A mezzanine and Valentia slate gave new lease of life to  Ballinskelligs' farmhouse 

Set above Reenroe Beach, it's a home with killer views, architectural input and quality finishes 

Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry
€675,000
Size	279 sq m (1335 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	B2

SOMETIMES a fresh perspective is all we need when love at first sight fails to materialise.

Just ask the current owner of this Ballinskelligs farmhouse who was in no way seduced at the outset.

The Dubliner and his partner had been on the lookout for a home in the South Kerry area and were aware that the weathered old farmhouse had been on the market for some time.

“I took a look at it, but it didn’t do anything for me,” he says.

That all changed in the early glow of a beautiful Ballinskelligs' sunrise.

“I came by the farmhouse and instead of going past, I hopped the gate and walked around the back. It was my Eureka moment. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea of the view from behind,” he says.

Facing south towards sublime Ballinskelligs Bay and above Reenroe Beach, and looking straight across the bay towards Coomakista and Hogs Head, he determined there and then that it was where he wanted to live. They bought it, and with an eye to the past and to the future, they set about creating a home that not only embraced and amplified the old farmhouse’s charms, but also improved its prospects going forward through the addition of a thoroughly modern wing that sits as comfortably in its superb surroundings as the old farmhouse itself. They also added a small extension on the far side of the farmhouse.

Rod Robinson was the architect for the project. Originally based in Hereford in the UK, Mr Robinson now retired, relocated to Waterville in 2004, just ahead of the farmhouse purchase. When the owner bought the property in 2006/2007, he hired Mr Robinson.

“I was still based in Dublin at the time, so it was great to have someone like him who was on top of the build all of the time. We seemed to agree on everything from the get-go. His first set of drawings was exactly what I wanted,” the owner says.

The Dubliner, whose desire to move to South Kerry was prompted not just by his love of the locality after three decades of holidaying there, but also his love for a local woman, from Portmagee, pumped money into the project, more than doubling the footprint of the original traditional farmhouse, so that it’s now just shy of 3,000 sq ft. He also insulated it to the nth degree and created a highly energy efficient home, installing a geothermal heat pump, underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs.

“When you consider the age of the original building, the fact that the property has a B2 energy rating is excellent,” the owner says.

“It’s been brilliantly insulated, high spec windows installed and of course the geothermal heating. There is no solid fuel. Our electricity bill averages out at about €300 every two months, which is just €1,800 a year for all of our heat and electricity.” 

All of the sash windows in the old wing came from Munster Joinery, a high quality hardwood that the owner says they've barely had to touch in 10 years. The downstairs picture windows in the new wing were handmade by a local joiner to a very high spec.

Sash windows in the old farmhouse

It took a year or so to bring the property upto scratch. The couple moved in in 2010.

“I think we probably put twice what we paid for it back into it. And when we bought it, prices were still Celtic-Tigerish.

“We had a budget for it, but it wasn’t exactly under control,” he laughs.

The upshot of the restoration work in the old wing was to create a gorgeous, cosy sitting room with inglenook fireplace and stove downstairs, and a fine main bedroom upstairs, with a walk-in wardrobe and deluxe ensuite, fitted out with striking Valentia slate and violet-pink tiling.

 It contains a shower and separate claw foot, roll top bath, overlooking the bay, screened from each other by a wall of that vibrant tiling. The owner says he first spotted the tiling in a bathroom of the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore and came across it later, by coincidence, in JLT Tiling and Interiors, then based in Farranfore, now in Ballincollig.

Perhaps surprisingly, given the views on offer from a seating area on the mezzanine level of the modern wing, where a huge apex window frames the landscape, the owner’s favourite room is the main bedroom, created from the merging of three bedrooms in the original house.

He says it’s difficult to articulate what that room holds for him, but it seems to be a sense of “space, calm and peacefulness”, helped by beamed high ceilings and the walk-in wardrobe that removes any clutter from the room “or, more likely, it's the perpetually open windows through which you can hear the waves breaking on the shore at night,” he says.

“And I can see the lights of Waterville at night and every ship on the bay without so much as lifting my head from the pillow.”

Vying for top spot is the mezzanine, which is split in two, with a seating area on the bayward-facing end and, across a steel bridge, and up a couple of steps to the rear, a home office. 

The owner says the bridge, made by a local steel fabricator “is a class piece of metal work, and a real ‘wow’ factor”. 

Beyond that again is a double bedroom with ensuite.

The main open plan living area, beneath the mezzanine, is also in the running for favourite space, with a series of architecturally stunning features, not least the floor-to-ceiling curve designed to accommodate the open-riser staircase that connects to the mezzanine.

“We wanted to keep the staircase out of the room so we had the view right through, so that was the reason for the curve inside the main extension,” the owner says.

Above the gorgeous curve of the ash staircase, made by a local craftsman, is a circular window, like a porthole, bringing light right through. There are several veluxes at mezzanine level, along with that big apex window, and downstairs is another light-filled space, thanks to flood-to-ceiling glazing at the bayward-facing end of the living room, as well as sliding double doors to a patio. 

Jutting outwards from the new wing at the bayward end - and part of the open plan layout - is a sunroom with extensive glazing on all three sides, also with double doors to the patio. Towards the rear of this room is another beautiful curved feature wall of Valentia slate, at elbow height, sat into three steps on either side that lead to the flamboyant red and white kitchen (surely a controversial colour choice in South Kerry, even for a Dubliner? Or perhaps a conversation starter?). The owner estimates they spent about €20,000 on the Valentia Slate, both inside and out.

“It was actually built by a Yorkshire stonemason who was living nearby at the time,” he says. “Apparently the West of Ireland and Yorkshire Dales methods of building walls are very similar and it was absolutely fascinating to watch the craftsmanship and precision involved.” 

The red and white kitchen is based on an Ikea idea, made by a local supplier, with Ikea fittings sent from Dublin.

A decent utility off the back of the kitchen has a door to outdoors.

A hallway is the link between new and old, and at the opposite side to the kitchen is that cosy sitting room. There’s also a sizeable cloakroom where motorbike helmets and biker jackets are very much in evidence, a clue to the owner’s interests - he’s a motorcycle enthusiast and his business background is in motorcycle rental. A double garage contains more evidence of his interest.

Beyond the sitting room is the small extension that houses another double bedroom and a bathroom.

Outdoors, the patio is a sort of sunken sun trap, set into the right angle of the L-shaped property, and surrounded by a half acre of expertly-planted grounds.

The owner says the garden was essentially “a blank canvas” “and as it is south facing right over Ballinskelligs Bay and above Reenroe beach we really had to work with the elements”.

Fortunately, one of them knew what she was doing. With a background in landscape gardening, the owner's partner began planting trees suited to salt laden winds.

“She also introduced lots of perennials for Spring and Summer colour. Thankfully, it thrived with very few casualties! It has really matured in the past ten years and we now have lots of fruiting plants, apple trees, gooseberries, black and redcurrant, loganberries and even blueberries,” the owner says.

The woman of the house also loves growing vegetables - using a shaded and protected area of raised beds in one corner of the garden, while “the greenhouse is currently overflowing with this year's crop of tomatoes which are surrounded by thriving basil and rocket plants”, the owner says.

After such sterling investment - of time, money and talent - why are they leaving this dream house in Reenroe, Emlaghmore East, Ballinskelligs, which selling agent Ron Krueger of Engel and Volkers Cork is selling, with an AMV of €675,000?

“We need somewhere smaller at this stage and so we are actively looking to downsize nearby,” the owner says.

“It’s not really the house or the ever changing scenery or that garden that makes Ballinskelligs such a wonderful place to live. That is one hundred percent down to the community in this part of South Kerry.

“They have been so welcoming, friendly and supportive to this particular blow-in that he wouldn't even contemplate living anywhere else.”

Mr Krueger says interest in the farmhouse is both national and international, with queries coming from the UK, the USA and the Continent, similar to the type of interest generated by a property across the bay in Waterville which he sold for €801,000 last March, having launched at €495,000. Again, it was an architecturally designed home encompassing the old and the new, a bit smaller than this one, on a bigger site, with one or two golf courses nearby.

Parties looking at the Reenroe home include holiday home hunters and people looking for a permanent residence, he says.

VERDICT:  Hard to beat for style, quality finish and outstanding views.