Mark H Durkan and Marcus Patton
MONEY derived from the 5p levy on shopping bags will mean that a unique, 300-year old thatched cottage in the Derrylin area can be converted into a community meeting place for people in the area to get together.
The money has come from the DoE’s Challenge Fund and, last week, the minister, Mark H Durkan, visited the cottage to see how the £10,000 will be spent by the owners, the Hearth Revolving Fund.
The project’s spokesman, Siobhan Brown explained that the renovation of the 300 year old ‘cruck frame’ cottage was designed to make it available to school parties and local history groups, for story-telling, traditional music sessions and other activities, thereby increasing its longevity.
It is located near a modern holiday cottage amid copious amounts of nearby lakes and loughs, making it an ideal base for anglers.
And, for visitors, the thatched cottage presents a unique backdrop to their stay. It is only one of a small number of ‘cruck frame’ cottages still surviving.
Marcus Patton, from the charity said the cottage can be found off the main road between Derrylin and Teemore Cross.
“Sean Curry, its previous owner, lived in it until he died a number of years ago. We have owned it for the past 15 years, so we are bringing it back into use.
“The ‘bag’ money will allow us to do some regeneration of the cottage. We rethatched it recently, the building is generally sound but it hasn’t been used for quite a while.
“There is an annex alongside it which is in use, but the actual cottage has been empty for quite a while, so this is to try and bring it back in to use.”
Mr Patton explained that the Hearth Revolving Fund is a building preservation trust.
“We take on buildings at risk, restore them and find a use for them. The cottage is a Grade A building, in other words, it’s a listed building, one of about 100 thatched cottages a cross the North.”
In all, the Challenge Fund schemes received £2.2m of carrier bag levy money of which £1m had been set aside initially to provides funding for communities and organisations to develop new and inspiring local environmental projects.
But, due to the overwhelming response, this was more than doubled. Curry’s Cottage is one of the 251 projects chosen.
As already indicated, the charity also operates a ‘holiday to let home’ on the same site as the thatched cottage.
This is a small one-bedroom modern cottage built in a traditional style, featuring quaint sash windows.
The brochure states that the property has one, ‘good size’ double bedroom which sleeps two people, together with a compact kitchen/ living/dining area and generous shower room.
The property is complete with oil-fired central heating, TV and DVD player bed linen and towels, shower room with shaver point, kitchen fully equipped with fridge and freezer compartment, washing machine, electric oven & hob & microwave.
The brochure states that the ‘holiday cottage to let’ is only six miles from Derrylin and a short 10 -15 minute drive to Belturbet, and approximately 20 minutes’ drive to Enniskillen.
“This is an ideal location for exploring Fermanagh and bordering southern areas. For those keen to try a spot of fishing, the cottage is surrounded by copious amounts of nearby lakes and loughs, making it an ideal base for angling trips.”
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