The cobbled yard, half-door and thatch outside, the flagged floor inside, the open fire with its old cooking utensils will transport you to never-neverland. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Down the twisty lane, past the ancient hedgerows, and there, set in a woodland glen, is a fairytale cottage: half-hipped roofs, crooked gables, octagonal chimneys - could it be a gingerbread house? Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Recently renovated, the semi-detached cottages are sweetly cosy and true to their origins in their pastel colours and simple, neo-rustic furnishings. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Walk into this Gaelic tower house and step back in time … its history vibrates beneath your feet. Four floors pile room upon room - vaulted ceilings, huge fireplaces - up to the roof where hammocks are slung between battlements for sunbathing and stargazing. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
It is a magical area, the rolling hills on one side of the water, the dark Mournes rising above the mist on the other. Barr Hall Barns fits perfectly: stone and brick for the barn and cottage, limewash for the haybarn loft with its floor-to-ceiling window and wow-provoking interior. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Perched at the end of half a mile of golden sand, Bath Lodge is a quaint, lovable family house, a warren of level changes and rambling staircases. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
With all the resources of buzzing Kinsale on your doorstep, you can choose the quiet privacy of the roof-garden patio that opens off your kitchen. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
With its sash windows, slate roof and sensitive extension, this is a charming seaside cottage of the sort you long for but seldom find. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Could this be the perfect retreat? Once here, you are alone in a rural idyll, a little huddle of buildings in 10 acres, surrounded by trees, old walls and gorgeous views to Lough Conn. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
A couple of miles apart, the cottages are pretty much identical and offer the very lap of countryside luxury: big country views, contemporary kitchens and every mod con. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
What is special here is the genuinely soulful environment Sally has created on her 20 acres: a walking-labyrinth, a fire pit that is ceremonially lit to welcome in the seasons, seated Buddhas, meditation corners. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
The prettiest Irish cottage in thoroughly rural surroundings: low stone walls, rustling thatch, birdsung moorlands all around, the neighbour’s cattle crossing the lane. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Only at the end of the wooded drive do you realise how close the sea is. The magical bay will steal your heart away. At high tide, the sea laps the garden; take the boat, see a seal? Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Yes, a new house on the shores of Kenmare Bay with those devastatingly beautiful views. No, not another beastly bung but a superb architect-designed house set against the hillside, living sensitively in the landscape. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
The grandeur of the landscape may be enough soul food in itself - Amelia built this incredibly romantic old-style retreat on top of a hill where the land slopes down to world-famous (to anglers) Lough Corrib … Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Built for a 19th-century rent collector with the stones of eviction victims’ cottages, it has been faithfully renovated by Irish Landmark - limed walls, old quarry-tile or plank floors, open fireplaces - and wonderfully furnished with the right country antiques … Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
It has all the finish and fittings of modern life yet is bright, cheerful and comfortable, with incredible views of the sea. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
Not a car can be seen from the cottages, the beautiful organic flower gardens wind through the thatched hamlet and you can walk along the near-private beach to pubs and restaurants. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
On an organic farm whose very air vibrates with health and things natural … these three stone cottages are ideally placed for learning rural Ireland hands-on, touring the west and discovering Lough Derg. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
The history of Westcove House is as full of movement, human quirks and fine things as the house, which has looked proudly across Kenmare Estuary for 350 years. Photograph: Alastair Sawday Publishing
