Lesser Spotted Ireland: I’m the first in my family to go to Shoeniversity

West Cork is well known for its outstanding natural beauty, great houses, maritime traditions and abundance of artisan craft and food producers. Its latest attraction is a shoemaking school, the only one of its kind in Ireland, located in the east stables on the grounds of spectacular Bantry House. There the art of making footwear by hand, using skills developed from 19th-century methods of couture training, is being revived by a couple who are passionate about the craft.

Shoeniversity, founded by Julian Berwick and Marie Brennan, offers one- to five-day workshops, as well as tuition for industry professionals. I sign up for the beginner’s day course.

“This is a two-stranded business,” says Berwick when we meet in the handsome stables, which formerly housed a maritime museum but are now filled with all sorts of machines, tools and display cabinets of vintage footwear. “I have a lot of teaching experience, and we want to develop a shoe brand called Equipage, and teach.”

So far Equipage consists of four designs: a “barefoot” shoe, a style popular among IT executives in the US; slippers; ponyskin boots (actually made of unshaved cowhide); and moccasins inspired by Aran pampooties.

A scholar of shoes

Berwick comes from a long line of artisans. He trained at the Cordwainers school in London. It becomes obvious during my day there that there is little he doesn’t know about the history and craft of shoemaking. Brennan, meanwhile, a cultural strategist and specialist in arts management, tethers the business side.

The pair are from the UK, but both have Irish ties: Berwick’s parents emigrated from Dundalk in the 1950s, and Brennan’s emigrated from Bunratty. When Berwick was studying shoemaking, he discovered that his grandmother was what is called a closer: someone who stitches shoes. “This is her closing hammer,” he says, smiling, and brandishing a small, heavy tool. “And you’ll get to have a go.”

Over the years I have interviewed leading figures in the industry – Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo – and visited more shoe factories than I can remember, including the famous shoemakers of Padua, who spit out the nails. However, this is the first time I have got to make a pair of shoes from start to finish. It is a revelation.

The last comes first

In shoemaking, the last always comes first. A last is a 3D form that encapsulates the shape of the finished shoe, which includes anatomical measurements to suit any foot of that size. Having measured my shoe size with a size stick, Berwick selects a suitable last from a pile beside bolts of leather.

“Older people have smaller feet,” he says. “In the past 20-30 years, feet have become bigger. The average size in the 1940s and 1950s was 4-5; now, since the 1960s, it’s 5-7.”

We are to make a pair of leather slippers “as beautiful as you can make with no experience”, he promises as we begin.The first step is to cut out the leather from a paper pattern with a knife, a process known as clicking. Then we bevel the edges of the insole covers – called sock covers – on a skiving machine. The vamp or uppers are then given a decorative trim or gimp on a perforating machine. The component parts are now ready to make up.

The sock cover is glued to the insole, and then the upper attached to the insole. This is a tricky bit, which involves pleating the toe area with a lasting pincers and pulling the leather over the last, which is then hammered as flat as possible. “The more you prepare the more it helps to give finesse to the finished product, which is time- consuming,” says Berwick, supervising my efforts. The pressure weighing on a shoe heel from the body is colossal, he adds: several tons per square inch.

Great concentration is needed when it comes to gluing, which involves a heat gun and feathery brushwork. Care must be taken to avoid getting glue on the exterior leather, which is not an easy task.

The shoe factories in Berwick’s home city of Leicester were once the biggest in the world, he says as we proceed. Once there were more than 100. “Now there are none.”

Throughout the day, while Brennan times each step of the process, Berwick describes the difference between the handmade method versus the mass-manufacturing method; he is skilled in both. Berwick has worked with Moroccan-born shoemaker Joseph Azagury in London, and later, as a freelance designer, he made shoes for Peter O Brien at A-Wear and wedding shoes for private clients in Kilkenny.

Shanking it

Back to work after a light picnic lunch, we proceed to the next stage, when the shank – a piece of bevelled beech (they have also used wooden lollipop sticks) – is glued to the insole and a filler made from cork tamped around it (also tricky to do).

The sole of Canadian vegetable-tanned buffalo hide is then attached by sandwiching the insole and the finished outsole together. “The sole application is always the most fraught,” says Berwick.

The final touch is hammering in a small brass pin as a heel protector and marking the outsole with the crow-wheel motif, which indicates a handmade shoe. My pale-yellow suede slippers are complete.

Shoeniversity is planning to make limited-edition handmade slippers for the Christmas market, and recently won a special bursary prize at the Tourism Industry Awards in Dublin. As a new way of enjoying a weekend in west Cork, there isn’t a boring moment.

I stay in a delightful boutique B&B in Akahista, a 10-minute drive away on the Sheep's Head peninsula. An Gallán Mór is run by Noel and Lorna Bourke. A young leveret, which has taken up residence around the house, is a great attraction over breakfast. On Sunday morning, I go to Mizen Head, Ireland's most southwesterly point, and marvel at the views before setting back to Dublin, the slippers safely wrapped in tissue paper beside me.

• Get inspiration for your Lesser Spotted Irish break at discoverireland.ie

BANTRY AND BEYOND

Bantry is about 90 minutes from Cork city, so if driving from Dublin, allow about four and a half hours to get there. Shoeniversity offers a variety of courses, from a one-day introductory course to shoemaking to two- and five-day courses. It also offers special courses tailored to fashion industry professionals such as footwear buyers. shoeniversity.ie

Bantry is the gateway to the Sheep's Head peninsula, an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Mizen Head Centre, at Ireland's most southwesterly point, is famous for dolphin and whale spotting and for its spectacular scenery. Its maritime museum has a gripping account of the sinking of the Lusitania. mizenhead.net

An Gallán Mór, where I stay in Akahista (so called for the ancient standing stone on the property) serves up a magnificent breakfast made from fresh local produce, including honey from their own bees. Their speciality is Dutch Baby, a pancake that puffs up like a soufflé and is served with icing sugar and buttered apples. Rates are from €60 per person sharing. gallanmor.com