A home in dear old Ireland

They had to go but their heart is in Ireland . . . and now a home on Paddy’s green shamrock shore may be just about affordable

IN THE SPIRIT of shamrocks, shillelahs and all things begorrah, to mark St Patrick’s Day we trawled the country for properties that are quintessentially Irish.

And what could be more Irish than Jaunty Cottage, a pretty, thatched cottage located in Quiet Manterritory, Cong in Co Mayo? Okay, so the thatch was handcrafted in Brittany out of Scottish reeds and it wasn't built until some five decades after John Wayne dragged Maureen O'Hara through a field in the 1952 film – but it looks the part.

The asking price is €265,000, reduced from €350,000, through Galway estate agent Helen Cassidy, who, in her brochure, describes Jaunty Cottage as “ideal for romancing loved ones by the fire or reading poetry, lolling in the long meadow grass dotted with daisies and fragrant cowslips”.

Named after the jaunting carriage wheels placed around the garden, the 136sq m (1,464sq ft) cottage, on an acre, has a duck-egg blue kitchen, a livingroom with sash windows, and four bedrooms with exposed beams, one of which is en suite.

You can’t get much more Irish than a pre-famine island cottage. Charlie McCarthy is asking €200,000 for a stone-built, 800sq ft cottage with outbuildings on Cape Clear, Co Cork. It has views over the south of the island, towards Fastnet and the Ocean, a new roof, open-beamed ceilings, a lofted first story and is within walking distance of the pier at North Harbour.

Even more historical is Cloghan Castle estate in Banagher, Co Offaly. It dates back to the 14th century – and its price has been slashed from €3.5 million to €1.75 million. Helen Cassidy is the selling agent.

Standing on 157 acres, Cloghan was one of the first castles built by an Irish (as opposed to a Norman) chieftain, Eoghain O’Madden, and later figured in the Elizabethan, Cromwellian and Jacobite wars.

In 1852 it was bought by Dr Robert Graves, who discovered Graves’ Disease, and was later sold by his grandson in 1908.The current owner, who bought it in 1972, has done a magnificent restoration of the castle which has a Great Hall, a court room, diningroom, drawingroom, kitchen, six bedrooms, four bathrooms and three private gardens.

It qualifies for tax exemptions if open to the public for part of the year.

Knight Frank is selling a mid-18th-century farmhouse, Gilltown, in Beauparc, Navan, Co Meath which, as well as the original house, has a double height modern extension and is on 11.3 acres, with farm buildings. Asking €630,000, the four-bedroom farmhouse has lawned gardens to the front. Inside, the decor is in keeping with the age of the property with a stand-alone clawfoot bath in the William Morris-style en suite, and a country-style kitchen. The drawing room is a massive space with a 5.4 metre ceiling.

Our last property, 45 Millennium Tower, Dublin 4, a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin’s south docklands, might jar alongside the historical and the quaint. So why include it? Because it’s a good example of modern urban Irish living.

Apartments still aren’t our favourite kind of home, but docklands apartments – many typical of the Tiger era – are among the most successful.

Also, overseas investors are targeting the docklands in their hunt for bargain property. Located close to city, this 72sq m (775sq ft), two-bed, fifth-floor apartment, with parking and floor-to-ceiling views of the dock, has an asking price of €410,000 through Owen Reilly.