Nun so tasty as fare at Tipperary's Old Convent by The Vee

Former convent in Clogheen has been a top destination gourmet restaurant and guest accommodation: now, the sizeable converted €985k Victorian property on six acres could find new uses

Blessed setting: Clogheen's The Old Convent is near The Vee and the Knockmealdowns in Co Tipperary. Agent  Michael H Daniels guides at €985,000 reporting a cross section of interest, both private and commercial/hospitality

Clogheen, Tipperary
€985,000
Size	744 sq m (7,900 sq ft)
Bedrooms	8 (plus basement apartment)
Bathrooms	8
BER	Exempt

WHO’LL next be in residence at Co Tipperary’s Old Convent? What, indeed, is the next life chapter for this venerable Victorian house off the Vee road between Clogheen and Lismore, a scene-stealing valley route up through the Knockmealdowns?

Stained glass windows feature lightly in the dining room

The impressive building has already had a varied past, initially associated with the Mercy Order from the mid to late 1800s.

Suite dreams

Next, from the early 1990s it was a base for angling holidays (the Suir and Blackwater are quite close) and later became a holistic healing centre. That was just before being bought in 2005 by a young Irish/US enterprising, and hardworking, couple, Connemara-born chef Dermot Gannon and his Colorarado-born wife, Christine, who set it up as a thriving luxury accommodation base (eight en suite guest rooms over the top two floors) and destination five-star food venue.

Great hall

The duo — now also parents to Ollie aged 11 and Juniper, aged six — had met in an Irish bar in Colorado after Dermot went Stateside aged 29, after several years cutting his teeth in the likes of Renvyle House Hotel, first as a young pot scrubbing, potato peeling teen, next in Rossleague Manor and The Quays, and became head chef at Destrys in Clifden in his early 20s, savouring the chance to backpacking in the off seasons.

Vee Valley

He was stopped in his tracks in Colorado, though.

“It was a whirlwind romance spanning across many continents until we moved to Ireland in 2002, so I could complete my Masters Degree at University College Cork,” says Christine.

“We were married and opened our first restaurant (in Cahir) together in 2003 and then purchased The Old Convent in 2005. I was very lucky I loved Ireland from the start and still do, and we have wonderful friends in Tipperary.”

Early days: Christine and  Dermot Gannon pictured in 2006  outside the Old Convent. Pic.Brian Gavin/Press 22

Now, though, change is in the wings after son Ollie was diagnosed at age five with a very rare degenerative illness, and will need lifelong care. Dermot’s father has been able to give them a bit of land to purpose-build an adapted home for Ollie’s future needs, hence the Gannon’s decision earlier this year to sell the Old Convent, which has been both home and business.

Since being listed with country homes specialist estate agent, Fermoy-based Michael H Daniels with a €985,000 AMV, the Old Convent has attracted interest and viewings from a wide cross section, the couple and their agent Mr Daniels say.

That has included Irish, UK, German and US callers, for uses as varied as continuing restaurant/guests; as a substantial private/second home; perhaps once again as a niche rural-set meditation or retreat centre and, not surprisingly given current critical demand, as refugee accommodation.

Honeymoon suite

The 7,900 sq ft over-basement house, with large reception rooms, some stained glass features and four en suites per each of the top two floors (the attic level has great character spaces under original roof beams), including a bridal suite, and repeat business has been a feature with many guests coming to chill and dine, several times a year in some cases.

The Old Convent today stands on six acres, with pond and fountain by the approach drive, has a sunken rear garden for herbs/meditation (Christine also runs yoga retreats and works in access education as well) , plus a hen house/run, old stone outbuildings, and a four acre pony paddock.

Beautiful scenery at The Vee in the Knockmealdown Mountains. Picture: Denis Minihane.

The latter’s grazed by a couple of well-fed donkeys and had a previous planning grant, as Clogheen village is on its doorstep, as are health and education facilities, gratis of the convent’s Mercy Order and a land grant 150 years ago from a Lady Catherine Butler of Ormonde.

VERDICT: Knockmealdowns with a feather? Old Convent’s just a spin away away from the bustle of the world, steeped in Tipperary, set in good farmland, and has the scenic hinterland of The Vee just up the road.