Donal Skehan: ‘You see all these nursery makeovers and all this sort of shite — and I didn’t even know where my kids were going to be sleeping next year’

Three years — and five rental properties — after relocating from LA, the TV chef and his family have finally moved into their forever home. He talks about his grand vision for their charming cottage, the anxiety he felt on his return to Ireland and the heartfelt letter that secured him his dream house

Donal Skehan in his new home in Howth. Picture: Nina Val

Tanya Sweeney

As he flings open the front door to his house, the sunny demeanour and smile are pretty much business as usual, even if he jokingly admits that his hospitality is a shade off-brand this morning. Firstly, Donal Skehan worries that he might not have teabags or milk when he offers me tea. As someone in a mainly coffee-drinking household, he tells me his dad often has to bring over his own tea when he visits. Then, Skehan offers some Tunnock’s Tea Cakes, a household favourite. What, no delicious homemade tray bake? “I haven’t had the time!” he says.

In any case, Skehan is in decidedly relaxed mode this morning, and there are probably one or two very good reasons for that. After moving his family (wife Sofie and sons Noah, who is five, and three-year-old Oliver) from Los Angeles back to his native Ireland in 2020, he has finally moved into his forever home. He and Sofie picked up the keys to their Howth house in February and, after a cosmetic renovation, moved the family into it in June. He is, very understandably, glad and relieved to be settled. Since his return to Ireland, there have been no fewer than five house moves around Ireland in the last three years.