Easy primping options at affordable €295k West Cork's Primrose Cottage

Charming two-bed cottage on an acre south of Drimoleague has sunny aspect, sunroom and stoves

Bright prospects at south-facing Primrose Cottage SFON agent Niamh Moloney guides from €295,000

Drimoleague, West Cork
€295,000
Size	87 sq m (940 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	1
BER	G

CARRYING a charming name is the compact West Cork farmhouse-style home, Primrose Cottage, a hideaway promising tranquil countryside living, in a quiet rural setting between Skibbereen and Drimoleague.

Likely to be a century old or so, Primrose has the feel of a two up, two down, but one that has had modest add-ons in the past few decades — including a full width sunroom/conservatory to the front, and a rear single-story addition with a living room and the home’s sole bathroom.

Interior character at Primrose Cottage: note the kitchen's Rayburn

It has been owned by a couple from England who had plans to live here full-time when they bought about 15 years ago, but they made less use of it than they’d first intended, says auctioneer Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill, who has it as a fresh to market 2025 listing.

Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill’s Niamh Moloney will be picking up the viewings at Primrose Cottage from next week, and it is guided at a broadly affordable €295,000.

At that, it is within the grasp of first-time buyers — but so far that’s not the demographic asking for viewings, according to the selling agents who are seeing mostly older couples lining up to check it out.

It has got charm, but also a G BER — reflective of its age and the fact it is probably short on the insulation front.

Sunroom

Having said that, it has solid fuel/wood-burning stoves in each of its two ground-floor living rooms (there is a long-established stove centre in nearby Drimoleague), one smaller one in the back room, and the one in the house’s main core is a bit larger, likely to feed heat to the two bedrooms upstairs.

Plus, there is a third stove in the large sunroom to the front of the house, with the glass roof and joists tucked in just below the first floor’s three windows, yielding a low roof pitch in this super-bright room that is likely to churn in solar heat on brighter days at least.

Ms Moloney says Primrose Cottage “is carefully presented to maximise the light and ambience whilst retaining original features,” and indeed it has the feel of place gently nudged along, kept largely traditional — exposed joints, original timbers, etc — rather than massively overhauled.

Rural setting and a private acre with Primrose Cottage 

Adding to heat options is a cream Rayburn range/stove in the kitchen, which has a mix of units plus an electric oven, while the bathroom behind has an electric shower over a bath, and fully tiled walls done metro-style.

It’s all on a mature acre by a quiet road junction with lots of trees, mostly conifers, and enough options to engage a keen gardener. It already has a small polytunnel for growing options, as well as good-sized wooden shed and further storage space.

Shed your possessions

The location is 13km north of Skibbereen and south of Drimoleague — amid a myriad of back roads — with shelter and views, plus a main southerly aspect to the stone-built house which has the majority of its space at ground level.

It is less than 900 sq ft in all, and one of its two first-floor bedrooms is quite compact; some may consider using the ground floor, rear, double aspect living room as an occasional guest bedroom too — perhaps with a pull-down or sofa bed.

Rear view

VERDICT: Everything is coming up primroses?

This is an easy lifestyle option for the right buyers as it is rural without being too remote, and is only an hour-and-a-half from Cork City.