Time to move west? Red Gate Cottage

Little Red Gate Cottage is a warm and comfortable retreat with plenty of guest space, writes Rose Martin.

If, according to a recent interviewee in the Irish Examiner , the food industry here is ‘like an eagle ready to take flight’, then this west Cork property might pique interest.

The Little Red Gate Cottage, while a bit of a mouthful, has the perfect moniker for marketing and comes with a food-grade commercial unit included in the overall sales package.

But that’s not all — this house, the home of writer Lydia Little and her hotelier husband Arthur, is also a warm and comfortable retreat, with plenty of guest space. (Lydia recently launched her own book on Amazon, K-Girls, based loosely on her experiences as a boarder at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara.)

The couple have completed the restoration of their farmstead and are now downsizing, according to Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde, who’s selling the house by private treaty for offers in the region of €317,000.

For the asking price, you get quite a property package — not only the large, fully equipped and ready-to-go commercial kitchen/manufacturing space, but almost 2,000 square feet of living space in a sheltered, green three-acre site just outside Ballydehob, West Cork. A residential buy, this house offers sustainable acreage, with tastefully restored farmhouse, and a range of converted outhouses and buildings in a private location.

Andy O’Donoghue describes it as a unique and charming example of West Cork country living, adding that if offers a fairly effortless move to that rural idyll for downsizers, retirees or, even, entrepreneurs.

Because Lydia is a writer, it’s no surprise she’s whipped out a short description of her own home: “Little House’s three acres is a mix of restored traditional farm house, gardens, grove, and scrub; and amidst all the greenery is a ‘hamlet’ of old grey stone workers cottages that give the townland its name, Boreagh.”

So there’s a uniqueness in the history, but also in the way the homestead is broken up into littler dwellings. The main house, which covers 1,200 sq ft, is all that you’d expect with a West Cork conversion — chock full of charm and original features, but it’s been made open-plan with a staircase in the middle as a break and where the old inglenook fireplace was, there’s now a new stove instead.

Low ceilings, exposed beams and lots of stripped pine add to the cosiness and there’s also a separate stove on the living-room side of the house. A conservatory/sunroom has been added to the south-facing side and there’s plenty of storage space too.

Rooms include an open-plan family-room with original open fireplace, a south-facing sun-room with views over the front garden and a modern kitchen with solid wood units.

Overhead are four bedrooms, a hot-press and a family bathroom. Then, across a gravelled driveway, are a scatter of stone outhouses which, believe it or not, include a cinema, guest bedroom, home office and, finally, the commercial food production area, which comes with all associated certification, says Andy O’Donoghue.

It had been leased by food stalwart Walter Ryan Purcell, but he’s now moved to the English Market in Cork, as part of an initiative by the West Cork market stall holders.

This group includes Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds, (who is also an organic suckler farmer), as well as David Locks, Paul Keane and Peter Mihaere — their goods are now available from the market stall which has been up and running a while now near the Vineyard entrance.

VERDICT: With summer on its way, and West Cork about to release the dark cloak of winter, perhaps it’s time to consider that move west?