Strand yourself in high style at Rosscarbery's Warren Blue Flag beach

Irish Examiner

20-06-2025

EVEN the house name, Feora, has a sweetness and a resonance. The Irish word means 'a little bit of fertile land by the sea'.
Near the Warren
That's according to the couple who built this one-off dormer home to their own professional design 25 years ago, marking the millennium with a new family home, by the sea. And, yes, the land is fertile, as well as scenically set.
The duo — he's from Kerry , she's from suburban Douglas — got the chance to build their dream home by the sea just off the main West Cork N71 highway, as it starts its downhill drop to the causeway and lagoon at Rosscarbery, in the townland called Burgatia — another winsome name.
Twenty five years on, architectural technician Pat Sullivan and his wife, Noelle, a nurse, are set to trade down and Feora Burgatia is about to make some waves in and around Rosscarbery and the Warren Strand as a lifestyle package, with an unbeaten private track to the beach, a green and grassy strip shared with near neighbours.
Lovely and lush
Feora is one of just six houses built in woodland in a sloping cul de sac, each out of sight of the other, while a few can be glimpsed from the beach road off the N71 to the Warren Strand, on large lawns above a tiny, hamlet-like cluster of cute cottages.
Warren fun and frolics on the doorstep
From this walk, you can discern Feora in winter, when leaves come off the many deciduous trees on its far boundary. Come summer, it fades from view once more.
That's the same seasonal schedule for the water views from Feora, says Noelle: They see it through the heart of their home, from the kitchen straight through the dining area, past the patio and down the lawns to the tidal inlet by the causeway and Warren walk in the winter, but only glimpses right now, in high summer.
Viewings at the property have just started this week as the family, with adult children, prepare to 'right-size.' They are selling via joint agents Jeremy Murphy and Pat Maguire, who both live locally, 'though their offices are in Cork city and in Skibbereen, respectively. They know how lovely it is to come back to Ross at the end of a work day.
Life can be a beach
The agents guide the well-conceived, finished, and immaculately-kept Feora at €825,000, for a five-bed dormer of c 2,200 sq ft, with up to five bedrooms in a very attractive floor plan, on an acre of grounds lushly planted (the clue to the fertile ground is in the name).
The house is distinctive, thanks to its steep roof pitch of 60 and 30 degrees, with taller pitch meaning the first-floor rooms getting the most headroom.
The scene setter is the sit-out balcony off the main bedroom, perfect for morning cuppas or evening sundowners, and the room also has a walk-in robe and en-suite private bathroom.
Also distinctive is a small, circular roof window in a copper dome above a stairwell, a cross between porthole window and a periscope, giving a Jules Verne maritime air from outside.
The first floor proper has four bedrooms, one of them reached via a study/den, and there's a more accessible bedroom (No 5) at ground level, off the hall, with a bathroom with electric shower, ideal for guests or older family members.
At ground, as well, is a family room with stove, utility with outdoor access, and a detached home office/store, kitchen linked via a few stops to a dining area (the internal steps work with site's slope) and the biggest and best room is the sitting room, also down a few steps from the entry, with extra-high ceiling, cherry wood floor, large chimneypiece and double doors in a wide window bay to the gardens, with a bright, south-west aspect.
There's an adjacent, detached home office, with store room/workshed, and attic storage above. New owners may continue its office use, or upgrade (subject to planning) for guest use, Airbnb, family members, gym, or art studio.
Water glimpses
Feora is toward the top third/ upper end of its mature site, mostly planted by Pat and Noelle a few decades back, and has a lovely mix of native trees. Meanwhile, a bonus is access via a gap in a ditch leading to a slender green footpath, with right of way shared with a few other properties, so occupants can get to the popular Warren Strand, a Blue Flag beach with facilities, pitch and putt, lifeguard in season, occasional surf rescue camp, sauna pod and visiting coffee dock in a horse box.
Surf's up (occasionally)
Location wise, off the N71 beaten track, Feora (and Rosscarbery) is 60km from Cork City and airport, 45km from Kinsale and airport, 12km from Clonakilty in one direction and is near Glandore, Union Hall and Skibbereen in the other.
VERDICT: Superbly set, immaculate, spacious without being overwhelming and with a beach on the doorstep.