Feel The Force of nature at secluded Kerry home with Skellig views and sauna

There's a practical family-friendly layout at this coastal Kerry sanctuary

Skelligs Retreat, St Finians Bay, The Glen, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry

Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry
€750,000
Size	182sq m (1,959 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B3

The Skellig Islands have, over the centuries, attracted monks and hermits, Jedi knights and Star Wars fans, puffins and seals as well as generations of holidaymakers.

Amongst those making an annual pilgrimage to the south Kerry coast are a pair of German doctors who for the past 40 years have spent holidays gazing out across the Atlantic towards the Skelligs and nearby Puffin Island.

Auctioneer Pauline Sugrue says it was a classic love-at-first-sight story for the couple who came on a holiday, fell for the area, and wanted to keep coming back.

For the first 15 years, they spent summer weeks in an old farmhouse they had bought and renovated. In the late 1990s they purchased a nearby site, higher up on the hillside, and built a four-bed detached dormer house with space, modern comforts and even better views of the Atlantic and the Skelligs.

“They call it Skelligs Retreat,” says Ms Sugrue explaining that nine years after building the property in 2000 they added on a sun room for better enjoyment of the views and a sauna for relaxation and a touch of luxury.

Extending to 182sq m, the house has a practical family-friendly layout. At one side is a spacious timber-floored kitchen/ diner with fitted units, a central island, and a picture window by the dining area. On the other side is a sitting room connected by a wide archway to a front sun room. A show-stealer, this has full height windows on three sides and two armchairs perfectly positioned to take in the views of the Atlantic and the islands.

An extension at one end of the property houses a utility room, a bathroom, and a well-equipped sauna which could comfortably seat five or six people.

The upper floor has a bathroom and four bedrooms, including three at the front with sea views, one of which is en suite.

Fitted with double glazed windows and oil fired heating the house has an upgraded B3 energy rating. “In recent years they insulated the attic and put in a heat pump,” notes Ms Sugrue.

Built in against a wall of rock on a gently sloping one-acre site, Skelligs Retreat has a lawned garden area at the front.

The house looks directly out onto Puffin Island — a rocky nature reserve located just 250m offshore which is used as a nesting ground by storm petrels, Manx shearwaters, and puffins.

Farther out are the sandstone peaked Skelligs which jut up dramatically from the Atlantic. In addition to being a significant draw for tourists in the summer months, they host thousands of gannets, puffins, and other seabirds during breeding season and are home to a grey seal colony.

Situated in The Glen, Ballinskelligs, close to the tip of the Iveragh peninsula, Skelligs Retreat is at the end of a cul-de-sac road shared by a small number of properties.

The nearest beach is St Finan’s Bay, 4km along the coast, which is popular for swimming and surfing. The nearest village is 7km away at Portmagee which has pubs, a shop, and a harbour where island trippers can take a boat to Skellig Michael.

The majority of the houses at this end of Iveragh peninsula are used as holiday homes and it’s extremely likely that, like the current owners, the next owner of Skellig Retreat will want to spend summer weeks looking out on the Atlantic and the islands.

On the market with a guide of €750,000, it has been used as a summer rental and could be again.

VERDICT: The secluded coastal setting and the spectacular Atlantic views make this a highly desirable holiday retreat.

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