Sheep’s Head Property, West Cork
Of all the charming peninsulas on Ireland’s Southwest coast, the Sheep’s Head property market is the one that seems to hold a magnetic allure so as to defy the very nature of market trends.
The boundaries of West Cork are not precisely defined: they are hazy – almost deliberately so. Some say that West Cork begins at Macroom, some say it’s Dunmanway (admittedly on a different road, but it’s still further west than Macroom). There’s no one authority to tell us exactly where it is, but if you’re standing on the Sheep’s Head Peninsula, then you can be in no doubt whatsoever that you are in West Cork. The rolling hills are there, forming the stony spine of the melancholy and dramatic landscape, standing out against the blue sky (as it is at the moment) and the blue sea. Cows and sheep stand silently watching the latest visitors, the latest travellers to discover this jewel that feels so much like an island and wonder why they haven’t come here already.
Property prices all along the peninsula maintain their momentum through thick and thin. Newspaper reports and television reports in the Irish media have recently been sounding the death knell for the Irish property boom. When the general election is over in a month’s time and the haze has cleared, we’ll see whether or not that’s really true. In the meantime, life continues inexorably on the Sheep’s Head Peninsula and its property scene…
