Swim from the end of the garden in Clearwater

WEST CORK:People who settle in Union Hall in west Cork will often tell you that, for all its postcard prettiness, it's a "real" kind of place, a proper fishing village rather than a holiday resort for chichi Cork folk or Dubliners who simply appear for a couple of weeks sailing during the summer.

Ask them if it's different from seriously posh Glandore, just across the bay and they might shudder. "Oh God yes, very different," says Paul Rattigan, the owner of Clearwater, a modern house plonked right on the sea about a mile from Union Hall. "It's very different. Much more interesting."

He and his family bought six-bedroom Clearwater as a holiday home 15 years ago. The two-acre property with gardens running down to the sea has since become their permanent home, an original guest-house in the gardens now used as an art studio. Now, however, with the children gone the 213sq m (2,293sq ft) house is just too big.

The search is on for a smaller house in the neighbourhood and Clearwater is on the market. The sale is being handled by joint agents Sherry FitzGerald O'Neill and Savills HOK. The asking price is €850,000. So far, Clearwater has been viewed by overseas buyers who continue to be drawn to the area in large numbers. "It's quite a cosmopolitan mix down here," says Rattigan. "There are French and German and Swiss people in the town. The supermarket sells Le Monde."

There are also Cork folk who commute to the city daily. For those who live there year round, it's a gentle existence, says Rattigan, who cycles into town for morning coffee or a drink at Dintys pub.

Clearwater is more like a city penthouse than a traditional holiday cottage. Tall windows throughout make the best of the spetacular position overlooking Myross Bay.There's a big open plan livingroom-cum-diningroom with striking open tread stairs to the upper floor with its bedrooms, two of which are en suite.

A gleaming new kitchen enjoys the same views while pale oak floor and white walls throughout add to the sense of space and light. The studio building, with five rooms and kitchens, offers plenty of scope as guest accommodation.

Clearwater, Union Hall, west Cork

Modernised six-bedroom house and guest house on two acres with water frontage.

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald O'Neill and Savills HOK