Leave the fast lane for a slower pace of life on a Donegal islet, in a recently rebuilt cottage with a kitchen picture window framing views of the surrounding beaches and the open sea. Working from this three-bedroom, two-bathroom detached property is a breeze, with high-speed 500 Mbps broadband, for €395k.
After a long hot summer, anyone lucky enough to have spent any time on the 247 islands that pepper the Irish coastline likely entertained the idea of packing up and escaping the frenetic pace in favour of a slower pace of life.
Eighter Island off the west Donegal coast is part of a Gaeltacht archipelago that includes Arranmore Island, in a region known as The Rosses, which stretches from Gweedore to Glenties.
Address: Eighter Island, Burtonport, Co. Donegal, F94 CA3X
Asking price: €395,000
Agent: Campbells Auctioneers
These are some of the 247 islands off the Irish coastline. These are known as the Islands of Cloughglass and Inishinny and are serviced by a ferry from the fishing town of Burtonport.
Eighter has been uninhabited full-time since the mid-1960s, when many of the last islanders moved to the mainland, having availed of the Land Commission resettlement scheme in the 1940s and again in the 1960s.
The scheme offered families on the west coast the opportunity to move into small farms of 20 - 40 acres in counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.
Those who moved surrendered the title to whatever land they had at home, and a few extra acres were added to the farms of those who remained.
The migrants weren’t always welcomed in the new lands in the east. Some had to deal with negative reactions from their new neighbours.
There were islanders who found it difficult to settle. They missed the dramatic beauty of the sea and the mountains.
At just under a quarter of a square kilometre (0.24 km), Eighter features a rocky inner terrain paired with sandy beaches and is connected to neighbouring Inishcoo by a footbridge.
The property is one of just five on the islet.
It was completely rebuilt in the last two years on the footprint of an old stone cottage at additional cost, as the transportation of materials by boat from the mainland adds about 10 per cent to typical refurbishments.
Extending to about 132 square metres, this detached three-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-storey house is a good size.
It opens into a hallway with the first of its three double bedrooms to the left.
This is the only room with a fireplace in it, making it a romantic place to bed down in winter.
With a sage green chalk stripe wallpaper, the living room is in the middle of the house and is where the stairs lead up to the additional accommodation.
A door opens through to the kitchen, and the back door also opens out here.
There is a separate eat-in kitchen that is dual aspect; its large picture window frames a supersized vista of the coastline and of the islands that all rooms have.
The setting is spectacular – even in wild winter stormy weather. It offers its next owner the chance to escape and reset their social battery.
None of the householders live full-time on the island.
There is a tiny stretch of sand at the front of the property with another beguiling beach at the back.
Neither of these crescents has an official name.
Upstairs, there are two more bedrooms. Both have gable windows with additional light beaming in from rooflights.
There is a shower room downstairs, and the family bathroom, which has a bath, is upstairs.
The showers and home heating are all electric, which might prompt the next owner to invest in a generator for the odd blackout that those on the western seaboard experience.
Campbells Auctioneers is seeking €395,000 for the property, whose BER is still pending.
