A little bit of history in Courtmac

This property could be a home, business or combination.

You decide. Tommy Barker reports

In walk-in condition in more ways than one is Rita’s home and shop in the very heart of pretty Courtmacsherry in West Cork.

Everyone in the seaside village will have walked in here at some stage, and many do it on a daily or weekly basis — it’s Courtmac’s last surviving local shop, and at one stage there were almost a dozen such shops, back in the day when coal boats unloaded their cargoes at the pier, right in front of this old-world, but ship-shape, period property.

Owner Rita McCarthy wants to retire from the year-round business, and as the shop is an integral part of the building so far, it means she’s also selling her home.

Now, with a price tag of €350,000 quoted by Ernest Ford of Hodnett Ford, this is a building that could go any of several routes: it may be bought back as a private home, or kept as a home and business combined, either as a shop, a restaurant, cafe, craft shop or art gallery, such is the quality of its setting and location.

It looks directly out to the pier, fishing tackle store and boat slip, a hub of fairly constant hive of marine and angling activity, and a new pontoon has added to the boat traffic on its doorstep.

The end-terrace house has four charming bedrooms, the front three all with water and pier views and old, honey pine floors, with a bright upstairs landing, thanks to a skylight over the return, and the back bedroom (the largest) has a large walk-in closet and lovely garden views.

It was extended to the back and re-roofed some years ago, and internally all’s been kept in immaculate order, with a private living room to the front with cast-iron fireplace, dining room, and kitchen with an island.

The shop area is 24’ by 13’, and this can easily be re-integrated to the residential section, or vice versa.

Behind, there’s a sheltered patio with attractive stone wall, and stone steps up to a long climb of terraced private gardens with a shed and viewing point at the top.

VERDICT: At the heart of village life