€395,000, west Cork, Co Cork
Lis na Cre, Stoball Hill, Ballydehob: a four-acre property comprising a two-bedroom traditional two-storey farmhouse and a two-bedroom cottage.
West Cork is replete with romantic properties oozing native charm. Situated three miles northwest of Ballydehob, Lis na Cre is one such residence. The traditional-style, two-bed farmhouse seduced its current owner in 2006.
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The property, set on four acres, is asking €395,000 through agents Charles McCarthy.
There are two houses for sale. The main two-storey property, about 92sq m (1,000 sq ft) makes the most of its traditional features, which include tongue-and-groove panelled ceilings at hall level and the same panelling leading up the stairs and covering all walls and ceilings of one of the bedrooms. The rooms have retained their original panelled doors and the low-set windows offer beguiling views of the surrounding countryside. Each has a wood-burning stove.
The kitchen, shielded from the living room by a heavy draught-excluding curtain, has hand-painted units and space for a table that can easily accommodate eight. Across what the original owners would have called “the street” is the pink house, a two-bed property, renovated from derelict outhouses, that the owner rents out for a minimum three-night stay for €285. The house rents for €750 per week in high season.
The four acres comprise a kitchen garden, meadow and woodland where the ground is carpeted with bluebells, wild garlic and other species.
€235,000, west Cork
Villa Mimosa, Main Street, Castletownshend: a five-bed terraced Georgian house with harbour views in need of modernisation.
The pretty west Cork village of Castletownshend has been used as a film location for several productions, most notably scenes from the 1994 film, The War of the Buttons, and perhaps more famously the 1980s TV series The Irish RM.
Stone-built Georgian houses line the main street as it slopes down to the harbour. The three-storey Villa Mimosa is one such property, and is within a stone’s throw of the harbour.
Partially refurbished a decade ago, the terraced house measures about 186sq m (2,002sq ft) and needs modernising. The property has a large entrance hall, a kitchen and the first of its five bedrooms, with en suite, is also on the ground floor.
To take advantage of the sea views, the living room is on the first floor as are two more bedrooms. There are a further two bedrooms on the second floor.
€149,000, Inishbofin, Co Donegal
Teach Johnny, Inishbofin: a five-bed detached house with sea views
REA McElhinny
There is a lesser-known Inishbofin island in Co Donegal that is situated about a mile out to sea from Magheraroarty pier in the northwest corner of the country. It offers someone with “the chance to give their kids total and utter freedom – the kind I had when I was a child, when you were gone from the house from morning til tea-time,” says owner Tony Smith, who fell in love with and purchased Teach Johnny in 1999. He used his building skills to refurbish the property, and opened it as a 28-bed hostel in 2002. There are five bedrooms, four rooms upstairs and one downstairs, along with an open-plan kitchen and lounge and a separate sitting room to the front which overlooks the pier and the ocean. Facing due south, the front garden basks in the wild Atlantic Way. Accessible only by boat, there are just 15 properties on the island primarily inhabited only during the summer.
The property is asking for €149,000 through Milford-based agents REA McElhinney.
