Overlooking Sheephaven Bay and the Derryveagh Mountains, a design-minded couple have created a detail-driven home and B&B, with scenery at its centre.
It’s impossible not to find yourself weather-watching through the windows of Breac.House. Between sunrise and sunset, we duck inside and out for sunshine, rain, snow and wind with homeowners Niall Campbell and Cathrine Burke. “It changes every 30 minutes or so,” remarks Niall, as we look past a patchwork of rusts, greens and bleached grass to the snowfall on Muckish Mountain.
Both originally from Dublin with former lives as a consultant and an accountant, Niall has been coming to Donegal since he was a child, and during college the couple found themselves spending every available weekend here. “We were looking to do something that appealed to our creative sides and in a place we both loved,” explains Cathrine. Both have done a lot of travelling, and felt they had a good sense of what a small, but world-class, visitor experience in Donegal might look like.
“We were essentially looking at places and developing our concept over the past ten years, and when the site on Horn Head came up over three years ago, we just knew it was right,” says Cathrine. Their vision to combine their interests in architecture, Irish craft, design and hospitality began to take a physical shape.
MacGabhann Architects were enlisted. “We have long admired their award-winning projects in Donegal – contemporary yet very sensitive to the landscape. It was also really important to us that everyone involved was local, so the builder and all the tradespeople, except the terrazzo guys who are from Newry, are all based in Donegal.”
The couple can’t say enough good things about MacGabhann Architects, builder Joseph McMenamin and joiners Frank Morning and Hugh Haughey. “They were fantastic to work with and I see the house as a collaboration, in that we all brought ideas to the table,” says Cathrine. “Our brief was very detailed, but ultimately we wanted the house to sit within the landscape but connect guests to the amazing views.” As a result, the house is crafted with beautiful joinery and a minimal need for additional furniture.
For the last two years, Cathrine has been jotting down notes and researching suppliers, and this level of attention really shows. “I’m naturally a list person so I started with very basic things like soap, candles, sea salt, water and then all the way to furniture, constantly researching, testing, tasting and meeting the makers,” she explains. “Our objective was Donegal first then the best of Irish. This has been the great joy of the project and many of the makers have been our first guests.”
As we walk through the house, we’re chuffed to note and name a number of craftspeople and artists we much admire, from Tricia Harris, to Simon O’Driscoll, Superfolk and Cooper Handcrafted Furniture. While Eddie Doherty’s speckled tweed is throughout, and is unbelievably soft. “Eddie is a gentleman and an absolute perfectionist,” Niall notes. “He completely got what we were all about from our first meeting. He is one of a very small number still working by hand and it shows in the quality. A true legend.”
You can also tell from the quality of the cookbooks in the open-plan kitchen that the food is well-considered too. “Everything guests eat is made in-house using local ingredients. I am making our own butter and yogurt using local organic milk, and we are sourcing our vegetables from a local business known as Na Tithe Gloine,” says Cathrine.
Breac.House officially opened to guests in July, though clearly, with its open-plan layout, this is no ordinary B&B. “We have struggled to find a description for what we really are because we aren’t a B&B in the true sense. It is essential to us that guests feel like they have access to almost all of the house during their stay and they relax completely,” says Niall.
The feel of Breac.House does put me in mind of Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites, and Cathrine nods. “We are friends and annual visitors to Marie-Thérèse and Ruairi [de Blacam] who run Inis Meáin Suites and took huge inspiration from them. We are also very inspired by some of our travels in Africa where even in the most basic settings, personal service is superb. Our daybreak service is very much inspired by the pots of hot coffee that were left outside the tents in a campsite we stayed in Tanzania, and also by the coffee and juice in the markets in Marrakech.”
As we watch birds hopping from one long stem of grass to another, the couple say they are far more in tune with nature these days. “Our last guests had apple and blackberry compote for breakfast, which were picked on one of our walks. Our constant aim is that guests feel they are connected to what they are looking at and that changes with the seasons.” breac.house
PHOTOGRAPHY Al Higgins
PUBLISHED Image Interiors & Living Jan/Feb 2018