Who hasn’t at some time during their Irish summer holiday in some gloriously scenic rural location had a fleeting fantasy of escaping to the country, finding a pretty stone cottage and maybe starting a quiet little business, something crafty maybe, with a few goats for a sideline in cheesemaking?
Pretty cottages are easily found but for those with even more imagination and a more adventurous streak, there’s another option - a cottage with a go-kart track attached. Not a few metres of tarmac for tootling around with the kids on their toy pedal trikes but a 1km long racing track on 3.2 hectares (eight acres) with hair-pin bends and challenging straights in a design that allows for top speeds of about 80km/h. So not such a quiet garden feature, then.
Castlefin Karting has been in business since 2005 when Marcus Griffin followed his parents who had retired to Ballybofey, Co Donegal and he took the opportunity to set up his own karting business there in the countryside.
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Aerial shots - the best way to really see the scope of this property - show the track snaking through the grounds with a large parking area adjacent, all quite separate from the house.
The restored cottage has two double bedrooms and an open-plan living area with pitched pine clad ceiling. A woodburning stove is set into an exposed brick chimney than also works as a room divider, separating the living area from the country-style kitchen with its Belfast sink and range cooker. The shower room is smartly decorated with chequerboard black and white floor tiles and most rooms features polished timber floorboards. Stairs lead from the living area up to a mezzanine.
The owner suggests that there is “also the option of utilising this as a commercial racetrack” – this is a residential not a commercial sale – which also suggests that perhaps there may be people out there who might consider having the race track for their own enjoyment and who knows, maybe there is.
The “quirky restored cottage” as its owner describes it- in Ballybofey, Co Donegal with a racetrack thrown in - is for sale by its owner (castlefinkarting.com) for offers about €325,000.
