Blue Cottage Kitchen brings coffee, cakes and community back to Ballynoe

16:43, 26 May 2026Updated 20:08, 26 May 2026

Once the local shop, Eleanor and the community of Ballynoe brought it back to life

A once-derelict village shop in Ballynoe has been transformed into a bustling new café – after years of dreaming, baking and community support.

Blue Cottage Kitchen officially opened its doors this week, and owner Eleanor Warnes says the response has already exceeded every expectation: “It’s been amazing,” she said. “We’ve been steady all day long from when we opened and it’s still busy now. It’s fabulous.”

For Eleanor, the launch marks the beginning of a completely new chapter after decades working as a pastry chef and baker across Ireland and abroad.

The before of Blue Cottage Kitchen

“It’s always a worry when you invest so much,” she admitted. “But the weather has been amazing, there are lots of people around and the support has just been incredible.”

The café sits at the heart of Ballynoe village, a place Eleanor says has always had a strong sense of community despite having few local amenities left. The building itself holds deep memories for locals. Around 20 years ago, it closed as the village shop after once selling “everything”, before falling into dereliction.

Eleanor and her family had originally been considering another property before deciding Ballynoe was calling them back: “It’s like a dream,” she said. “There was no stress in it. Everything just seemed to fall into place.”

Eleanor and daughter Molly

The project became a true community effort, with local tradesmen and craftspeople rallying behind the restoration.

“There’s a huge community here,” she said. “People really wanted to see this building brought back to life. The tiler is booked out for years ahead but he still made it happen for us,” Eleanor laughed. “The plasterer is in his 80s and he did the most wonderful job.”

She added that many involved wanted to see the “iconic building” restored for the village itself, not just for the business.

A local graphic designer, Claire, also helped shape the look and feel of the café.

“People have been greatly encouraging,” Eleanor said. “They believed in us, and that was huge.”

The local community rallied together to help Eleanor achieve her dream

The venture has been a family affair from the start, with Eleanor crediting her husband Simon affectionately nicknamed “Mr Google” by the family – for helping navigate the business side of things.

“We invested everything into it,” she said. “If it didn’t work out, I would have gone back to what I was doing and maybe we would have turned it into apartments. But thankfully people love it.”

For now, the menu is focused on coffee and cakes while the team settles into the rhythm of café service. Coffee is supplied by Youghal-based roasters Boardwalk Coffee, whose beans Eleanor describes as “fabulous.”

The sweet treats on offer in Blue Cottage Kitchen

But the long-term vision stretches far beyond coffee and sweet treats.

Eleanor, who is coeliac herself, hopes to eventually turn Blue Cottage Kitchen into a destination spot for gluten-free food.

“A lot of customers are coeliac too, so I want to develop lots of recipes and food for everyone,” she said. “I want to make it a destination point for coeliacs.”

Her journey to opening the café has been decades in the making.

Content cannot be displayed without consent

Originally trained as a pastry chef nearly 40 years ago, Eleanor worked in hotels in Killarney before spending several years training in Germany around the time the Berlin Wall came down. She later continued training in the Cayman Islands and England, where she met her husband before eventually returning to Cork.

Back home, she converted her garage into a bakery kitchen as demand for her cakes and bakes steadily grew: “People kept asking me to make things,” she said. “Then it got too small and I didn’t have room anymore.”

For the past 12 years, she has also run a popular stall near her home, giving locals a taste of what would eventually become Blue Cottage Kitchen.

Eleanor in her new kitchen at Blue Cottage Kitchen

Now, after years of building the business from her small kitchen, Eleanor says she still hasn’t fully processed what has happened.

“I can’t even recognise it yet because I’ve been so busy,” she said. “I think when I take some time off this weekend it will finally hit me. It’s a mad idea opening a café in the middle of nowhere but the people here believed in us.”