Trading up: Ardmore, Waterford €175,000

Sq m: 70 (750 sq ft)

One of the prettiest houses, in one of Munster’s prettiest seaside villages — what’s not to like?

A quaintly romantic thatched cottage in the very heart of Ardmore, West Waterford, has a €175,000 asking price with local agent (and horse-racing broadcaster) Brian Gleeson, who says it would make an ideal weekend/holiday or retirement home.

Or, subject to planning consents, it could also have a commercial use — think tea-rooms, craft sales, gallery or the like, as the Michelin-stared Cliff House Hotel has brought boutique shopping custom to the award-winning village, with Tidy Towns and Entente Florale titles to its credit. As well as being picturesque, Ardmore’s also extremely historic, home to a famed Round Tower, as well as having beaches, coastal walks and a year-round vibrant community.

This street-side Ardmore cottage has a prominent setting by a junction on Main Street, and has about 750 sq ft inside, and sun-trap enclosed back garden with back lane access, all in lovely order.

VERDICT: Postcard pretty, admired by visitors, and locals, its owners have kept the 1850s dwelling very well, and it was first refurbished in the 1950’s, with its small-paned sash windows put in, and was again done in the 1990s, with a new thatch put up on top in ‘94.