Holiday home location in West Cork

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Brianne

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I would welcome comments from anyone who knows W.Cork. We are thinking of buying a 2nd house for use as a holiday home and in the long term , a summer residence for six months of the year. We are not interested in letting it and this would be a long term thing. We live in the East and would like the idea of escaping to a rural environment from April to Sept and then back to town living for the winter.
We don't want to buy any of those holiday cottages but would like somewhere within 10 miles of the sea, which isn't inundated with tourists, and in other words, someplace where maybe we could make friends or good neighbours. Have been to W. Cork on holidays and loved it but have no experience of it outside the holiday season so would like to hear of any dos or don'ts.
Equally , we're open to suggestions re any other coastal county.
 
Brianne said:
I would welcome comments from anyone who knows W.Cork. We are thinking of buying a 2nd house for use as a holiday home and in the long term , a summer residence for six months of the year. We are not interested in letting it and this would be a long term thing. We live in the East and would like the idea of escaping to a rural environment from April to Sept and then back to town living for the winter.
We don't want to buy any of those holiday cottages but would like somewhere within 10 miles of the sea, which isn't inundated with tourists, and in other words, someplace where maybe we could make friends or good neighbours. Have been to W. Cork on holidays and loved it but have no experience of it outside the holiday season so would like to hear of any dos or don'ts.
Equally , we're open to suggestions re any other coastal county.
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My parents have a house in glengariff and they would say it ticks all the boxes that you are looking for.
They go down a few times a year and will be doing what you are planning, spending 6 months a year down there, when they retire.
Take this summer to rent a house in a area you like to test it out as its the only way to see for sure.
 
Glengariff is lovely and we have thought of it but it is pricey. If the Cork crowd are back from Cardiff yet, I'd love to hear a few opinions. Thanks
 
Thanks for the replies, yes we are going down again this summer and will rent a house. It is so nice there in Summer but I'm not sure that I could hack it all year round. However it would be lovely to find somewhere that is not just a complete tourist village and has some life during the winter.
I don't think we will be buying for at least another year, and with a bit of luck it might be more affordable
 
Where are you going in the summer ? That would give a better understanding .
eg: Clonakillty v's Allihies - no comparison.
Some places vary hugely from summer to winter, others not so much. We adore W.C. but the journey prevent us from travelling there as much as we would like.
 
Hi,

I am from west Cork. As a previous poster said there are hugh variations between locations, I for one would not like to live in Allihies, probably ok for the summer, but a no no for the winter, with the atlantic mist hovering over most of the time :). Miles from airport etc.
how close do you want to be to the sea? There are beautiful rural areas within 10-15 miles of the sea, mountains etc. I find that if one is happy to be within an hour or so of Cork, airport etc the people tend to be more relaxed. I would suggest Ballineen/ Dunmanway/ Drimoleague, probably south of the main road. Here you have a good rural area within 10-13 miles of the sea.
One thing that I think people forget when purchasing retirement home is that they buy way out in a very rural area with no people close by. Personally I prefer to have some houses within a few minutes walk, in case of emergency. Nothing like having a neighbour to call on or keep an eye on the place when you are not around. PM me if you think I can help further.

All the best, optimistic
 
I for one would not like to live in Allihies
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....but when the sun shines, it is like heaven on earth!! For summer time living (as OP suggests, it woul be streets ahead of, say Dunmanway.
Then again there is that 6/7 hour journey from Dublin, and definately not the place to have a heart attack (Bantry is the first Hospital & an Ambulance will take at least an hour to get to you).
Then again, it's so quiet & peaceful, what would ya be stressing about?
 
sure I agree with sam h, when the sun is shining, where else would you want to be, but Allihies. But for me a little to far for access.
 
Glengariff gets my vote.

We also spent some time looking for a holiday home. My first choice was the Crookhaven/Barley cove/Goleen area but it's just too remote.

Glengariff ticked most of the boxes and so far we haven't been disappointed. Depends what you're looking for though. We rented for a week in July and a week in Nov before deciding.
 
Clonakilty is a nice town to be near. 35 miles from Cork. Places around it are within driving distance of the beach (Inchydoney/Owenahincha). Nice restaurants and a lot going on in the town over the winter months. Property in the town is expensive but the surrounding areas should be affordable - that's if the locals realise that property prices have taken a fall lately. Some West Cork towns are dismal, wet and misty in the winter. Post again if you've more questions.
 
Thanks to all who replied. Yes , I think that even though the heart says Goleen and Allihes, the bottom line is that for two townies who hope to actually live there for several months a year, even though that is well in the future, we would be better not to go anywhere too remote.
 
We rented a house near Ballydehob last year as my father was originally from the area. It's a nice little non touristy village, several pubs, one good restaurant, and only four miles from Schull ( about 10/15 miles further on for the beautiful beaches of Barleycove), and ten miles from both Bantry and Skibbereen. Prices are probably more reasonable than Glengarrif or Schull.

An alternative to Allihies in the Beara peninsula would be Eyeries (where my mother is from), a lovely little village with plenty of year round residents and an active local community both there and in Castletownbere five miles away.
 
We are going to rent there this summer and also go down for weekends and while there do a bit of a tour. Glengariff is gorgeous and so are so many places, in the end I suppose money will dictate. However its nice to hear others opinions. Thanks to all and if anyone has any more info, keep it coming. Now I'd better go off and buy that lotto ticket!!!
 
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