A home on a lagoon-cum-lobster fishery with views of the Burren for €700,000-plus is in a world of its own, says Deirdre McQuillan
A unique coastal property in the west of Ireland with its own private lagoon, causeway and a long and interesting history goes on the market this week.
Jackson Stops is quoting €700,000-plus for Pond House, which is on a sheltered foreshore inlet six miles from Ballyvaughan near New Quay in the Burren, Co Clare. Originally built in the mid l9th century as a holding area for shellfish and lobster by the Skerrits, one of the original tribes of Galway, the estate was part of the marriage settlement between the last surviving Skerrit, Helena, and her husband to be. She died before the marriage and ownership eventually passed into the hands of the Scovell family who revived its lobster operation for several generations; it has remained a lobster and shellfish facility ever since.
Pond House has its own quay and jetty, ideal for sailing enthusiasts, and large tidal holding tanks which double as sea water swimming pools.
Mark Helmore, the present owner, has lived here since l978 when he purchased the property from Francis X McCabe, a Maine lobster fisherman who returned to the US when his ambitious plans to develop lobster stocks along US lines using trawlers rather than currachs were frustrated. Helmore, who had been involved in oyster cultivation in Connemara, moved into the house and set about restoring both the building and the facility, which he has run successfully ever since.
As a visitor to Pond House for the first time last year, there's no denying its spectacular and romantic location out on the headland with utterly distracting views south across to Black Head on the Burren and Ballyvaughan Bay on the west. Originally built using local stone, gravel and beach sand, the house has immensely strong and impenetrable walls which are full of shells. What is most striking about the building, however, is its curious striped base, rising above the water, painted in ice-cream colours which give the impression of squaring up the front elevation. This is the work of the British artist, James Moores, a friend of Helmore's who painted it as an installation six years ago using a computerised reduction of Turner's painting of Norham Castle. This process revealed a blur of 24 bands of colour like a bar code to which the paint was then matched. A two-millimetre hairline gap between each colour imparts chromatic depth and the paint has remained unscathed by the sea.
Inside the house, it's not unusual to observe geese, curlews or other wildfowl fly past at eye level. Otters and seals are regular visitors to this wildlife paradise too.
But what is most captivating, according to Helmore, is the light off the sea from the lagoon and the sense of space. The house has a large drawingroom/sittingroom and cosy kitchen/diningroom, both with mesmerising views; in addition there is a large conservatory, two bathrooms and five bedrooms. There is gas fired central heating throughout. There are also extensive stone built outhouses with development potential and a derelict cottage with planning for a further house and studio.
Helmore's interests are as wide and varied as his circle of friends. Gardening is another passion and a step over the stile near the house is the entrance to a sheltered seaside garden with a lot of tender and unusual plants from places like New Zealand and South Africa.
"It's great fun gardening here," he says, "because you can fling your weeds and snails over the wall into the sea." Adjoining the garden is a small potager with huge crops of organic strawberries and other fruits and vegetables adding to the seductive sense of self-containment about the place. Pond House's new owners will have a whole world of their own. And lobster for dinner whenever they want.
