City people have a standard holiday home fantasy of finding a semi-derelict cottage for halfnothing which they can do up themselves. The problem these days is that there is nothing for "half-nothing", and a derelict cottage anywhere in the countryside is likely to cost from £20,000. But you might just come across the home of your dreams in the hilly landscape of Cavan and Monaghan. Prices have risen in these counties - but agents report selling some properties for as little as £16,000 in recent weeks. And as other parts of the country, cottages and old farmhouses once deemed to have no value are being put on the market.
That said, the average old property will cost between £25,000 and £50,000, depending on how much refurbishment it needs, whether in Cavan, a place where demand for holiday homes is growing rapidly, or Monaghan, a less obvious holiday destination. Both counties are within easy reach of Dublin: it takes an hour or less (depending on rush hour) to get to either Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, or Cavan town from Glasnevin or Finglas.
Monaghan estate agents - indeed, Monaghan people - sound a little surprised to be asked about holiday homes, for they don't seem to view their county as a place likely to attract visitors.
Places like Glaslough at the northern tip of the county are popular (and expensive) with holiday home buyers. But Carrickmacross agents, such as Dermot Conlon of Gunne and Paul Gartlan, receive a steady stream of inquires. There are lovely spots in the area for people looking for a retreat from the city. Gunne, for example, has a cottage near Inniskeen, at Blackstaff, Carrickmacross, for sale for £50,000. The threebedroom house beside rolling green fields has a livingroom with a range, a kitchen, bathroom, two doublebedrooms side by side, and steep stairs to a third dormer bedroom. The house is comfortable, although new owners would likely refurbish and redecorate. It stands on about half an acre by the side of a quiet road, next to a wide path where a rail line used to run up to the 1950s.
Inniskeen itself, a small, pretty village about seven miles from the Border, is now virtually a shrine to its most famous son, poet Patrick Kavanagh. Direction signs dot the village, pointing to spots featured in his works, and a literary resource centre is housed in a former church. There is a round tower in the village, and a walk by the River Fane.
Passing near Inniskeen, Dermot Conlon points to a five-acre site which he has for sale for £75,000. There are no restrictions on nonlocals getting planning permission to build houses in this part of the country, so this is another avenue that someone looking for a holiday home might explore. If you are looking for something bigger than a holiday home to relocate to, there is a lot of new building going on around Carrickmacross, a handsome country town with a wide main street and floral displays everywhere - it is one of Ireland's entrants in an EU Tidy Towns-style Entente Florale competition. Almost 100 homes have been built in the town in the last six months, according to Dermot Conlon of Gunne. The homes range in price from £78,000 to around £90,000 for three and four-bed semi-detached homes, and buyers are coming from as far away as Dublin.
Agent Paul Gartlan confirms that the property market is booming in the town, and doing well nearby too. At Lough Mourne, Lough Egish, Castleblayney, about nine km from Carrickmacross on the road to Ballybay, he has a large period house on three-quarters of an acre that will shortly be placed on the market. He is seeking offers over £100,000 for the house which has two large reception rooms with bay windows on each side of the entrance hall, a large kitchen and breakfastroom - two separate rooms, with a range sitting in a brick alcove in the breakfastroom - and a room used as a study.
Upstairs, there are four good-sized bedrooms, and a decent single. The house needs redecoration and some refurbishment, but most of its original features are intact - the hall and kitchen have their original red, yellow, and black tiled floors, and all the bedrooms have original fireplaces. There are a number of outbuildings, and there is a long, sloping, mature, front garden. Lough Egish is the home of Lakelands Dairies, in an area that has many food processing companies; in this part of CavanMonaghan, huge processing plants and cold stores rear up incongruously on small country roads.
Also at Lough Egish, at Tullynamalroe, Mr Gartlan has a three-bedroom farmhouse on about half an acre in need of major refurbishment on the market £35,000 to £40,000.
The same agent has a two-storey farmhouse in need of modernisation (it needs a septic tank, and connection to a mains water supply) for about £45,000 at Corhelshiona, near the village of Shantonagh, Castleblayney, on the Shercock road. And near Shercock in Co Cavan, Mr Gartlan has a bungalow with a view of one of those lakes which dot this part of the countryside, making it the popular fishing area that it is.
This seven-bedroom dormer bungalow at Annagherin, Killann, Shercock, not far off the road from Shercock to Bailieborough, is a comfortable, modern home with B & B potential. The agent is looking for over £90,000.
It is a fairly short drive across empty country roads from Carrickmacross to Cavan town. Cavan is more obvious holiday territory than Monaghan, and estate agents report growing demand for cottages or old farmhouses all over the county.
In Virginia, Co Cavan, the problem is finding a supply to meet the demand for holiday homes in this always popular scenic village very close to Dublin. In the north and west of the county, areas near the Ballyconnell canal, which links the Shannon and the Erne, are growing in popularity. Gunne in Monaghan town has a cottage on two acres at Kilnalack, Butlersbridge, not far from Belturbet, for sale for £40,000.
But the demand for holiday properties covers the whole county, says agent Padraig Smith, who has offices in Ballyjamesduff and Cavan town. He reports that prices have gone up 10 to 15 per cent since last year, but he has cottages on his books from £15,000-plus.
Your chances of getting a cottage with a lake view are reasonable in this county dotted with lakes. Mr Smith has one with a view of Lake Lavey at Drumhark, a short drive in from the main N3 not far from Cavan town. The asking price for this three-bedroom two-storey house is £50,000.
At Newtown, Carrickaboy, four or five miles from Cavan town, a derelict cottage on about half an acre is on the market for £15,000; Knockbride House, a two-storey farmhouse also in need of complete refurbishment three miles from Bailieborough on three-quarters of an acre has a price tag in the mid-£40,000s. A farmhouse on 10 acres at Latnadrona, Kilnaleck, is for sale for £100,000.u30,000.(check). Closer to Dublin is a cottage just over the border from Cavan in Co Meath. The two-bedroom home on an acre at Colashome, Tierworker, Kells, Co Meath, is in good condition 2.5 miles off the Kingscourt/Moynalty Road, and is selling for £50,000.
