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Review 258: Shamrock Cottages, Listing #108

www.shamrockcottages.co.uk

Recommended. Review by Carolyn from CA

cottage in Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland

When

March 2000

Review

We rented this two bedroom cottage in March, 2000. The cottage is a renovated cottage built in the 1850's, complete with a thatched roof. It still has the original huge stone fireplace in the kitchen. It is located on a quiet road about 5 minutes drive from Kenmare, in County Kerry. It is too far to walk into town. The cottage overlooks a green field that runs down to a stream. There are trees along the stream and you can see mountains in the distance.

Inside, the front door opens into an entrance hallway with tile floors. There is a washer and dryer cleverly hidden in a built in wall unit in the entry way. There is one modern bathroom with bathtub only at the end of the hallway. Off of the hallway is the kitchen which is a good size for cooking and well-stocked. Directly off of the kitchen is a modern garden room - an octoganal shapped room with nearly floor to ceiling windows and french doors that open to a small stone patio and overlook the fields and the mountains. This room is furnished with a large table and some chairs. We found we spent a great deal of time here, especially on rainy days. Behind the kitchen is a small living room with couches and a television. There is also another small coal fireplace here.

Upstairs, there are two bedrooms. The master bedroom had a queen sized bed with a rather uncomfortable (thin) mattress. The second bathroom and shower is located off of this room. The second bedroom had two twin beds. The bedrooms had tiny little windows as to be expected in an old house and could be rather dark if you like to read in bed.

The house was, overall, very comfortable for a one week stay. It's in a great location. Kenmare has wonderful restaurants to choose from and it is an easy 10-15 minute drive to reach the Ring of Kerry road. In the summer, there are some beaches in the area where you could swim. You cannot, however, swim in the stream behind the house as it appeared to be somewhat polluted.

There is some kind of light manufacturing facility behind the trees above the stream. Since we were there in colder weather and didn't spend much time outdoors, this wasn't a problem. However, we did notice that you could hear some noise during the day when you were outside which might bother people during the summer when you would want your windows open.

Also, while we were there we enjoyed feeling like we couldn't see any neighbors, but we did notice that they were planning to build a house on the lot next door. This seemed like it was far enough away not to be a problem but it may make the house somewhat less private.

Shamrock Cottages was fine to deal with - we did everything via email and regular mail. They provided a map to the house but little in the way of additional information about the local area. We were instructed to get the key from the neighbor down the road but aside from opening the house for us, we didn't have any contact with the so-called manager.

The price on this cottage was reasonable and the location was very good for sightseeing. We'd probably stay here again.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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Review 258: Shamrock Cottages, Listing #108

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