Frog march your way to West Cork as 'Toad Hall' in Schull hits the market for €795k

A short hop, skip and a jump from Colla Pier, Toad Hall was built by a woman who loved animals... possibly more than she liked people?

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025 - 00:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports

Schull, West Cork
€795,000
Size	149 sq m (1,600 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	C1

THERE’S been wind in more than the willows this past 10 days — storm Éowyn battered Ireland’s coastline, creating mountainous seas and taking roofs off buildings.

But, West Cork’s Toad Hall, by the sea in West Cork’s Schull, thankfully survived the forces of the winds intact, its roof and ridge, its four pert dormers, and its two glazed window bays to the front, for views over Schull harbour and water glimpses.

Colla pier is a hop, skip and a jump from Toad Hall

It’s set handily back from the water though, and well above it, but has the joy of Colla Pier within a two-minute walk, close enough to duck up and down to for swims in togs and back home for a warm shower, or to carry kayak or dinghy oars, paddles or picnics, to and from.

Curiously-titled Schull’s Toad Hall is for sale, after its Irish family owners got huge second home enjoyment out of it but say their children are now that bit older and keen to holiday wider afield, hence the decision to part with it.

It’s on the market with Colm Cleary of James Lyons O’Keeffe auctioneers in Schull, who guides at €795,000, with the bulk of that value clearly down to location — Colla Road is a ‘desirable’ strip of coast road, and to its setting by the pier — it’s the cherry on top for the right buyers.

The vendors at Toad Hall are its second owners, and say they bought from a woman who completely loved animals, of just about every size and description, including toads, and who had also named her previous home in Dunboyne, Co Meath, Toad Hall, before relocating to Schull’s Colla Road to this stone-clad dormer home some decades ago.

The woman was a radiologist who, acknowledging her love of animals, retrained as a vet and worked as a veterinary surgeon in England and in a few places in Europe: “She realised she much preferred animals to humans,” they quip.

Describing the woman who built her second Toad Hall (after Dunboyne), they say she was an elegant lady, who clearly loved The Wind in the Willows tale so much she carried the name from the character, Mr Toad, of Toad Hall, into her home life. An image of a toad is proudly displayed on the property’s name-plate by its entrance.

It recalls boastful local squire Mr Toad, with his wayward car driving skills, one of the main characters in the 1908 book The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graham, along with Mole, Badger, and Ratty.

Mr Toad later resurfaced in the play Toad of Toad Hall written by AA Milne (creator of Winnie-the-Pooh), which aired on BBC radio, and was made into a film, and again surfaced in a graphic novel/video game.

Characters from the much-loved The Wind in the Willows actually feature on the walls here in Schull’s Toad Hall, including Toad, Badger, and Mole, in paintings on the stairs of thisc 1,600sq ft dormer home.

Wind in the Willows characters framed on the stair wall

That's along with , along with quite a menagerie of other animals, including dogs, foxes, and horses, plus with a wider mix of landscape and rustic scene paintings, as well as coastline maps, and images of the Fastnet lighthouse, Schull’s internationally-recognised beacon miles out in the ocean.

There’s a ferry service to Long Island at the mouth of Schull harbour, about a five-minute trip, from Colla Pier: the cove, which is sheltered from the west, is popular with other boaters and bathers too, while the Colla Road also forms part of one of several looped walks around Schull.

The Price Register shows 80 sales in the past 15 years with a Colla Road address, a wide mix from apartments to cottages to mansions, yet only four appear to have topped €700,000. Two of them fetched €2.1m, the late businessman Bernie Cahill’s Cuan Ban back in 2019 (now substantially rebuilt) and the period Fastnet House last year.

The Colla Road is scenic from start to finish

Colla Road’s Ardeen, which featured in these pages last summer, sold by late summer ’24 for a recorded €925,000, and the chi-chi road has houses worth multiple millions, if they were ever to come for sale.

Toad Hall is in very good overall condition, and has good-sized rooms, including a triple aspect main c 19’ by 18’ kitchen/ dining/ living room, ground floor bedroom with en suite, and upstairs one of the two principal bedrooms also has a triple aspect, with the best water views from its front dormer window and two side gables windows.

“The sea and island views are particularly impressive from the first floor,” says selling agent Colm Cleary, adding that the option of an en suite bedroom on both levels makes Toad Hall suitable for a good buyer mix, “from dream home, retirement or holiday retreat”.

It has a C1 energy rating, has Liscannor stone and other flagstone paved floors at ground level, carpeted stairs, landing, and bedrooms upstairs, while the characterful main bedroom has exposed roof beams and an open fireplace with stone surround, an ideal cosying up spot on wilder and windy winter nights.