Cover story: Lifestyle home is just a two minute walk to the sea

Anam Cara dates in part to the 1700s, but has been extended and refurbished to an exacting standard.

With views to Ballycotton Island and its lighthouse, it’s off a coastal route east of Ballymacoda

IT might be 300-400 years old in its bones, but this seaside East Cork home Anam Cara has never been in better shape.

Dating in parts to the 1700s, the cottage by Warren beach near Ballymacoda had a full makeover and extension in the mid-2000s, done to exacting conservation standards by its owners, academics the award-winning broadcaster and writer Jools Gilson and Dr Vittorio Bufacchi, Head of UCC’s Philosophy Department; with a growing family, they’ve made the wrench decision to move back closer to the city for daily work and school schedules.

The 1,750 sq ft lifestyle home, with full creature comforts and just a two minute walk from the sea and a little-visited serried row of beaches, is for sale this Easter, with agent Miah McGrath of McCarthy and McGrath in Midleton. Guiding €275,000, he says it’s done with tremendous care and input, very well finished and specified, and will have a wide appeal to lifestyle relocaters, returning ex-pats and overseas buyers, as well as to locals looking for a special seaside place to call home.

With views to Ballycotton Island and its lighthouse, it’s off a coastal route east of Ballymacoda, a few minutes from Garryvoe and five miles from Shanagarry and Ballymaloe — and their specialist builder William Kenneally has done lots of work at Ballymaloe on old buildings "and really knows his stuff, he was wonderful, full of good ideas and suggestions, with very high standards," Anam Cara’s owners enthuse.

They bought back in 2001, and held their wedding in the gardens, starting into a first tranche of renovations almost immediately after that celebration and straight into ‘honeymoon’ time. The main extension, and conservation work with lime render plaster inside and out, began in 2005, and they moved out to allow the transformation over 18 months.

Now, with due respect for appropriate materials, it’s also two or three times larger than the original, in a sort of three-section shape, with a double-height kitchen with overhead mezzanine placed at the southern end for sea and sky views.

"It’s only when the builders came and we stood on the old flat roof extension that we realised the view that was there to be captured, so we got onto our architect Jill Ferreira and asked her to tweak the design," say the owners, who went with her suggestion for mezzanine over the kitchen core and glazed gable end, reached by a gantry-like bridge from a side stairs.

Now, the accommodating home has a kitchen with sturdy pitch-pine units, Belfast sink and Sorn oil-fired range cooker, there are four bedrooms with master en suite, dining room, high-ceilinged living room with old stone chimney hearth and heat-pumping wood-burning stove, backing up the house’s ground level underfloor heating, beneath slate floors.

There’s a lovely softness and homely feel to the lime-render inside, rounded by windows (timber double-glazed Rationel) and doors, and lots of access points to the gardens, including one high-level balcony/bridge from an upstairs family room, with even more view-taking points and al fresco dining options up here.

Anam Cara (the Celtic name, meaning soul friend, was given by previous owners and has been kept as it fits) is on grounds of one-third of an acre, next to a grass-striped boreen leading to a glen and beaches 300 yards away, and has veg and herb beds, double garage with power supply, and a retained stone bothán called the ‘Swallow House,’(see p1 pic) used as a den for creative uses, a diminutive retreat (with Art Deco enamel stove) from what’s already a sanctuary.

VERDICT: A faithful and respectful update on a country cottage classic, in a setting to stir the heart.