Hard to beat Glengarriff setting for this €795k waterside home

Natural beauty of the West Cork landscape is clustered at The Moorings

The Moorings, Glengarriff

Glengarriff, West Cork
€795,000
Size	160 sq m (1,722 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	2
BER	E1

REMEMBER the old TV ad for deodorant that cautioned “Men can’t help acting on Impulse?”

That’s kind of how it was for Patrick Leamy when he crested the brow of a hill in Bocarnagh, Glengarriff only to witness a vista the likes of which he had never seen. On his way to view a property in the company of his wife Mary and an auctioneer from Skibbereen, he declared “I’ll take it”, without ever having seen the house.

 What the house might look like mattered not a jot; he had eyes only for the preternatural beauty of the landscape, quite dazzling even by Glengarriff standards.

How The Moorings came about on this glorious outcrop where all of the drama of West Cork — sea, mountain, woodland, rock — is clustered in one magnificent spot may be down to a German, although it’s not certain. Whoever it was was up for the challenge. The trick was to work with the land rather than against it, and after substantial groundworks, a home emerged that took advantage of sunlight, shelter, views, and elevation. For a 1970s build, it was quite an achievement, constructed long before modern conveniences such as rock breakers, excavators, and mini diggers.

How long the original owner enjoyed this sublime coastal environment, remains a matter of conjecture, but what is certain is that a British couple, Phil and Angela Davies, made it their full-time residence in the 1980s and 1990s. The couple ran a flower shop in Bantry, called Paradise Flowers, and it’s easy to imagine that the name, and perhaps some of the raw materials, were drawn from the paradisical setting they were living in.

After the Davies came the Leamys, Dubliners who bought it as a holiday bolthole around 2000.

“Mum and Dad used to go off on little jaunts to Cork and Kerry and they were looking for a place down there,” says their son Paul.

“An estate agent from Skibbereen brought them out to The Moorings, and when they drove in the gate, over the brow of the hill, and saw the whole vista, Dad said ‘I’ll take it’, without having seen the house.”

Patrick’s impulsivity is easy to understand in the context of the setting. Facing east and south, it looks across Bantry Bay and out to the mouth of the harbour.

The land The Moorings is on — 2.6 acres, mainly on the seaward side — dips down to a cove, known locally as Leaba go Bháid (bed for boats. The gardens, developed by the original owner and with plants of the kind you might see on nearby Garnish Island, were maintained by a local man over the years. The gardens step down towards a jetty and a pebble beach, where the Leamys and extended family swam and kayaked and watched seals careen off rocks into the sea. It was, in every sense, idyllic.

Leaba go Bháid

“When particular properties come along, some jump out at you,” says auctioneer Denis Harrington of Harrington Estates, “and The Moorings is like a magnificent marine wilderness, utterly unique in its aspect, right at the rugged entrance to Glengarriff harbour, looking directly out over Bantry Bay, yet utterly private.”

While the Leamys only ever used it as a holiday home — and Patrick’s enjoyment of it was, unfortunately, short-lived, as he passed away within a few years of buying it — The Moorings has proven itself both as a bolthole and as a full-time home.

Mr Harrington reckons there’s an opportunity for new owners to do more with the 2.6 acre site.

“It’s crying out for the house and water to be joined up. I’ve seen what others have done here with properties on similar vantage points, and they have carefully terraced their way down to bring the water into play. There’s an invitation here to do that and more,” he says.

The original owner put in a stone jetty. There were aspirations for a mooring — hence the house name — but it wasn’t pursued. Mr Harrington says the cove is so sheltered that you could “keep a boat there all year”. Despite being on a height, the house is sheltered too, as the land dips down and the south westerlies, the prevailing winds, pass over the top.

While the setting is what this property is all about, the house itself is attractive, and the interiors were given a makeover by the Leamys during covid.

The only structural change made to the 160sq m home was the decision to divide a large side room into a dining room and fifth bedroom to cater for visiting extended family and friends.

“Ours is a big family and when we started to bring down friends and relatives, having the extra bedroom was a godsend,” says Paul.

It was a wonderful house for entertaining, he says, and the favoured spot was the sun room, positioned to capture the best views and natural light.

On the southern side, a door leads to a large drop-down deck, above the tiered gardens. 

Behind the sunroom, and linked via sliding glass doors, is the sitting room, where new tall windows were fitted on the seaward side in recent years. There are harbour views from the kitchen too.

“You can see Whiddy Island, you can see oil tankers coming into the bay and cruise ships heading into Bantry. There are always lots of fishing vessels and other marine activity,” says Paul.

Nowadays, the house isn’t used so much — kids have grown up and Paul himself is planning to retire to Spain — so following a family meeting, the difficult decision was made to put the property on the market. Less than 8km from the village of Glengarriff and down a private lane, with no other house between it and the cove, it’s a tremendously tranquil setting, punctuated by sounds from the harbour, where dolphins, as well as seals, are regular visitors.

Mr Harrington is already seeing interest from potential Irish, European, and US buyers.

“We’ve had a couple of ferocious contests for other waterfront properties in West Cork in the past few months, so some of the underbidders on those properties are already looking,” he says.

The guide price for The Moorings is €795,000. As the energy rating is an E1, further investment is likely for buyers who want to improve the BER.

VERDICT: For sheer natural beauty, The Moorings’ waterfront setting is hard to beat. Viewings are off to a flying start, so expect another ferocious West Cork contest.