Buyers in search of a home and business opportunity in the south-east may be interested in the Old Schoolhouse & Neptune Restaurant at Ballyhack Harbour, Co Wexford, which is for sale by private treaty. Owners Valerie and Pierce McAuliffe bought the riverside property 18 years ago and converted it into a ground floor seafood restaurant and first floor apartment. More recently they opened a cookery centre, which will continue to operate from a new location. O'Gorman Auctioneers is seeking offers over £200,000 for the property which is being sold as a going concern.
The Bord Failte-approved restaurant is Egon Ronay recommended, and features in many national and international food guides. While it is ideal as a business and home, alternatively there is scope for conversion into a holiday home.
Ballyhack is a small fishing village situated on the estuary of the Barrow, Nore and Suir Rivers. Waterford city and airport is seven miles away by the car ferry which plies constantly between Ballyhack and Passage East. The attractive tourism village has a 14th-century castle.
Built in 1900, the two-storey schoolhouse restaurant has a distinctive terracotta-painted exterior which has featured in postcards of Ballyhack and tourism promotions. The restaurant entrance hall opens into the main diningroom with seating for 26. This room has a pitched pine ceiling, and is decorated in shades of soft green with pale walls, green carpet and green wicker dining chairs. A conservatory diningroom seats 18, while a smaller area off the reception hall has seating for eight.
The open-plan fully fitted kitchen is visible from the main diningroom, allowing diners to see work in progress. There is a second kitchen and preparation room, leading to a small private patio area, exterior stores and yard. The first floor one-bedroom apartment has two exterior entrances. Deep stone steps lead up to the front door which opens on to a small hall off which there is a small lavatory. The main living area is extremely attractive, comprising livingroom, adjoining dining area and galley kitchen.
The roomy livingroom gives a wonderful feeling of space, courtesy of a pitched pine vaulted ceiling, period pine flooring and peaceful harbour views. It opens out to a front facing diningroom painted egg yellow with recessed alcoves and four windows with window seats overlooking the harbour. There is a small galley kitchen and a bedroom with fitted wardrobes.
