Kenmare, Ring of Kerry €1.95m Size 212 sq m (2,270 sq ft) Bedrooms 5 Bathrooms 3 BER A2 YOU get the rough with the smooth at this harbour-facing, highly-efficient, A2-rated, and architect-designed home, a short drive out the Ring of Kerry Rd from Kenmare. Built over a decade ago now, but given final finishes and furnishings more recently and feeling quite “fresh out of the box”, this home is built on tightly-landscaped, groomed grounds above the Ring of Kerry Golf Course.
It’s on its own 1.5 acres of grounds above the first hole of the Eddie Hackett-designed golf course and upgraded clubhouse/restaurant on 120 acres. Its manicured green swards are a total contrast to the ruggedness of the surrounding landscape, the rocky shoreline along the Kenmare harbour/bay, the further skyline-jagged views of the Caha Mountains over along the Beara peninsula, and the majestic MacGillycuddy Reeks.
Estate agent Ron Kruger, of the Kenmare office of Engel and Voelkers, describes the house with this panorama as “uniquely positioned within the surrounds of the golf course” He’s selling for an unidentified private client, based overseas, who is likely to have had links to the course’s earlier days, given the property’s proximity and access — with right of way to this freehold home via the Ring of Kerry’s Golf Course’s own grounds and drive. The course was sold a few years’ back to the Asia-based owners of the Sheen Falls five-star Kenmare hotel, as well as that of the Castlemartyr Resort Hotel, and they have since invested in improving the course itself. The clubhouse/function venue, now branded as Nua Vista, is open to the public and doing a Mediterranean/seafood offer in the main restaurant.
It’s all part of the recent investment in Kenmare by a new generation in the hospitality business in and around the Iveragh Peninsula, the largest of the “fingers” of the South West, steeped in scenery, with Skelligs off the very tip by Valentia island. Kenmare has well-bedded down owners of the Sheen Falls and Ring of Kerry Golf Course based in Singapore. They saw value and synergy in having golf course ownership along with a leading luxury hotel in the town.
There are new owners too of the five-star Park Hotel, after the sale in 2023 by TV-duo and seasoned hoteliers John and Francis Brennan to US-based Irish buyer Bryan Meehan. John Brennan has kept ownership of the Dromquinna Manor, near the Ring of Kerry Golf Course on the road out towards Sneem and Parknasilla. Also in new hands is the historic Lansdowne Arms, sold back to a local family after brief ownership and upgrades by the Brennan brothers.
Next owners of this fresh-to-market Kerry home may or may not be golfers. If they are, they have the option of a course right on their doorstep or of the Kenmare Golf Club next door to the Park Hotel in the town, or another at Parknasilla (yup, another luxury hotel too), as well as the ones in and around Killarney or dotted elsewhere around Kerry and Cork. If buyers are not into golf, they don’t have to take membership of the adjacent golf club — as do most buyers of upmarket homes in various exclusive setting alongside courses such as the K-Club — says estate agent Ron Kruger.
However, saving on membership fees might not be a consideration for whomever buys this approximately 2,300 sq ft home. It’s priced at a lofty €1.95m, one of the higher price tags in the coastal South West.
The Price Register has only shown a handful of €1-2m sales with a Kenmare address over the past decade and more — the strongest of late was the €1.6m paid for Little Hay and Garden Cottage at Sheen Falls Lodge over five years ago. What’s here? Well, the smartly-designed home with extensive zinc pressed seam roof and deep eaves overhang has an Irish name, Teach Sinc, and was designed by an architect in Britain for the property’s owner who commissioned it and who got the planning around 2011.
The design is quite simple, superficially at least: A square block with low-pitch roof, split level inside, with the main living area, main bedroom, and kitchen all to the front under eaves deep enough to allow the large triple-glazed Schuco sliding doors to stay open in most weathers and not have rain washing in. While there’s always a compromise in having such deep sheltering eaves — they stretch out to galvanised support columns with rainwater down-pies neatly beside them — then blocking out direct light in non-winter months when the sun is higher in the sky, the installation of banks of roof-lights in the roof/ceiling slope above the living area is a neat resolution. Plus, blinds on these roof-lights can be used if there’s ever too much sun.
In this smart-tech house — with rooms individually wired, zoned, and controlled for remote control efficiency — all lights can be put on or off at once, or one by one, with just a click. There’s also air to water heating, delivered underfloor, and the A2 BER is testament to the design, build, and insulation efficiency. It’s entered into a lobby on a slight upper level or mezzanine above the vast open plan living/dining/kitchen area.
There are three bedrooms (two of them en-suite), study/snug, and plant area, plus guest WC to the right/back — mostly away from the golf course views, but with scenes instead variously of water, hilly greenery or mountains. Light and best bay/harbour views are all to the front and enjoyed from the large living space, with its patio sliders. The main bedroom to the side also has patio access via a glazed door, plus is en-suite with walkthrough wardrobes.
The other bedrooms also have external door access, as does the utility room off the kitchen, which gives a second main access option from the approach drive if arriving with shopping and other items to store. Presentation and condition is crisp, only part furnished to show scale. The living space features an exposed steel RSJ beam, has those five roof lights, and there’s a high internal wall with stone inlay, plus a free-standing wood-burning stove with flue to the side.
Engel & Voelkers’ Ron Kruger says it’s a secure “lock up and leave” option for an overseas buyer, or could as easily be a permanent home. While Kenmare is close, it also has a beach and pier within a walk at Templenoe, plus Pat Spillane’s bar, or — even closer — the Nua Vista golf course clubhouse and the hospitality it offers. VERDICT: Will a golfer swing buy and scoop up Teach Sinc, and sink it in one? Pics: Jakub Walutek.
