Clare Lynch is about to pack her satchel again. The English-born 48-year-old and her husband, David, came to west Cork in the 1990s and have already left home-improvement projects behind them, scattered around the region.
Their latest is the School House in the small fishing village of Union Hall, a 19th-century building that was used as a school until the end of the 1980s.
Clare is from Warwickshire and David was born in Birmingham, but his mother comes from Rosscarbery. They decided to relocate to Ireland when their two teenage children, Dan and Mae, were still young, in the late 1990s. They bought their present home in 2007.
Now they are ready to graduate to another old building that might benefit from their sensitive and quietly stylish DIY touch.
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“We are always looking at old buildings,” says Clare. “I really love old farm buildings and would like to have something on the coast, so we have put this place on the market to see what the interest is like. If we can sell it at the right price, we will. I suppose we have itchy feet again.”
While they fancy something more coastal, it is not as though they are very far inland as it is. Their five-bedroom, five-bathroom home, which dates from 1885, is about a 15-minute walk from several beaches and coves.
“The sea is a stone’s throw away,” she says. “You can go kayaking at Reen Pier and there is Glandore, which has lovely bars and restaurants. Castletownshend is just across the harbour.”
The old school was in a relatively poor state when they bought it, even though it had been restored in the early 1990s by a pair who ran a successful hostel and kayaking company there.
When the couple took possession, it had been empty for about two years. They had to replace some of the floors and carried out substantial work on the interior.
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“David has to get all the credit,” says Clare. “He is very good at this sort of thing and had renovated a few houses before this. When we got it, there were 12 bedrooms because it had been run as a hostel. What we tried to do was bring the layout back to what it was when it was a school.”
Clare and David’s ambitions were realised, apart from the upstairs, where all the sleeping accommodation is.
“There are basically two rooms downstairs: the main hall, as it would have been in the school, which can be divided by the original concertina shutters; then there is the kitchen-diner,” says Clare.
“The sense of space and light you feel when you walk into the living accommodation is breathtaking, though it is never overbearing,” says Maeve McCarthy, the selling agent. “The partition doors and wainscoted walls give it a very warm and homely feel.”
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Much of the light shines through the many huge windows, including some attractive arched ones. In spite of this — and high ceilings — wood-burning stoves make it feel cosy.
The homely furniture is a motley collection of recycled, salvaged and “upcycled” pieces, as well as some items from Ikea.
The School House comes with about an acre of gardens, made up of lawns, plenty of trees, shrubs and flowers. There is a sun terrace to the side.
Cork airport is about an hour’s drive away and the market town of Skibbereen is 15 minutes away by car. Among the five bedrooms is an impressive and spacious master bedroom, which has an en-suite bathroom. A mezzanine overlooks the main living area.
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ALSO ON VIEW
Co Cork €850,000
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Agent: dominicjdaly.com
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Agent: sherryfitz.ie
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We say: “Googleland” apartments are said to be renting well at the moment.
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They say: Exciting and extremely rare opportunity
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