Sunny Dún an Óir sits above coastal glories in West Cork

There’s a lovely, aloof setting, high above the beach and dunes and developed strip of Owenahincha, at Dún an Óir, Gortnagrenane.

Sat, 25 Jul, 2015 - 01:00

Tommy Barker

Castlefreke, West Cork €195,000

Sq m 105 (1,125 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1

BER: E2

Best Feature: Views

In part of the original Castlefreke demesne, near where the original Freke castle is still inching its way back to reclamation in Carbery/Freke family hands.

A far simpler proposition is Dún an Óir, a 1980s architect designed holiday home up in a simply great vantage point for ocean views, and it’s now back on the market with a change of agent, and a price adjustment, to lure a summer buyer.

Auctioneer Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill seeks offers of €195,000 for the 1,125 sq ft three-bed, with its distinctive asymmetric sloping roofs, and large double-glazed picture windows for those essential Wild Atlantic Way views.

At Dún an Óir the full majesty of the ocean’s power is seen from this safest of elevated perches, looking the Galley Head lighthouse squarely in the eye which is situated off to the east.

There’s a distinctive style to this one-off, on a private half-acre site, with overhead mezzanine living room, and third bedroom, plus open and airy ground floor plan with wood-burning stove in its soaring chimney breast.

(handily, for winter weekend visits, there’s also oil fired central heating for a quick burst of welcoming heat.)

Mr O’Neill says the part-slate hung house was designed and built to maximise light and the fine views, with easy keep interiors such as terracotta tiled floors.

Location is above Owenahincha’s back-to-back beaches, and dunes (where one of the original 1960s chalets is getting a stylish beach-house makeover) and is a five minute drive to Rosscarbery with its range of pubs and restaurants, where the centrally sited Pilgrim’s Rest restaurant is now in new ownership, hitting evening time grace notes with a menu (and decor) that includes seaweeds and other bounty fresh from the ocean.

VERDICT: Life’s a beach