East Mayo cottage is lovingly restored

With its whitewashed walls and brilliant red windows and doors, Fern Cottage in Carrowbeg near Urlaur is a gentle update of a traditional rural Irish scene.

It’s home to French couple Estelle and Erwan Seznec who have with their own skills and labour turned the cottage into a comfortable home.

The couple moved to Ireland four years ago. For Estelle it was the fulfillment of a long interest in Irish culture “since I was very, very young”. The couple comes from Brittany, the northerly region of France with its own Celtic culture.

They made the move in 2022, living first in Galway city while looking for a rural home, in Mayo or Sligo.

“After we visited Mayo on the second trip we were in Achill and Westport and Ballyhaunis. We found it very rural, countryside like Breton.

"When we visited Kilkelly I thought ‘this is it, it’s here we want to live.’” After visiting 30 houses they settled on the cottage in Carrowbeg, surrounded by forestry and farmland.

“Two years ago we bought the house, it’s a very old cottage. It needed a lot of work.” The cottage came with 1.5 acres, home now to the couple’s 12 chickens.

“We’d like to get a bit more,” said Estelle, who works from home.

She continues the work she did in France, training social workers, which she delivers online, but she’s also set up her own pet-sitting business.

“I did this in France," she notes.

Estelle goes to homes to care for cats and dogs while their owners are away and also minds the pets at her home.

“There is plenty of demand for this service here, more than in France.” Erwan has found lots of demand locally for his specialty of dry-stone walling, using good work and leaflets to draw more customers. Stonework is a family tradition: both his father and grandfather were masons.

He has many clients, “many people with old cottages,” explains Estelle.

There’s also plenty of demand for his gardening work.

“It was his profession in France,” she adds.

He has also done most of the work on Fern Cottage, from internal refurbishment to the handsome drystone walls that frame the building.

“Erwan had renovated two houses before moving here from France, so he has experience,” explained Estelle.

He also replaced the floor in the old cottage.

“We were cooking one day and the kitchen floor collapsed," says Estelle.

An electrician was required however to get the electricity supply re-connected to the cottage.

“We were living on solar panels for eight months,” said Estelle.

Heating the cottage on electric heaters has been costly however.

“The first electricity bill was a shock!” she says.

The cottage was affordable because the couple was able to complete most of the work themselves. Irish home prices are higher than those in France, according to Estelle.

“France has its own housing problem – it’s very difficult, because many houses are now rented on Airbnb. But house prices in France are lower than Irish prices.” The nature of the market aside, the nature of home selling in Ireland also differs from that in France.

“One of the things however that’s different is the bidding system,” said Estelle. “In France you buy the house at the price it’s listed but here it’s possible to bid above that price.” Estelle recently purchased a Toyota car.

“Breton [Brittany] too is very rural, you need a car."

She had been used to driving around the country roads of Brittany but the roads in east Mayo are much narrower than in Breton, she observes. The couple enjoys visiting the pubs of Aghamore, Ballyhaunis and Charlestown.