Buy your Valentine 'Rose's Cottage' - the tiny thatch love-nest is a smoking hot snip at €139k

The current owners upgraded the one-bed 'Rose's Cottage' with short-term letting in mind, but kept the love too, writes  Trish Dromey

It's  cutie, and a keeper: Rose, or Rose's  Cottage at Kilbrien may earn its keep as a romantic rental

Kilbrien West Waterford
€139k,000
Size	32 sq m (340 sq ft)
Bedrooms	1
Bathrooms	2
BER	Exempt

Being cute, thatched and scenically situated near the foothills of the Commeraghs, Rose Cottage in Kilbrien in West Waterford is the type of property that typically attracts very good attention on Airbnb.

Interior is very traditional

It’s no surprise then to learn that the tiny one-bed cottage was upgraded and decorated by previous owners with holiday letting in mind. Neatly thatched, it’s old-world and traditional with thick stone walls and an inglenook fireplace, but has been discretely upgraded with two bathrooms — one at the rear and one at the side.

The current owners, a Welsh couple who have used it as a second home, estimate that it’s at least 200 years old. “Locals told us it was known as ‘Rose’s cottage’ and that they remembered seeing an old woman in a shawl sitting outside smoking a pipe,” reveals the owner who did some research and found the property on an 1820 survey.

Good for its age: Kilbrien thatched cottage: Picture via Waterford County  Museum

Two's company, but Rose Cottage is a one-bed only

By the time they bought it five years ago, the cottage had been upgraded by a University College Cork lecturer and further renovated by an owner who bought it the previous year with plans to use it as a holiday let.

 Arriving on the market this month with a guide of €139,000, it is likely to appeal to a hillwalker in search of a holiday property or a buyer looking for one to let on Airbnb. “The scenic backdrop of the Comeraghs makes it ideal for holidays,” says Cormac Curran of Sherry FitzGerald Reynolds, noting that the area is popular with tourists.

Located 1.5km from Kilbrien and 14km from Dungarvan, the cottage isn’t, in the modern age, large enough for a permanent home as it has just 32 sq m of living space.

Country setting

Inside the latched half door, there’s a long living space which has a large fireplace with a stove at one end, and, at the other, a selection of country-style green kitchen units with a Belfast sink.

With rough plastered walls, timber sash window, a stack of logs by the fire and a delph-filled dresser, the interior is everything you would expect in a thatched cottage decorated to look as authentic as possible. “The thick stone walls keep it cosy in winter and cool in the summer,” reveals the owner, noting that when the stove is going in the depths of winter, they sometimes have to open the half door because it gets too hot.

Cosy out, cosy up

At one end, the cottage has a traditional-looking bedroom with a high ceiling, rough plastered walls and underfloor heating. Off the bedroom there is a prettily decorated blue-and-white bathroom with a WC and a sink. At the other end of the cottage, in an extension with a separate entrance, is a modern shower room with wainscoted walls.

Enclosed by a narrow garden with neatly trimmed hedges, Rose Cottage has a good-sized garden at the rear which has been landscaped and tended by the owners who spend around four months there every year.

One of the two bathrooms

The cottage had been renovated when we bought it, but very little had been done outside. We put in raised beds and gravel paths and planted herbs and perennials,” says the owner, who expects daffodils, snowdrops, and primroses to show up by the time viewings start.

In the raised beds they have planted lavender as well as rosemary, mint, daisies, and wildflowers. “While putting in the beds we got some rocks from a farmer up the road and used them to make a feature,” she adds.

When they bought the cottage, the owners were charmed by its pretty red-and-white appearance and cosy interior and were delighted to find a property in the area where they had previously visited. “We have loved the peace and quiet and the scenery and being able to go out in the garden and look at the night sky.”

 Located close to the Comeraghs and the Nire Valley, Rose Cottage is within easy reach of several walking and hiking trails. The west Waterford coast is also quite close, and Clonea Beach, Ballyvoyle Cove, and Waterford Greenway are within a 20-minute drive.

VERDICT: Pretty, scenic, and affordable, it could look especially attractive to overseas buyers.