Salvage from old hospitals, churches and even an old hardware store went into one Mayo man\u2019s home, while his garden tells stories in stone\n<\/p>\n
Asking price: \u20ac395,000<\/p>\n
Agent: DNG Michael Boland (096) 76557<\/p>\n
\u200bMartin O\u2019Hara\u2019s Co Mayo garden rocks. And certainly has tonnes of them arranged in it. Inspired by monuments like Newgrange, constructed by our ancestors thousands of years ago, O\u2019Hara\u2019s hobby sees him using stones of all sizes pulled from his land, to create arrangements on his three-acre holding to commemorate their efforts. He\u2019s had this hobby for 11 years.<\/p>\n
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The exterior of Martin O’Hara’s home outside Foxford. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
The outdoor creations and sculptures which surround his whitewashed modernised cottage at Lismorane, Callow, outside Foxford, include circles of standing stones, elaborate curved belts and other stacked monuments as Martin\u2019s nod, he says, both to an ancient world past and a sustainable future ahead.<\/p>\n
The house, which is located off the N26, halfway between Swinford and Foxford in Co Mayo, was built in 1936. \u201cLismorane looks brand new with its white walls and timber, but it\u2019s an old house and it was run down when I got it. It had been owned by Bill Mulligan. I knew him, he was a nice man, but he had no family, so it was left to the neighbours after he died. By the time I bought it in 2005, it had been empty for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we were reclaiming the land, we found so many stones \u2013 and I wanted to utilise them. I\u2019ve worked with stone for over 30 years, and I like to draw something and then try to recreate it in the garden. I love architecture and doodling, and coming up with ideas for the garden. I wanted to build a pyramid in stone for the craic, but I decided on the circle of stones instead. I\u2019m inspired by the megalithic age.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The patio area designed by Martin O’Hara. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
When O\u2019Hara bought the house 20 years ago, it was totally \u201covergrown and surrounded by cattle fields. You couldn\u2019t even see it from the road\u201d.<\/p>\n
It became a passion project for the local Foxford man. \u201cI didn\u2019t move in until nine years ago, so I was working away on it for a while. I also like to restore old buildings and have restored six over the years and sold them on as soon as they were done.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The kitchen at Lismorane. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara had previously lived nearby with his late wife Sheila and four children, running the family bakery O\u2019Hara\u2019s in Foxford. \u201cIt\u2019s been in the family for generations \u2013 since 1951. My nieces and nephews are in charge of it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Martin and Sheila bought the old Mulligan house they had planned to look after the garden together but sadly, Sheila passed away soon after the purchase. \u201cPreviously we had a big house, but a small garden. Now I\u2019ve done it myself and it\u2019s a bit different.\u201d The garden also features a mix of mature and newly planted trees and shrubs, as well as lawn and small green house.<\/p>\n
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A bathroom at Lismorane. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first got married, we lived in a one-bed cottage near Lough Talt. An old gentleman up the road showed me how to build with stone, and that skill stayed with me.\u201d O\u2019Hara has since created stone installations on all his properties. \u201cI\u2019d love coming back from a busy day at work, switching off completely and just spending time working in the gardens. I learned a lot too. All the stones I used for the paths are granite and fieldstone dug straight from the land. We also have a mixing bowl from the bakery fixed on to one of the sculptures. It\u2019s a bit of craic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoy sourcing materials and reusing whatever I can \u2013 it\u2019s part sustainability, part obsession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside, his open plan home features church-salvaged beams, windowsills made from old church pews, and rescued original stained glass creations.<\/p>\n
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The living room space at Lismorane. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
The kitchen, which is accessible from the patio, has maple floors, spotlights, electric roof windows, and runs into the open plan living room and dining room space. The maple floors across the 950 sq ft home were laid by a carpenter from Ballina. \u201cWe used timber I sourced from Archers Hardware there,\u201d says O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n
Roof beams across the living area are reclaimed pitch pine from two different churches \u2013 one in Castleknock, another in Sligo. \u201cI\u2019ve always believed old materials have more character than anything new,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pitch pine I salvaged from those same church beams, is also used for skirting boards and architraves around the house, including the kitchen. I also have a utility room and bathroom all on one floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The bedroom at Lismorane. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s just one bedroom, he points out that there\u2019s plenty of space alongside to extend the house further.<\/p>\n
This is also a modern, well-insulated property. Energy-efficient features include triple-glazed aluminium windows, full interior and exterior insulation, a ventilation system, air-to-water heating, cedar fascia and soffits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house is fitted with a heat pump I installed about nine years ago with local plumbers, making it surprisingly energy efficient. My total annual electricity bill, covering heating, cooking, and hot water, is only about \u20ac1,200 a year. That\u2019s for everything. It\u2019s not bad.<\/p>\n
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A stone sculpture at Lismorane incorporates an old baking pot. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara says he misses peat fires and flames, which would have defined country living, but enjoys the underfloor heating. \u201cThe underfloor heating is warm and clean \u2013 you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re in an old house with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love art, that\u2019s why the walls are white. You don\u2019t really need anything else. I also like music, so there are some reference pieces to Bob Dillon around the living room, but I\u2019ll be taking them with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The roof tiles are Bangor slate. \u201cThe slates came from an old hospital in Ballina. They\u2019re exceptionally good for longevity and really durable, especially for the climate up here. They\u2019ll last for centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A aerial view of Martin O’Hara’s extensive creations in stone. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara painted the outside walls of the courtyard white, cladding it with Canadian red cedar, which he imported through a supplier in Kerry. \u201cI painted the walls white here too and hung up lights above the patio table. It\u2019s a great spot for long summer nights.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
The house is surrounded by yellow granite sourced from S&N Granite stone suppliers in Wexford. \u201cIt\u2019s a costly material, but it gives the home its solid, timeless feel.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve poured years of work and care into this place, and I\u2019ll miss it,\u201d says O\u2019Hara. \u201cBut I\u2019ve one more project in me \u2013 downsizing. The family are all around the area, so it will be in Foxford, which is around 10 minutes down the road.<\/p>\n
The buyer will be someone who wants a modern retreat in the countryside, he says. \u201cThe energy efficiency makes it very cheap to run and it\u2019s ready to move in. I\u2019ll definitely do something else with stone at my next home.\u201d<\/p>\n
DNG Michael Boland seeks \u20ac395,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Salvage from old hospitals, churches and even an old hardware store went into one Mayo man\u2019s home, while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60,898],"class_list":{"0":"post-71211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}