House of the week: Westerly

Balllickey, West Cork

If there’s a peculiar ‘out foreign’ in the look of this wonderful West Cork hideaway called Westerly, it’s possibly appropriate — it was built just after the Second World War by an American couple with French roots. It was subsequently bought in the 1980s by senior Irish Fine Gael politician and former Tanáiste Peter Barry and his wife Margaret, when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, after helping to deliver the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement.

The long-serving politician (a Cork TD from 1969 to 1997) and businessman found this rare and hidden ‘Golden Pond’ retreat after asking estate agent (and relation) John Barry of Dublin-based BFR Estates to scout a suitable second home for the couple’s then-adult extended family, casting the net of possible locations to West Cork or Kerry, within reasonable distance of Cork city.