Crows’ Hermitage, Amazing Tiny Cottage in The Irish Countryside


A compact stone barn in the Irish countryside is now a sumptuous holiday cottage perfect for romantic escapes. The current owner converted the barn, now named Crows’ Hermitage, and has been using it as a vacation rental. It is located behind his house in the hamlet of Ardcath, less than an hour’s drive north of Dublin.

The original barn was a two-storey structure, but with low ceilings on both levels. The limited interior height was further reduced by the need to build a new insulated floor over the existing floor, which would have been either stone or just compacted dirt.

To get adequate headroom downstairs, a new bedroom loft was built a foot or two higher than the original upper floor, judging by the exterior stairs and doors at the back of the barn. That still left the small kitchen area below with a relatively low ceiling, but it benefits from being open to the double-height living room.

In the photo below, notice how the side windows sit very low in the walls. Those windows were placed within the original door openings.

The bathroom, tucked away at the back behind the kitchen, is split into two compartments. The bathroom door opens into a small space with just a shower stall. From there, another door leads to a second small room with the vanity and toilet.

Although the floor and roof are now insulated, keeping the original character meant that the stone walls were left uncovered. That will lead to pretty chilly mornings in winter, the kind of chill where you can see your breath. There is a small woodstove that reportedly will warm the space up fairly quickly, but it is hard to keep a fire going overnight in a small stove. Luckily there is also a backup electric heater.

Crows’ Hermitage would be an ideal base from which to explore Ireland’s east coast, including Dublin. It can be rented through Airbnb.

Photographs courtesy of Airbnb / The Crows’ Hermitage.
