THE OWNER OF this incredible Glengariff retreat is no ordinary person – it’s Hollywood silver screen great, Maureen O’Hara.
The flame-haired actress is now in her 90s, and is selling her much-loved Irish base Lugdine Park for €2,095,000.
At nearly 90km from Cork’s city centre, this quaint but sizeable home was where she has escaped from the limelight for the past 45 years.
A look around the house and its land show that it’s hard to imagine letting go of this stunning detached home, which also comes with two private islands.
O’Hara said herself about buying the house with her late husband:
Driving through the one road village, I knew right away that it had all the cozy charm we were looking for. We turned down the long avenue and kept driving and driving for what seemed like miles, looking for the house. We still hadn’t seen it when Charlie glimpsed the sea through the trees. His face lit up, and I knew. He said, “Oh this is perfect. It’s perfect! We’re buying it.”Ever sensible, I reminded him, “But, Charlie, we haven’t seen the house yet. How do you know?” He gave me a pilot’s answer. “Oh, it’s a perfect place to land a seaplane,” and so we continued down the road and bought the house at the end of it.
Glengarriff is in West Cork, right on Bantry Bay and near the Beara Peninsula – an incredibly beautiful part of the country, and the house is located just on the edge of Glengariff Town itself.
Beyond the bay lies the Atlantic Ocean, a little nod towards O’Hara’s career in Hollywood.
She’s in the US these days, based in Idaho.
Nearby the home is also Glengarriff golf course, but there’s so much here to explore that you can understand why O’Hara has retreated to this cosy home for so many decades.
Below is the guest cottage, with its striking red doors, while across the estate are over 30 ‘ladies’ walks, a private bathing beach, and those aforementioned islands.
The house is situated on 35 acres of land, and the main house is a decent size, at 3,665 square feet.
Sure, it does need some modernising – the decor isn’t quite what you’d expect from such a star – but the five-bed, two-bath house is situated in the most incredibly scenic location.
O'Hara isn't its only notable former owner - it was originally owned by William Martin Murphy, who owned the Irish Daily Independent.
Intriguingly, the estate was in the hands of Baron von Dornberg, a member of the SS who served as Hitler's Chief of Protocol, from 1938 - 1945. He sold it to an English couple, who then sold it to O'Hara and her husband Charlie in 1970.
As you can see, the house could do with updating, but there's no mistaking how incredible it would be to sit in this front room and soak up the view:
Standing proud on its own patch of land, surrounded by woodland, this house has incredible views of the lake beyond.
O'Hara hasn't lived here for a number of years, so Lugdine Park is looking for a new owner.
You don't have to be a Hollywood screen siren to know that this is a special place - and modernising it would be half the fun.
Lugdine Park in Glengarriff is for sale for €2,095,00 through Sherry Fitzgerald O'Neill in Clonakilty.
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