Country life has never been so great. For city dwellers it has been a safe haven from the worst of Covid, more land to grow your own vegetables, raise chickens and bees, but for many, it’s just a dream, and a place to escape to the internet, as the popularity of the Romantic Irish Rescue Instagram account showed.
Its publisher, who prefers to remain anonymous, explains that its crumbling upper facades show the fine bones of many Irish homes, particularly in the country, because “homes in Dublin don’t have the same sense of escape from reality”.
The countryside is inviting people to return to Mother Earth, not only in Ireland but all over the world, explains the prestigious Berlin publisher Gestalten. Its title, Country and Cozy: Country Homes and Rural Retreats, shows off some super-tempting pastoral homes. And the trend leans away from modernity toward a mix of rustic charm.
Country and Cozy: Country Homes and Country Retreats by Robert Clanton
The common factor between the new buildings and the rehabilitated farmhouses found in the glossy tabletop is the fact that they all have rib cage-like ceiling beams on display. This wasn’t by design, says its author, Robert Clanton, who is also the publisher of the footprint, which has a strong interior and strong architectural focus and has made its name with its series of cabin culture titles.
“There is a yearning for this style of residence, for a sense of the authenticity of the broad brushstrokes,” he explains. It is no longer about the strictness of nominalism. It is very nostalgic and eclectic. It’s about mixing Southern European sensibilities and those of the Americas, and you take them cottage.” It’s a lot more free and mixed, he says.
These homes are all about trying to preserve the ancient fabric. People now want that connection to the past, something they always try to do in Italy. Old dilapidated walls are left as is, rather than being repainted and renovated. The approach of young interior designers is to make the Cotswolds home look like it hasn’t been touched since the 1950s.”
There’s a lot to love about Irish country life, too: the seasons widen into the sky, the sea, and the surrounding fields; starry winter nights; And some very disguised homes are in need of love and attention. The homes that generate the most attraction at Romantic Irish Rescue belong to our colonial past rather than being vernacular Irish cottages.
The pastoral setting of a settler home belonged to Susan Probst and Yannick Schön of the Lrautkopf blog. Photo: kraut-kopf.de
A studio cottage outside Beijing, China designed by fashion designer Sun Min and architect Christian Tupper. Photography: Boris Chiu
Nearly two years into this Covid pandemic, while there has been plenty of anecdotal talk of people fleeing cities into rural Ireland, hard numbers are hard to come by. But the significant drop in inventory levels across the country, according to real estate agent Sherry Fitzgerald, shows that there is a surge in demand for rural homes.
While it is most visible in Dublin’s commuter counties where stock is down 47 per cent in Wexford, 42 per cent in Wicklow and 45 per cent in Kildare, it is the counties descending in Ireland’s backbone that have seen a larger-than-usual rise in interest.
Leitrim, which was once the cheapest place in Ireland to buy a home and has a coastline of just four kilometers, has seen its levels drop by 32 per cent, while stock in neighboring Cavan has fallen by 31 per cent. Monaghan levels are down 35 percent, while stock levels in Offaly are down 36 percent and in Carlo the drop is down 33 percent.
Clanton says a trip to the country isn’t a Covid thing.
“It’s been happening for a long time. It started in San Francisco with those who can’t live in the city. Many have moved into town during a two hour trip and have transformed their homes into something nicer, perhaps a townsman’s idea of what a country house should look like.” “.
Cape Dutch style farm in Klein Karoo, South Africa. Photography: Adam Leech
A mixture of old and new in Provence by Atelier K Architects. Photo: kraut-kopf.de
He says Covid has quickly redirected that trend. The stress of city life, real estate prices, the cost of rent, with so many employees working from home, they started thinking: “I can live anywhere, so why not live in a better place?”
Of the 35 colleagues in the Berlin office, he estimates that about 20 percent have moved out of town. A colleague has just bought a rickety sheep pen somewhere along the Baltic Sea.
“He loves to work with his hands and loves to work hard. He even brings apple juice from his orchard to the office.”
The book will appeal to architects, interior designers, and dreamers, who have plans to do so sometime in the future, he says.
Market analysis shows that many buyers are in their 25 to mid-30s. It feels more realistic than following something online. There is a strong aspirational component, those who, at some time in the future, wish to have an old hut or barn.”
In addition to wood beams, ideas abound with butcher blocks, blinds instead of cabinet doors on under-counter kitchen cabinets, weathered walls, twist fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, tongue-and-groove boards, brick floors, and wood or terracotta. .
Countryside and Cozy: Country Homes and Country Retreats Robert Klanten, €49.95, Posted by Gestalten