Thin Lizzy tribute home in sublime Glengarriff
Roisin Dubh, Glengarriff
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Glengarriff, West Cork |
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€595,000 |
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Size |
230 sq m (2476 sq ft) +40 sq ft |
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Bedrooms |
3+1 |
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Bathrooms |
2+1 |
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BER |
C2 |
IF you go along with the characterisation of Germans as a practical, unflappable people, not prone to making hasty decisions, then it won't surprise you that the original owner of this home, German man Jochen Franken, took three years to decide where in West Cork he should build it.
When he did finally pinpoint the optimal spot, at Ardnatrush Beg, halfway between the charming villages of Glengarriff and Ballylickey, he went ahead and bought a 2.15 acre site just behind the glorious coastline of Glengarriff Bay – roughly two fields back as the crow flies – in a landscape geophysically defined by mountains, water and woodland.
He then applied to Cork City Council for permission to build his new home, which was granted in 1995.
“Franken had an idea for the house and he spent three years looking for the ideal plot and in fairness, it's some spot," says estate agent Denis Harrington of the spectacular Ardnatrush location.
Its natural beauty wooed its more recent set of owners too, a Limerick-based couple who had travelled to West Cork in search of a holiday home.
“We came to look at a house up the road and we didn’t like it, so the estate agent said there was another property for sale nearby and asked us if we wanted to see it.
“As soon as we saw it, we fell in love,” the current owner says.
The house was in good shape and the new owners, who bought it a dozen years ago, didn’t have much work to do, other than maintain it over the years. The most substantial project undertaken during their tenure was the conversion of a pretty, stone-fronted workshop/studio, located halfway down the rear garden, into guest accommodation.
It includes two bedrooms and enough room too for seating and a solid fuel stove. It’s been ideal to accommodate an overflow, when friends and family visited, the owner says.
The house itself, with a south west orientation, is designed to maximise enjoyment of the stunning landscape, as well as natural light levels.. Two single-storey wings fan out either side of a taller middle section, where the roof was raised to accommodate a first floor mezzanine and gallery, from where there are views over the treetops of the outer harbour, surrounding mountains and two peninsulas.
“We particularly like the mezzanine, it’s where we go for breakfast or a cup of tea. And at night time you can see lights dotted around the mountains. You can just about see the sea over the tops of the trees,” the owner says. The trees form boundaries on all sides guaranteeing privacy, enhanced by the site's position at the end of a country laneway, where neighbouring homes total four.
The owners' favourite spot downstairs is the large living room beneath the mezzanine, where double doors fold back beneath a glazed roof to allow easy access to a rear patio and that very large back garden, cleaved by a stream, which creates a pretty water feature, crossed by a tiny footbridge, from where a gravel path leads to the guest cottage.
The owners christened the 40 sq ft cottage An Teach Beag (the small house) while the main residence is known as Róisín Dubh, the Irish translation of Black Rose, a nod to the ninth studio album of former Irish rockband Thin Lizzy.
“I’m a big fan of Thin Lizzy, they’re my favourite band,” says the owner, who has the iconic Black Rose album cover, by the artist Jim FitzPatrick, who designed the original cover, framed and hanging over the open fireplace, which is shared between the open plan kitchen diner and living room.
A vaulted ceiling and lots of doors and windows mean that light floods into the kitchen diner, beneath a roof of blue, which the owner believes was painted to create the impression of dining beneath the skies.
“There’s a lot of intricate shapes in the paintwork and our understanding is that the previous owner brought over painters from Italy to do it,” the owner says.
The Limerick couple wrung great enjoyment from their three-bed, two-bathroom, 230 sq m holiday home over the last 12 years and made the most of the many hiking opportunities in the general area. There’s plenty scope for being on the water too, and canoeing and kayaking are popular activities locally.
There’s the draw also of Glengarriff itself, an internationally renowned tourism venue on the Beara Peninsula, blessed with a number of natural attractions, like the Italian gardens on Garnish Island, and lovely Glengarriff forest, home to some of the oldest oak and birch groves in Ireland.
“While the village is very touristy, there’s an old-world charm to it,” the owner says, remarking that it’s sort of a throwback to the 1950s.
“I had quite a busy job and it was great to come down here and leave the stress behind. We used it a lot and it was used by family and friends too. But there are other family demands now and we are not getting the use out of the house, so we are reluctantly putting it on the market,” the owner says.
Auctioneer Denis Harrington, who is guiding the coastal home, with attached garage and loft space overhead, at €595,000, predicts the usual high level of overseas interest in West Cork property.
“The market is at all times being driven by people coming in from overseas, there is no let up at all in that. And Glengarriff has that extra special magnetic draw, bringing in people who have no connection with the area, but who just fall in love with the beauty of the place and the quality of living,” Mr Harrington says.
: A uniquely-designed home in an area of renowned natural beauty. Remote workers/lovers of the outdoors might fancy it as a fulltime residence, but chances are, an overseas buyer will snap it up as a holiday home.
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