Instagram-worthy West Cork farmhouse is up a pretty creek

• Mill Cove, Rosscarbery, West Cork
• €285,000
• Size 93 sq m (1,000 sq ft)/5.5 acres
• Bedrooms: 2
• Bathrooms: 1
• BER: E1

With its farm home authenticity, Tommy Barker says Vale Cottage is a style-steal at €285,000 Mill Cove, Rosscarbery, West Cork

You don't even have to cross the threshold of Vale Cottage to realise this affordable West Cork bolt-holt home, on 5.5 acres, 0 had a charm and design aesthetic all of its own: you see it from a cursory glance and even from the novel way this upgraded farmhouse's double end gable is timber clad.

You'd say Vale Cottage has huge 'kerb appeal' for drive-but viewings, but – paradoxically, the setting is so quiet, very few of its rare passers-by are casual: they're cognoscenti, who know a blessed cove side setting when they stumble across one.

Set on the western side of the stunningly beautiful and safe Mill Cove, between Rosscarbery (3 kms) and Glandore (7 kms) and by the River Roury's meeting with the sea, Vale Cottage is indeed vale-set, with old cottage style gardens rich in foxgloves, has gently tweaked colourful interiors with a doff of the hat to farm home authenticity, and even has an old whitewashed stone shed, with rust-hued galvanised roof.

It's the real deal, and possibly even a style-steal, at the guide of €285,000, quoted by smitten estate agent Maeve McCarthy, of Skibbereen-based Charles P McCarthy & Co.

She praises the hand and eye of the woman owner who renovated in recent times: “great care and attention was paid to all elements of the design aesthetic which gives this property a unique personality and style. There is an authenticity to this property which is incredibly rare and one has just to step into this cottage to fall in love with it,” she enthuses.

Instagrame-worthy rooms inside, past a half-door entrance include a parlour with wainscoted walls, a sitting rooms floored with large slate, kitchen/diner with Belfast sink, with two overhead bedrooms plus main bathrooms, and many of the rooms have original wood-sheeted ceilings.

VERDICT: A scenically-set stunner, done with panache and an aesthetic flair. Might be worth asking to buy the furniture, the art, sculpture, whole kit and caboodle too to keep Vale Cottage's vibe on the go.