From dereliction to dream home: Renovated West Cork farmhouse for €495,000
Ballycommane, Durrus
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Bantry, West Cork |
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€495,000 |
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Size |
187 sq m (2013 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
C1 |
A DESIRE to quit The City and the frenetic lifestyle of a job in finance was the motivation behind the decision of a London-based couple to pin their future on a derelict farmhouse in West Cork.
“We wanted peace and tranquility,” says the male half of the couple, whose wife had family living near the village of Durrus, six miles from the thriving maritime town of Bantry.
While trawling for a suitable property, she came in contact with a farmer who owned a number of derelict houses in Ballycommane, 4km outside the coastal village of Durrus.
“She struck a deal,” her husband says, and as wheeling and dealing was second nature to her, she didn’t miss a beat at the notion of essentially buying a ruin.
In fact she was ideally qualified to oversee the farmhouse restoration as her background was in project management, albeit in the world of high finance in London.
“She was not at all daunted at the prospect, in fact it was a dream for her,” her husband adds.
The builders were happy with her professional approach too.
“They absolutely loved her,” her husband laughs.
“She is very hands-on, very on-the-ball.” At the core of the much-enlarged property is a 19th century cottage, where the room arrangement was “one-up, one-down” before its new owners went to work on it in 2005, having first drafted in the help of a Ballylickey-based architect to re-design it.
With a project manager overseeing the work, the build was completed in 2006.
The extended, renovated, five-bed property increased the size of the original build by two thirds.
It now measures more than 2,000 sq ft and consists of two wings, joined to make an L-shape.
The older wing, which was also extended, retains its farmhouse appearance, while the new wing is more contemporary, with dormer windows.
A new entrance hall sits into the right angle of the L.
While the project was transformative, the owners were keen to recreate some of the old feel in their home.
A hearth built from 18th century slip bricks, brought down from Dublin, surrounds the multi-fuel stove in the living room, a warm and vibrant space in the “old” house that the owner particularly favours.
“It’s so very warm and snug at Christmas time,” he says.
The sense you get from this terracotta-coloured Ballycommane property is that it was a relaxed and enjoyable home, blessed by five children (ranging in age from 28, down to five-year-old twins) and steeped in musicality, as evidenced by the many musical instruments found about the house, from ukeleles, to a piano, to drums, to guitars.
The owner recalls that when he proposed to his wife in 2016, the musical accompaniment to the proposal was delivered by one of their daughters’ who played the guitar while belting out “The Fields of Athenry”.
The owner himself, a teacher, plays the ukulele and has performed at the annual Durrus Summer Fête, the largest fête in Ireland outside of the city of Dublin.
It must have been a great house to get an invite to, between the music and the comfort and the excellent outdoor space, which includes a stone barbeque pit with an electricity supply and room for seating. The owner says one of the most cherished memories he will take with him when they relocate is of long summer evenings “out in the garden, barbequing”.
There’s half an acre to play about on in the garden, including a recently fenced off area where kids essentially have their own private playground.
The half acre is landscaped and the house has its own well, updated in 2019 to include ultra-violet treatment of water. The gas boiler was replaced in 2018.
There’s a series of outdoor storage units on the property too.
The location of the house is private, rural and peaceful (neighbours in a house to the rear) and the area is one of stunning natural beauty.Views are southwest, towards Bantry, which is less than a 15 minute drive away.
The owner says they were situated “pretty much at the hub of social and cultural activities” in the wider West Cork area, including Ballydehob’s Jazz and Maritime festivals, the Schull Regatta and the Bantry-based West Cork Chamber Music festival, Bantry Literary Festival, and the Masters of Tradition, which this year featured Irish trad music maestros Martin Hayes and Steve Cooney.
Durrus, which overlooks Dunmanus Bay where the peninsulas of Sheeps Head and Mizen meet, with lots of walking routes, is about six minutes by car from the property. There’s a primary school in Durrus, with post-primary options in Bantry, Ballydehob and Schull.
Cork city is about an hour’s commute. Selling this delightful home is Olivia Hanafin of Sherry FitzGerald and she says the main interest so far has been from overseas, from people relocating to West Cork. ”The property offers a generous-size house with a nice portion of ground, which is neither too small nor too big in terms of maintenance,” she says The guide price for the 2,013 sq ft property is €495,000.
A home designed for living. Warm, bright and spacious, perfect for families who favour rural areas and enjoy the great outdoors.
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