Now the property boom hits Connemara market
Two cottages, both with breathtaking views (and price tags!) and each in need of a LOT of work…
BOTH have rooms with a view and the same price tag but only one has a roof. Which would you choose?
Two properties in Galway’s scenic Connemara have gone on the market for €395,000 despite both being in need of, er… major renovation.
The houses are in much soughtafter Ervallagh, near the village of Roundstone. It has even been dubbed ‘Connemara 4’ and G4 due to the number of Dublin residents who purchased holiday homes there in the boom.
Sherry FitzGerald agents have advised that the ‘Lake Cottage’,
‘Strong demand in the area from Dublin buyers’
which has been on the market for more than a year, is ‘in need of complete renovation’.
‘Ervallagh is a truly unique holiday location situated between Roundstone village and the white sand beach at Gurteen and Dog’s Bay,’ they highlight.
‘Roundstone is a small fishing village that always draws visitors and holidaymakers to experience one of the most stunningly beautiful settings on Ireland’s west coast,’ they added.
The property stands on a large elevated plot and is less than a minute’s walk from Ervallagh beach and pier. Not surprisingly it is BER exempt.
Adrian Mangan of Sherry FitzGerald Mangan in Clifden, Co. Galway, said because the walls and gables are still intact, the granting of planning permission to reinstate the building is greatly enhanced.
‘This also means that buyers with no immediate connection to the area have an opportunity to purchase the property as usually on “greenfield” sites, planning permission is confined to locals only. Demand in this area has always been strong with Dublin-based buyers. Record prices have been paid in the Roundstone area over the years,’ he said.
However, he said there can be ‘enormous difficulties in obtaining building permission due to the area’s designation as a Special Area of Conservation’.
A stone’s throw away is another cottage – one with a roof – also listed for €395,000 through the same agents. Again, it is in need of complete renovation. More than 50 houses have sold in Roundstone since 2010, varying in price from €35,000 up to €955,000.
It was in Roundstone that the singer Sting wrote most of the songs for The Police’s third album Zenyatta Mondatta, as well as the smash-hit Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. He has frequently referred to his time there in interviews.
‘It’s a beautiful place – one of the most beautiful places on the
planet,’ he said in Dublin last year. ‘I wrote almost all of these songs in the west of Ireland in 1980. The house was situated on an acre of land, protected from the ocean by a high seawall.
‘The views were spectacular across the bay to the distant mountains. My basement at home in London had no view at all: a few dustbins and a stairwell, and now, suddenly – this!
‘I worked every day after a bracing walk in the Irish air. When I thought I had enough songs, I drove my VW to Dublin and hired a little studio where I could demo my ditties for presentation to the band,’ he said.
Painters James MacIntyre, George Campbell and Paul Henry were also inspired by the village and its surroundings.
In 2007 a derelict two-storey cottage fetched €1.24m but a series of objections put paid to the Dublin owner’s plans to renovate the residence.
It is estimated that up to 70% of the properties in the village are holiday homes and more than 40 Roundstone homes are listed on Airbnb.
Sting wrote ‘almost all my third album here’