Progress report: creating a new home

Planners of Kerry

Any local council has to manage the development and redevelopment of the housing stock. It is an essential component of modern living. A trip along many rural roads in Ireland will find a landscape littered with "pre-planning regime" bungalows that do little to acknowledge their context or their neighbours.

When those rural roads are in an area of outstanding beauty and topographical importance and the need to control development becomes an even higher priority.
Certainly in our part of West Kerry, diligent planning officers work hard to make sure that any development complies with the comprehensive guidelines created by the county council.

Although there are a few stunning examples to the contrary, the guidelines push design toward a very conservative, regional vernacular style. Our first planning application was refused and knocked back to us with reference to its design and scale  being inappropriate to the location and existing house.
In preparing our second application we downsized the proposal and removed the offending design elements, e.g. a first floor terrace, and added a couple of vernacular flourishes. It was clear that any idea of making a radical architectural statement was not on the cards. The decisions for the second application focused on defining the inside of the house. We  were looking to create rooms we would enjoy living in that also fitted the way we live now and anticipated our future needs and expectations.

From the outset the key element in the new layout was to locate the bedrooms on the ground floor and the "living" rooms  on the first floor. This arrangement "reveals" the view across Smerwick Harbour and, by introducing windows to the east side of the house, a view of Mount Brandon.

It was frustrating to have the second application also refused. Our reading of the given reasons, alongside the response of our architect, encouraged us to appeal the decision at national level.

Lodging the appeal in early March we were told not to expect a decision until September and that fewer than four out of ten appeals succeed. We were delighted to hear in late June that the appeal had been heard and we had been given permission to proceed, as submitted.

Now in early August we have a pack of documents ready to put the construction job out to tender. Let's hope we find a contractor who can offer a quote in the vicinity of our budget and who can start this year. Builders apply now!

Carrigeen as it is now

The front elevation of the permitted development

A ten day road trip that marks a beginning.

The recently acquired Audi earned its "rite de passage" with a road trip of close to 3,000km (see how european we are) with the car fully laden, including a stacked roof rack, almost every step of the way. The last time we owned an Audi we did barely 3,00km in a year.

Journey one, Saturday July 21st - Dublin to Beckenham via Holyhead.

Overall the trip was to oversee the removal of furniture from The Knoll and to complete the sale of the house. The first step was to get ourselves and our fancy "van" over to the UK. Before hopping on the boat to Holyhead on Saturday we had a fantastic Friday night with Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Paul Simon no less. Not a bad way to kick start a crazy ten days.

Once in Beckenham we identified everything we wanted to transport to Ireland, what would go in to store, and what we would dispose of. The "immediate transport" pile proved to be more than we could cram in the car, even with a roof rack, so we boxed things up and had them collected by TNT to deliver to Ballyferriter.

The removals firm arrived first thing on Tuesday and by 17.00 (how very european) the contents of the house was on its way to storage, most likely not to be seen again for 12 months. All in all a very smooth removal of furniture although... It's about 5pm and Sheila is resting on one of the beds we are leaving behind when I ask "did you empty the wash basket before the movers packed it up?" When she answers "No" we both have a good laugh as we try to remember what clothes (dirty) are now packed away for a year...

Tuesday evening sees us left with one sofa, two beds, a lamp, no dirty clothes and enough cleaning material to open our own Molly Maid franchise. 

Journey two, Wednesday July 25th - Beckenham to Fishguard.

Then, fully laden, we chose to return via the late night Fishguard to Rosslare ferry. We took our time to drive the 420km to the ferry terminal as we were booked on the 23.45 departure. 

Departing Beckenham three hours before schedule, and a clear M4/A40 to Fishguard means we are in Pembrokeshire early afternoon and 5 hours to kill. We treated ourselves to a super meal in St David's at a restaurant called St David's kitchen. If you ever find yourself at a loose end in that area we recommend a visit.

A fascinating addition to a cycle lane near the port at Fishguard. Investigating this further we decided that the photograph includes the full length of the designated cycle lane. No wonder they need a bench to rest on.

Journey three, Thursday July 26th - Rosslare to Ballyferriter.

The short, overnight trip docks at 04.00 and by 04.20 we were rolling along the highway at the start of the 340km trip to Ballyferriter. We fondly imagined stopping along the way for a leisurely breakfast but, with a fair day and nothing on the roads we found that we just kept rolling along. With little more than a fuel stop, we pulled in the drive of Carrigeen just five hours later. But that was not the end of our travels.

Journey four, Monday July 30th - Ballyferriter to Dublin.

Some of the "immediate transport" stuff was destined for Dublin, so off we went, car still packed, but not quite so full as before. The trip was not solely a delivery run as we had tickets see (and listen to) Graham Nash at the National Concert Hall on Thursday. This turned out to be the final gig os a six week tour and was a pleasant celebration of all things GN - the Hollies, CSN&Y and his solo work. Needless to say that the demographic of the audience meant that at the interval there was the unusual sight of a long queue for the men's toilets and none for the women's.

Journey five, Wednesday August 1st - return to Ballyferriter.

No roof rack, rear seats upright, we conclude the road trip. Along the way we hear that the sale has completed and we are done. We have moved from England to Ireland. Our life in England as we know it is over and a new adventure begins.

Carrigeen, Ballyferriter West - before...