of the most beautiful routes around a gentle, pastoral part of a county famed far and wide for its coastline. But, add to its setting it certainly does.
Unnoticeable — but noteworthy — is the way it was built: the architect was German, simply because Irish architects back in 2005 were almost too busy. And, the builders were also German, as local builders were flat-out: one said he couldn’t get around to it for two years. In fact, it might never have happened, as local planners rejected it: it only got approved on appeal by An Bord Pleanála. Now, local planners have sent other aspiring house builders out this way to see how to site a house sensitively in the landscape, a compliment of sorts, if a bit back-handed.
This reporter stumbled across the house while on a scenic cycle late last summer: with its mix of landscaping and architecture, it was enough to stop the bike journey in its tracks. Special pleading has resulted in this visit, with Irish Examiner photographer Denis Scannell riding tandem.
Called Glasheenaulin, (beautiful meadow, or beautiful land) this modern homestead enhances a slice of pastoral paradise, in large part because it came with an integral desire to meld it into its farm-field and rock-hewn headland landscape. New lakes or ponds have been added, appropriate trees have been planted by the thousand, and a diverse wildlife has returned to an evolving sanctuary.
The key to it all was getting lots of land on which to build and site, some 135 acres, in all.
The couple who came to own, create and deliver this house, Derry-born entrepreneurial businessman Seamus Gallagher and his artist wife Rachel, had fallen for west Cork on visits, and had begun a hunt for a two-bed seaside home there in the early to mid-2000s.
They spent several days travelling and property viewing with Skibbereen estate agent Charlie McCarthy — who shrewdly kept the best ’til last.
“He showed us this farmhouse, and said ‘of course, this is out of your price league’”, they recall, quipping “Charlie was the catalyst for our bankruptcy!” Fortunately, not quite, but they admire the fact they’d been blind-sided by a pro, in a shrewd personality-sizing move that wouldn’t be out of place in a Sommerville and Ross story penned in nearby Castletownshend.
“We had to buy the land to get the view,” says Rachel, who now has a studio here as well as in London (see www.rachelgallagher.com).
Rachel has since found the west Cork landscape seeping into her abstract paintings. She had a show last year in Fergus O’Mahony’s Warren Gallery at Mary Anns in Castletownshend, and it was only when the work was hung she realised “Oh my God, I’ve painted west Cork!”
But, this work of architecture didn’t come about too easily. The outline plans were shown to an initial warm reception, especially as the house style picked up on all the desired traits in Cork County Council’s seminal Rural Design Guide. Yet, after that it seemed to hit a brick wall, despite the fact it was to replace a dwelling, out-building and barn.
There’s a good bit of building here, to be sure, probably around 5,000 sq ft, but that’s been broken down visually because the accommodation is in three distinct buildings in a courtyard-like cluster, the stepped down main house, a separate garage/office/gym and overhead studio and a guest cottage, used by couple’s three grown-up children. And, the fact the main dwelling has only two bedrooms somehow reflects the modesty of the couple’s initial aim for a two-bed home!
The architect was Nils Peters of Peters und Wormuth practice in Berlin, and he’s also become a regular-enough visitor to west Cork, having shepherded this project to high-end completion.
The main builders were ExFo Haus of Berlin, but that company is no longer trading, and was built to exceptionally high insulation and finish standards, using lightweight blocks similar to QuinLite Aircrete blocks. Skibbereen builder Noel Kearney came on board to build the guest cottage, and he and his Irish crew more than matched the German company’s building precision and finish: one house complements the other across the stone-flagged yard.
The main house has a painted external render, and contrasting dry stone wall feature section from locally-quarried stone to the front/south and eastern corner, shielding the kitchen and providing a flat roof space for one of the two balconies off the master bedroom suite.
The roof is Welsh slate, rainwater goods are zinc, and the windows are high-performing double glazed timber units, and with simple galvanised railings across upper frames to maintain safety and serve as a sort of Juliet balcony.
The flow of the house along its north-south axis, is on three levels, so on entry you effectively step down into the view, bit by bit, before its full grandeur is revealed from the lower tier.
It’s pretty open plan, albeit on several levels, flooring is mostly slate or the African timber afzelia doussie, heated from underneath, and the main living/library space is double height, with a glass walkway cutting through it with sleek glass balusters, while a simple sturdy chimney breast holds the hearth in thrall.
Finishes are low-key, quality, sleek, and the houses has intelligent controls systems which allows heating, lighting, cameras etc to be worked remotely from abroad via a mobile phone or laptop/iPad.
Lighting, super-slick on narrow grids of stainless rails, came from London, and the kitchen’s an unfussy affair, with Poggenpohl units in white gloss set off by a red-painted glass splashback, contrasting with a black Aga. Water is heated by solar panels, and there’s an air-sourced heat pump for space heating.
The ! bedrooms are at opposite ends of the building, with gallery landing and laundry room in between, and the master bedroom has break-outs which give it two balconies, one to the east, the other to the west, and there are windows aspected to all four compass points, a bit of an architectural feat to achieve.
The house is set several fields back from the shoreline, but does have access to the sea, and the Gallaghers were quite content to place their home where the previous house had been, resisting temptation to go for a veritable cliff-top show-stopper. “The planners probably wouldn’t have allowed a house any closer to the water, and in any case, I think it can be quite boring just looking at the sea, you need the land to frame it” argues Rachel.
Seamus has had a varied business career to date, from logistics and transport to sports management and one of his current business involvements is Camps International, a British charity that arranges gap year volunteer work in the third world for students: being just over an hour to Cork Airport was a factor in choosing this location, he admits.
The couple have put down quick roots here, literally and metaphorically. They’ve planted some 3,500 trees already, sourced in the main from Mike Collard of Future Forests near Bantry.
The landscape was already seductive, if a bit ‘nitrogen green’ laid out in pasture, but now huge sections have been returned to nature as a sort of voluntary set-aside, or formalised wilderness. Principal among the aids of biodiversity are the several ponds put in, one several acres in size, and already colonised by fauna and flora.
Ceramic artist and ecologist Ian Wright near Skibbereen is a fervent advocate of the glories of pond life, spreading the word and the deed around west Cork for over a decade, and he was behind two here. A JCB driver was an artist with his digger buckets, and also on board on the ecology and main, two acre pond front was Macroom man Kevin Corcoran (a science teacher and author of some classic walk guide books).
Main landscape designer for the 135-acre plan was Macroom-born Declan Buckley, now based in London, who knitted the house cluster into the landscape, stepping from a formal lawn and sandstone terraces past dry stone walls to wildflower meadows, wetlands, the lakes and colonising woodlands too.
Lots of foxes, rabbits and hares too — four of the latter were seen boxing on the lawn early this summer. The house and landscaping, despite its international design mix, also boxes clever in its locale.
Some great ideas for you to use in your home and where to get them
1 If you’ve a big country site, break up scale and mass by clustering buildings rather than simply joining them.
2 Gardens set the tone. Here, there are defined areas for flowers such as native ‘Lucifer’ Crocosmia, herb, veg and espalliered fruit trees in sections.
3 Untreated quality hardwood garden furniture naturally goes shades of grey to avoid that ‘you’ve been tangoed’ look of some wood stains.
4 Mirror, mirror. You get twice the light by putting a lamp on a mirrored table.
5 If you’ve a view as pretty as a picture, frame it with appropriate windows.
6 Dig deep: if you’ve the space and funds, a lake or pond bring wildlife to your door.
- Architect: Nils Peters of Peters und Wormuth, Berlin. www.petersundwarmuth.de
- Landscape architect: Declan Buckley, Buckley Design Associates, Islington, London. www.buckleydesignassociates.com
- Builders: ExFo Haus, Berlin (no longer trading). Noel Kearney, Kilnaclasha, Skibbereen, Co Cork 028-21189.
- Main lake: Kevin Corcoran, Macroom, other lakes Ian Wright, Skibbereen.
- Planting: Mike Collard, FutureForests, Kealkil, Bantry. www.futureforests.net
- Stone: Tim Jo O’Regan, Castletownshend.
- Intelligent Management System: Conor Powers, Adapt Control Systems, Ballygaggin Business Park, Dungarvan 058-44680.
- Furniture, rugs, curtains in guest house Embellish, Skibbereen; Main house, variety of London sources, as was tiling.
- Granite surfaces: Hickey’s Granite, Ovens, Co Cork.
- Red kitchen splashback, all mirrors, etc, Cork Glass, Kinsale Road, www.corkglass.ie, 021-4315036.
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