Cuan Delfin, Mullaghglass, Renvyle, Co Galway
Description: A four-bedroom detached house on about half an acre with sea views to Clare, Inishturk and Inishbofin islands and the south Mayo coast.
Agent: Joseph Joyce and Co
An American couple who met in Naples, Florida, when selling houses there, discovered Cuan Delfin on Connemara’s Renvyle peninsula quite by chance.
Chris Smith first holidayed in Ireland in 1987, when he brought his father back for a visit.
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Renvyle House had been suggested as a place to stay. It was once the home of Oliver St John Gogarty and played host to Augustus John, Lady Gregory, Winston Churchill and WB Yeats – who honeymooned there.
The Smiths loved it so much they ended up buying a timeshare in one of the cottages on the property, so for three weeks every June the pair enjoyed all that Connemara had to offer.
When they set about buying a more permanent place, they learned of a house under construction on the Renvyle peninsula – unusual in that it was almost impossible to get planning permission in the locale, Smith explains.
The story goes that the land, once used to keep donkeys, had been acquired somehow following a card game at Renvyle House. And so it went that one person’s bad luck turned out to be an American couple’s good fortune.
The Smiths completely reimagined the interior, taking out 14 doors from the original plans to create an open-plan layout. They installed German-engineered kitchen cabinets with granite countertops and an electric four-door Aga.
They also put country-style pitch pine roofing on the vaulted ceilings. A coat of paint could completely update these rooms.
Its spectacular views are the property’s unique selling point. It has some of the finest in Connemara, with vistas on a clear day to the south Mayo coast and Clare island, Inishturk and Inishbofin.
The house, whose name means Dolphin’s Cove, is well named, as schools of the mammals frolic in the waters below the house.
The couple added a sunroom about 10 years ago and a new master bedroom and ensuite downstairs. There are now two bedrooms upstairs and a further two downstairs.
Chris, who his now 80, and his wife, feel it is time to return to Naples in the Florida Keys.
The asking price is €595,000 through agents Joseph Joyce and Co. The property measures 228sq m (2,454sq ft) and would make a superb holiday home. It is spoiled for gorgeous beaches nearby, including the stunning Glassilaun, where scenes from the movie Tristan and Isolde were filmed.
Renvyle village is a five-minute drive.
