You could get a thatched to this picture perfect cottage by the sea

A private rural retreat, holiday home, retirement home — you name it — but cottages like this are few enough.

Ring, Co Waterford

Sq m: 49 (529 sq ft)

€89,500

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 1

BER: Exempt

An Cleitín, meaning, ‘The Eaves’, is a picture perfect idyll which would hold its own on any Bord Fáilte website. This sweet little house at Baile na nGall, Ring, Co Waterford is in the heart of the Gaeltacht and is also on the coast — heritage and holidays in one fell swoop.

There’s a bit of minding and maintaining with old houses, particularly thatch, which has to be redone about every 20 years or so — but then so too does a felt roof, and the reward is a vernacular dwelling that only improves with age.

In this case, An Cleitín is beautifully restored and ready to go, with snug living space that includes an open plan living room, with a good modern kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

And it is all on a nice private grounds, yet within a couple of minutes’ drive of Dungarvan and Ardmore and close to Waterford and Cork. As we’ve seen in the recent Heritage Week of open home viewings, houses like this can stand alongside ruined castles or a stonking estate, as being of equal merit. Sinéad Reynolds of Sherry FitzGerald Reynolds is selling this thatched cottage, in all of its picture-postcard glories.

Verdict: In beautiful West Waterford, near the sea and Ring village — what more could you want?