A concept site by Loopfound Saltwhistle House is a fictional guesthouse

Saltwhistle House Book direct
A tall pale house above a still stone harbour at dawn, with small boats moored below the garden.

A guesthouse in West Cork · March to November

Eight rooms above the harbour.

A painted house at the end of the harbour wall, with a proper breakfast and a slipway at the bottom of the garden.

Check availability Best rate when you book with us

Welcome

We keep it small on purpose.

Saltwhistle is the tall pale house at the end of the harbour wall. There are eight rooms, so we know everyone’s name by the first evening. Tom does the breakfasts, Máire knows every walk on this stretch of coast, and the kettle in the hall is always on.

Most guests come for two nights and stay for three. Some come every September. All of them, at some point, end up sitting on the garden wall watching the boats come in.

Máire & Tom Your hosts (fictional, like the house)

Rooms

Three kinds of room, all with breakfast.

A bright bedroom with white linen and a sea-green throw, and a tall window over the harbour.

i.

The Harbour Rooms

Four rooms · First floor · Sleeps 2

Tall sash windows straight onto the water. You’ll hear the halyards on the masts at night and see the first boats go out in the morning. King-size beds, a rain shower, and a window seat built for a book.

from €195 a night, for two, with breakfast

Check dates for a Harbour Room
A calm ground-floor bedroom with a stone floor and a half-glazed door open to a green garden.

ii.

The Garden Rooms

Three rooms · Ground floor · Sleeps 2, or 2 + a child

Doors straight out to the garden and the fuchsia hedge, with a few steps down to the slipway. They’re the easiest rooms for a dog, a buggy or a wet wetsuit, and there’s a hot outdoor shower by the back door.

from €165 a night, for two, with breakfast

Check dates for a Garden Room
An attic suite under sloping beams, with a roll-top bath beneath a wide window over the sea at dusk.

iii.

The Loft

One suite · Top of the house · Sleeps 2

The whole top floor: beams, a roll-top bath under the dormer window, and the widest view in the house. People book it for anniversaries, then come back for no reason at all.

from €245 a night, for two, with breakfast

Check dates for the Loft
Breakfast on a pale wooden table: brown bread, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, jam and a pot of tea.

Breakfast

The reason people come back.

Eight till ten, at the big table in the window, or on a tray in your room.

  • Brown soda breadout of the oven at seven
  • Smoked salmonfrom the smokehouse up the road
  • Eggs any wayfrom Nora’s hens, next door
  • The full Irishwith local pudding, if you’re walking far
  • Porridgewith a drop of whiskey, on request
  • A flask of teafor the walk, if you ask the night before

Today in the harbour

When to swim, when to walk.

The slipway at the bottom of the garden is best for a swim in the two hours either side of high water. Here’s today, so you can plan the morning before you’ve even arrived.

Today The tide is coming in
A curve of today’s tide height, from midnight to midnight. midnight6amnoon6pmmidnight
Next high water
—
Swim at the slipway
—
Sunrise · Sunset
—
Sea, about
—

Tide and sea times are approximate, for this concept site. A real site would use the official tide tables for the harbour.

Green headlands with stone walls above a small cove with a slipway and clear green water, in soft morning light.
The cove, ten minutes along the cliff path, at seven in the morning.

From the front door

No car needed for a week.

  1. 2 minThe slipwaySwim, paddle or sit with a coffee and watch the boats
  2. 10 minThe island ferryA small boat, every hour in summer, with lunch on the far side
  3. 40 minThe cliff loopOut along the headland and back by the cove, with no road walking
  4. 5 minTwo pubs, one with musicDown the hill, on Thursdays and Saturdays
  5. Half dayKayaking with sealsWe’ll book it for you with the local outfitter

Guests’ words Example reviews: fictional, to show how real ones would appear

“We came for a quiet weekend and got the best breakfast of our lives and a seal at the slipway. Already booked September.”

Aoife & Rónán, Dublin

“Máire had our walk planned around the tide before we’d finished our tea.”

Helen, Bristol

“The Loft is worth every cent. We didn’t want to leave the bath.”

Conor, Limerick

Book with us

The best rate is always here.

Booking sites charge us a commission on every stay. Book with us directly and that saving is yours, along with a few things we can’t offer anywhere else.

  • 10% below the booking-site price, every night
  • Breakfast always included
  • Free cancellation up to seven days before
  • Late checkout at noon, whenever we can

Rather talk it through? Ring Máire on 020 913 2046, 9am to 9pm.

Choose your dates above, or here.

Getting here

At the end of the road.

About an hour and a half from Cork Airport, the last forty minutes along the coast. The bus from the city stops at the top of the town, and we’ll collect you if you ask. There’s parking at the house for every room.

When can we check in?

From 3pm, and earlier if the room is ready. Leave your bags with us any time and go for a walk.

Can we bring the dog?

Yes, in the Garden Rooms, for €15 a night. There’s a bowl and a towel waiting, and a beach five minutes away.

Are children welcome?

Yes. The Garden Rooms take a small bed for a child under ten, and breakfast for them is on us.

Is there a minimum stay?

Two nights at weekends in July and August. Otherwise a single night is fine.

Do you do dinner?

No, but there are three good places to eat within five minutes’ walk, and we’ll book a table for you.

Check availability