Name:Dermot McKinney, Address:Feakle, Co Clare, Dwelling:refurbished cottage , Here since:2003
I'm originally from Dublin, but I worked for many years in Ennis and Germany before taking a job in Scariff, Co Clare, with the Irish Seed Saver Association. I had no experience with seeds or horticulture, but I took over as manager about two and a half years ago, when they were looking for someone with marketing and retailing experience. The association has charity status, and it's a nationwide organisation, but a lot of our community work would be based here. We grow heritage varieties of open seeds, and we do projects on heritage potatoes, apples, plums and pears. It's part of a network of sister organisations around the world. It's good work, and you really feel part of the environment.
I'm living in an old stone two-storey house outside Feakle, near Scariff, that was built in 1835. It even has its own waterfall. It's a fabulous place. I used to pass by it every day and say to myself, wow, what a house - I'd love to live there. And then I ended up living here, which is amazing.
The house had been renovated by the owners about 10 or 15 years ago. They primarily bought it for the farmland, but they did up the buildings on the land also - there's a small piggery on the site, too. There's a nice little drive up to the house, and we're surrounded by beech trees. It's actually quite a small house, only three bedrooms. But it looks big from the outside. There are nine chimney pots on the roof, for example, but there's only one fireplace in it. From the outside it's meant to look really grand - they did that a lot back then, apparently. There's a nice garden out front, as well. It's a rolling garden - another optical illusion, because it looks like you've got a fine big lawn out the front. It would have been an agent's house, I imagine.
Living in Feakle is completely different from living in Dublin, or the hustle and bustle of Germany, for instance, where there was public transport for every little town and village. There's none of that here, so a car is essential, or a bike in my case. It's great to live so near work. It's a six-kilometre cycle, and no hassles with traffic or anything. It's only right that I cycle to work, because we're an environmental organisation.
Feakle is a very small village with four pubs, a post offfice, two shops that sell everything, a Catholic church, a community hall and the cemetery. The Celtic Tiger hasn't really hit - there's little booming around here. I still feel like an outsider, being in such a small town, but being involved with the Seed Savers, which is well known and liked, allows me to be more involved with the community.