Brittas Bay

On sunny weekends from now on, what appears to be half the population of Dublin will journey down the N11 for a family day out in Brittas Bay. Tailbacks from Kilmacanogue to Donnybrook have become a familiar scene on summer Sunday evenings as weary picnickers trail back home.

Once school is out for summer, the privileged few with holiday houses in Brittas Bay decamp there for the season. Breadwinners who used to commute to and from the city at weekends are finding that, with improved roads, its now possible to travel up and down on a daily basis. Buyers are paying top prices for a house in the area - up to £400,000 for a typical Brittas Bay bungalow in good condition. A site, if you can get one, will set you back at least £100,000.

There are good reasons for the high prices. Brittas Bay is probably one of the choicest "away-from-it-all" areas to live within reach of the city. The blue flag beaches are among the best in Europe, the Wicklow mountains are a few miles inland and the 30 or so miles to Dublin take about an hour.

Brittas Bay Park, a new development of 50 small bungalows launched last week, was sold out from plans within two days, and selling agent Ross McParland now has a waiting list of buyers keen to find something in the area. One of the biggest obstacles to development - and perhaps the reason why Brittas Bay has remained relatively unspoiled - is the lack of services in the area. A septic tank and a bore well has to be dug for each new house or small scheme.

The Wicklow County Plan has included no specific zoning for the Brittas Bay area and officials say applications for planning are "considered on their merits." Residents have set up a Brittas Bay Development Committee to protest at what they see as the relevant ease with which developers are granted planning for holiday home schemes while locals are refused permission to build on individual plots of land. This, they say, is depleting the indiginous population by forcing young people who grew up in the area to move away.

Another local concern is the prospect of the pollution of wells from too many septic tanks in the sandy soil of Brittas Bay. The development committee are in the process of setting up a group water scheme, partly funded by EU grants. They are also tackling the issue of Magheramore Beach. Public access to the beach has been closed off by the land owner, who's planning application for a house on the site was refused by An Bord Pleanala. Two further applications are in the pipeline, according to Paul Leahy, chairman of the development committee.

Of the 250 to 300 permanent residents of Brittas Bay, many are Dubliners who have spent happy summers in the area and moved there to live on retirement. As a result, there is a mix of locals and more recent residents who co-exist well. The holiday houses and caravan sites have a permanent air, with families coming down in summer for many generations.

The winding roads behind the main coastal strip is where most of the locals live. Here, you will find unspoiled scenery, old castles and graveyards and plenty of places to walk. The Brennan family who are over 400 years in the area, still farm here. Mick Brennann was 77 yesterday.

Visitors to the picturesque Three-Mile-Water cemetery will pause at the lovingly-tended graves of three young Brittas Bay people, Graham Donohue, Michael Cullen and Oisin Cooney, who all died in the past year.

Traces of an older fishing village can be seen on the hill behind McDaniels pub. An eruption of the volcanic hill formed the rocky promontaries which enclose the bay. The history of the area involves an interesting blend of ecclesiastics and rogues. There is strong evidence of two bishops setting up monasteries before the time of St Patrick. Glendalough's St Kevin was born here and educated at Three-Mile-Water church, then known as Innisboathoin. Jack White's pub was a smugglers inn, named after Jack White who kept a room there. A warrant for his arrest was eventually issued by Lord Shrewsbury.

Upmarket mobile home parks have replaced the car-parks and touring vans. Some of these are small excellently-run parks run by local families such as Staunton's and The Dunes.

Jack's Hole and Ballinacarrig Park are among the best-known larger schemes, very upmarket and exclusive and costing more than some three-bed semis in Wicklow and Arklow.

People who buy into these beach-side holiday schemes are paying premium prices for top-class facilities such as tennis courts, private beaches, clubhouses and boat moorings. The security and social exclusivity of such a scheme is a major plus for the residents, with many high income business people commuting at weekends in the summer.

An average mobile home at Ballinacarrig Park now costs around £60,000, although some top-of-the-range models are valued at £120,000 or more. Up to now, these were acquired on a 10-year licence basis, with annual rents averaging £3,000. Maurice Pratt of Tesco, accountant Noel Smyth and property developers the Cosgrave Brothers are among the many well-known residents. After a period of discussion between licencees and Ballinacarrig Park's owner Malachy Stone, the 175 licencees have negotiated 35-year leases at a substantial premium.

Buy in Brittas Bay during the winter months if you can, because prices tend to rise in the more saleable summer period. Most houses come up for sale around now and there is a good supply on the market this month. Bungalows are the most usual form of accommodation and most have large gardens attached.

H.J.Byrne is selling a four-bedroom bungalow at Cornagower Park on 0.3 of an acre, 150 yards from the beach, for an asking price of £325,000. This cul-de-sac has its own leisure club with a swimming pool, Jacuzzi and fitness centre. Gunne Residential has another for sale in the same development on 0.75 of an acre, with an asking price of £420,000.

Clarke Auctioneers has a four-bedroom bungalow at Ballinacarrig on 0.75 of an acre on the market for £370,000. New to the market with Sherry FitzGerald Myles Doyle is a four-bedroom bungalow on the coast road near McDaniel's pub overlooking the sea, with a price tag of £275,000.

Last summer, a two-bedroom cottage with direct access to the beach at Jack's Hole fetched a record price of £530,000. A four-bedroom house at Jack's Hole sold at a wintertime price in the mid-£200,000s with Jackson-Stops last December.

The best buys if you can get them are older houses in need of renovation. A four-room cottage needing work on half an acre at Sallymount achieved £170,000 at auction two weeks ago with Sherry Fitzgerald Myles Doyle.

A mile or so inland, there is usually better value to be found, although without the undoubted attraction of being within strolling distance of the beach. Lisney is auctioning Ballyflanagan House, a 1975 bungalow on two acres about a mile and a half from the village. There are tennis courts, a US-style barn and eight loose boxes and the pre-auction price guide is £375,000.

Further up the coast at Blainroe, Harrington Lait is auctioning Mon Abri, a three-bedroom bungalow on 0.75 of an acre "a stone's throw" from the beach and golf club, guiding £275,000. Harrington Lait recently sold a three-bedroom bungalow with entitlement to golf club membership at The Briary, Blainroe, for just under £190,000.

It's not the cheapest place on earth to buy a holiday home, but for accessability, Brittas Bay, is hard to beat.