You couldn't pay for the view at this former Slea Head café. Well actually you could, it's €650k
![You couldn't pay for the view at this former Slea Head café. Well actually you could, it's €650k You couldn't pay for the view at this former Slea Head café. Well actually you could, it's €650k](/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841366_4_articlesmall_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2010.jpg)
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Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry |
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---|---|
€650,000 |
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Size |
304 sq m (3272 sq ft) |
Bedrooms |
4 |
Bathrooms |
1 |
BER |
F |
TIG Slea Head served up years of home-baked treats and mesmeric views to the never-ending flow of visitors that looped their way around the Dingle Peninsula, stopping off for a cuppa and a wide-angled look at the Blasket Islands, from its perfectly tilted front terrace.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841330_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2002.jpg)
![Front terrace Front terrace](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841333_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2003.jpg)
Here, cheek to jowl with nature’s finest, the only thing to consider was whether a second helping of apple crumble would be enough to sustain you for the remainder of the loop around the peninsula.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841336_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2013.jpg)
It was hard to tear yourself away from the spectacular beauty of nearby Coumeenoole, a small, sandy alcove at the base of precipitous cliffs, that so wowed movie director David Lean that he used it as the backdrop for key scenes in his blockbuster film Ryan’s Daughter.
![Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles on the Dingle Peninsula in the early 1970s Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles on the Dingle Peninsula in the early 1970s](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841339_4_articleinline_2266764_2_seoimage4x3_critique-la-fille-de-ryan-lean24.jpg)
![Coumeenoole, made famous by Ryan's Daughter Coumeenoole, made famous by Ryan's Daughter](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841342_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2001.jpg)
Anyone sitting on the terrace could appreciate the grandeur of the peninsula’s cinematic sweep, and leave all the better for it. The view was a tonic, a natural mood booster.
For decades, Tig Slea Head café and craft shop, or in a previous iteration as the Enchanted Forest Fairy Museum and café, was an iconic and enjoyable pitstop.
Visitors could pick up souvenirs too — Tig Slea Head sold Ryan’s Daughter memorabilia as well as gifts and fashions that could also be bought at Strand House on Dingle’s Main St, as the Quill family owned both outlets.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841345_4_articleinline_ryan1_1_.jpg)
Members of the Quill family are now selling the Slea Head property, which has been closed for the past couple of years.
Its phenomenally picturesque location on the Wild Atlantic Way, means it could go a number of ways — re-open as a tourist stopover or become a holiday home in a setting that Kinsale, with all its globe-trotting millionaire/billionaire absentee owners, could never dream of emulating.
![Tig Slea Head Tig Slea Head](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841378_3_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2005.jpg)
Better again, it’s priced at a level that doesn’t exclude everyone bar Lotto winners — the guide is €650,000.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841351_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2007.jpg)
Tig Slea Head started out as a home rather than a commercial premises, but evolved over the years into a café/retail outlet.
The residential aspect of this detached 304 sq m property includes four bedrooms and a bathroom. While there’s scope for some limited parking out front, the bulk of the site, 1.04 acres, is to the rear.
The land slopes upwards, but has potential if you look at what’s been built on either side of it. A couple of new one-off homes are visible, with the likelihood that they were built on the footprint of older buildings.
Catherine McAuliffe of Savills, who is selling Tig Slea Head, says it’s “ideally suited to residential use as a one-off home”.
There would be conversion work to do, or a buyer might look to knock/re-build to their own spec, subject to planning permission.
Someone might decide to resume the tradition of running a café in an area with so many tourist attractions, both natural and man-made, such as the long-standing Louis Mulcahy pottery centre, outside Ballyferriter, or the fabulous Blasket Centre.
“It’s a blank canvas to work from” Ms McAuliffe says, “whether you are looking for a holiday home, commercial workshop, a shop, private home, or a combination of commercial and residential”.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841357_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2009.jpg)
While Tig Slea Head is high up on the peninsula, it’s not too remote — Dún Chaoin village is only 3.4km away.
![](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841360_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2008.jpg)
You can leave for the Blasket Islands from Dún Chaoin pier, which is even closer to Tig Slea Head. The aforementioned Coumeenoole is just down the road, the village of Ventry, with another spectacular beach, is 10km away, Dingle Town is 17km and Kerry Airport is a 74km journey.
![Tig Slea Head Tig Slea Head](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7682/3841363_4_articleinline_10.09_20Tigh_20Slea_20Head_20-_20Savills_20-_20H-Pix_20WEB_2014.jpg)
Given the epic setting, Tig Slea Head is likely to attract interest from overseas, as well as the domestic market. if it doesn't make the guide price, Peig Sayers will turn in her nearby grave.