Who needs water or electricity or a roof or floors?
Discussion
When you can buy a little bit of rough land and a derelict hovel halfway up an Irish mountain? Not us, that’s for sure.
Failing you all letting me know that if it’s not grand or interesting enough, I’ll detail our little project, and the already feckless budget creep… If nothing else, it’ll be handy to have a record of the project/ my descent into madness as I peruse the never ending bills in the incessant sideways rain.
I’m almost ashamed to put this on here compared to some of the mansions that the PH collective seem to own and/or build as a matter of course. Even worse, it hasn’t got a garage (yet) or caves or a Nazi tunnel, and in total will be smaller than most of the garages on here when it’s finished.
The surroundings aren’t bad though.
Failing you all letting me know that if it’s not grand or interesting enough, I’ll detail our little project, and the already feckless budget creep… If nothing else, it’ll be handy to have a record of the project/ my descent into madness as I peruse the never ending bills in the incessant sideways rain.
I’m almost ashamed to put this on here compared to some of the mansions that the PH collective seem to own and/or build as a matter of course. Even worse, it hasn’t got a garage (yet) or caves or a Nazi tunnel, and in total will be smaller than most of the garages on here when it’s finished.
The surroundings aren’t bad though.
To start at the start, I currently live in London and I’m Irish by descent - my parents came here back in the 50’s for work. My dad was a senior civil engineer and worked on many large post war projects. He followed that by, amongst other things, setting up a Citroen dealership for South Wales in the 60’s so we got to waft about in Citroen DS’s (yes, I’m an old git) when most of my friend’s dad’s cars still looked like Wolseley Hornets. The beatings were almost worth it.
“One day we’ll go home” my parents used to say constantly and in the interim we spent nearly all our holidays over in Ireland with our myriad cousins after travelling on the vomit comet aka the Swansea Cork Ferry. Sadly, however, my mum died at just 47 from a stroke and my dad never really recovered from that so neither of them made it “home” in the end.
All that goes some way towards explaining why, many decades later, my English other half and I are finally trying to achieve our long held dream of a small bolt hole over there.
Luckily for me, my wife (from Norfolk) loves the place at least as much as I do. Mind you, for her the attraction may be down to being surrounded by land taller than her family house.
The Norfolk Alps (aka Beacon Hill 105m)
“One day we’ll go home” my parents used to say constantly and in the interim we spent nearly all our holidays over in Ireland with our myriad cousins after travelling on the vomit comet aka the Swansea Cork Ferry. Sadly, however, my mum died at just 47 from a stroke and my dad never really recovered from that so neither of them made it “home” in the end.
All that goes some way towards explaining why, many decades later, my English other half and I are finally trying to achieve our long held dream of a small bolt hole over there.
Luckily for me, my wife (from Norfolk) loves the place at least as much as I do. Mind you, for her the attraction may be down to being surrounded by land taller than her family house.
The Norfolk Alps (aka Beacon Hill 105m)
Edited by FBP1 on Tuesday 26th August 17:43
Every time we went to Ireland on holiday we did the usual touristy stare in estate agent’s windows and dream. We made a few slightly half hearted offers on various places all around the SW of Ireland, but, to our ultimate relief, we weren’t successful. That was despite seeing some really nice cottages, including the climber Joe Simpson’s place.
What we realised over time was that we were really only interested in a very particular area where houses didn’t come up very often on the open market, and that it was worth waiting for something there. That area was where my mother came from, where we spent our childhood holidays, and is in West Kerry.
The problem is that very few houses come up for sale in the specific area we were interested in. We did bid on another property, which had a great plot, but we didn’t really like the house so it would have been a complete knockdown and rebuild (which is ironic given that you will see how our eventual place could be twinned with downtown Mogadishu… well, until Mogadishu complains that is).
Anyway, we were swiftly outbid to an alarming extent by an American who decided that they really really liked it.
Then one Sunday afternoon a few months later my other half was surfing the online property sites and she spotted a cheerful looking, but tiny, cottage in the right area.
(estate agent’s photo).
What we realised over time was that we were really only interested in a very particular area where houses didn’t come up very often on the open market, and that it was worth waiting for something there. That area was where my mother came from, where we spent our childhood holidays, and is in West Kerry.
The problem is that very few houses come up for sale in the specific area we were interested in. We did bid on another property, which had a great plot, but we didn’t really like the house so it would have been a complete knockdown and rebuild (which is ironic given that you will see how our eventual place could be twinned with downtown Mogadishu… well, until Mogadishu complains that is).
Anyway, we were swiftly outbid to an alarming extent by an American who decided that they really really liked it.
Then one Sunday afternoon a few months later my other half was surfing the online property sites and she spotted a cheerful looking, but tiny, cottage in the right area.
(estate agent’s photo).
Edited by FBP1 on Tuesday 26th August 17:44
aderbyshirelad said:
In! We move over to live full-time in a week ? Not too far away - we’ll be in West Cork. Scary as hell but cannot wait to be honest ?
Good man - currently the wife is still working so this is my retirement project to get finished in order to tempt her to join me on the beach with my bucket and spade.West Cork is lovely too - we did contemplate it quite seriously, but the close family ties to here and the mountains kept calling to us. I have more family in Baltimore and Goleen so we’re regularly down that way.
LimmerickLad said:
Not our locale at present (hope to in the near future though) but lots of family not too far away from you.
We’ll have to meet up for a dog walk or two when you’re here - we previously talked about Labrador rescue although the crowd we used for our lunatic lab didn’t work for you.FBP1 said:
LimmerickLad said:
Not our locale at present (hope to in the near future though) but lots of family not too far away from you.
We’ll have to meet up for a dog walk or two when you’re here - we previously talked about Labrador rescue although the crowd we used for our lunatic lab didn’t work for you.
“It’s the one” she cried, waving a large glass of red wine around, as I took her iPad off her and mopped her down.
Hmm, looks straight and not a bad view from the front door - on a clear day I could even probably see my mother’s old family house- and the “garden” might be ok once de-rocked and tidied up.
Hmm, looks straight and not a bad view from the front door - on a clear day I could even probably see my mother’s old family house- and the “garden” might be ok once de-rocked and tidied up.
FBP1 said:
aderbyshirelad said:
In! We move over to live full-time in a week ? Not too far away - we’ll be in West Cork. Scary as hell but cannot wait to be honest ?
Good man - currently the wife is still working so this is my retirement project to get finished in order to tempt her to join me on the beach with my bucket and spade.West Cork is lovely too - we did contemplate it quite seriously, but the close family ties to here and the mountains kept calling to us. I have more family in Baltimore and Goleen so we’re regularly down that way.
that it wasn’t a ‘straight forward house’ 😂 Guess we’ll find out next week 😳
alscar said:
How big is the garden / land ?
Road access I’m presuming is “ok “ ?
Interior photos ?
All very sensible questions and some less than sensible answers will be revealed shortly. Road access I’m presuming is “ok “ ?
Interior photos ?
Having said that, it’s safe to say that I won’t be troubling any of you for suggestions for Clarkson style tractors to mow the upper meadows or advice on where to build the swimming pool/underground garage/polo field/ sex dungeon.
Actually.. no, never mind.
aderbyshirelad said:
Looks like a great project! Think our place will need a bit more work than expected - the previous owner said in emails, after purchase,
that it wasn’t a ‘straight forward house’ ? Guess we’ll find out next week ?
I will lay decent money that it won’t need as much as this one so take that as consolation. that it wasn’t a ‘straight forward house’ ? Guess we’ll find out next week ?
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff