SJP revamping family’s Irish bolthole

‘Sex in the City’ star and Hollywood husband building huge extension to their treasured holiday cottage

AS ‘SEX in the City’s’ Carrie Bradshaw, she dreamed of an apartment big enough to accommodate a lifetime’s supply of Jimmy Choo shoes. But now Sarah Jessica Parker is getting a kitchen big enough to fill an entire cottage – with life about as far removed from the Big Apple as you can get. The Hollywood A-lister and husband Matthew Broderick are giving their holiday hideaway in Co Donegal a dramatic renovation. The home, on the outskirts of the village of Kilcar, was bought by Broderick’s family more than 40 years ago. But it has remained untouched despite the celebrity couple bringing their family there whenever they can. Now the traditional house at Roelough, Kilcar, is set to take on an amazing modern look with a huge extension on both sides. The new design boasts four bedrooms, a den, living area, a new kitchen complete with courtyard linking the old and new designs. Indeed, the new kitchen will comprise all of the floorspace of the original cottage. The couple received planning permission for the design in 2015, but have only started the redevelopment recently. Workmen were getting ready to put roof tiles on the new wings of the house this week. The price of the renovation and extensions is not known. The architects for the design, which boasts a corrugated roof and traditional sash windows, are Dublin-based Donaghy and Dimond of Francis Street. The planning application states: “This cottage and out- buildings belongs to a family with a residence in this place for more than 40 years. The cottage has been kept with its surrounding outbuildings and ‘gardens’ and meadows around the house. “They wish to continue this tradition from one generation to the next by conserving the original and upgrading the existing accommodation. The plan is to give a new lease of sustainable life to this home.” The huge renovation suggests the Brodericks could be spending a lot more time in their Donegal hideaway in the coming years. Jessica Parker, Broderick and their children recently spent a number of weeks at the house. The couple were spotted in various parts of the county including Donegal Town and Ardara. She even took to Instagram to post a picture of herself and her family, including son James and their sevenyear-old twins Marion and Tabitha doing a 1,000 piece jigsaw on a rainy afternoon. She also posted pictures of them visiting a library and having tea and brown bread. In her final post, the actress wrote about all she will miss about Donegal and Ireland. The list included turf fires, skylines, local Donegal tweed and the “open smiles” of locals. Broderick previously spoke of his love of the location. “Donegal, it’s unbelievable. It gave me a whole new childhood in a way. Most of the people in Donegal knew me long before I was an actor. But even since then they don’t talk that much about it, which is very nice. My wife still gets it, some people’s eyes pop out of their head when she walks around, but not our neighbours.”