There’s a saying as you come in to town and it’s carved on a stone: ‘Ardaíonn áiteanna áirithe an croí. Fágann an Daingean rian ar an anam.’ Certain places lift the heart, but Dingle leaves a mark on your soul. West Kerry is in my soul.
I grew up in a business house. We were plant hire and quarry, but my father’s greatest indulgence was his farm. When I was very small, it was sheep, dry stock and he loved his pure bred Charolais. I lost my dad 20 years ago, but looking back now, his farm yard was exemplary. And everything we ate was grown or reared or milked.
Growing up, I was always up the yard. I wanted to be a vet, but didn’t get it; and I wasn’t going back to school! So, I went into AIB at 19 as a teller. Then I came home to help my parents with the construction of Emlagh House [an award-winning guesthouse] and ended up running the B&B. At that time in Dingle, your season was May until October, so I did something different every winter: mediation, marketing, interior design, entrepreneurship, counselling and psychotherapy. But the one thing that people always said to me along the way was, ‘Why don’t you open a shop?’
Grainne Kavanagh is celebrating 10 years in business on the Dingle Peninsula. \ Bríd Ní Luasaigh
Are you being served?
I opened The Coach House in 2013. I knew zero about retail. I had five suppliers and €12,000 for fit out and opening. The first three years I didn’t take a wage; I was cleaning holiday homes myself. But I realised very quickly that the key to retail was hospitality: ‘Are you being served?’ And psychotherapy: ‘How are you today?’
Now, I stock 38 Irish makers across candles, cards, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, leather goods and cashmere. I’m very conscious that people can come into the shop and they can get a beautifully wrapped gift for €16 and a card for €3. I want everyone to feel that their contribution is valued. And if someone buys nothing, we’ve improved their day. You can go into supermarkets now, or pharmacies, and pretty much serve yourself and leave. People forget that we all want connection.
I speak a lot of Irish in the shop. At home, it was measca [a mix of English and Irish] but all my schooling was as Gaeilge. I can’t do maths in English! I have a sign in the shop that says, ‘Is fearr Gaeilge briste ná Bearla cliste’ [broken Irish is better than clever English] and that gives people confidence. I love to hear it… the tourists would be fascinated!
Grainne Kavanagh stocks 38 Irish makers at The Coach House
In September I’m celebrating 10 years in business. COVID was a major struggle, but there was three of us employed and I didn’t take any grants. We just kept growing and went from 70 products online to 360. But I think this is the most challenging year. The Christmas of 2021, my electricity bill was around €600 and the Christmas just gone, it was €1,300.
I’ve had three suppliers go out of business in the last three months. There seems to be a 30% increase in costs for a lot of people. I just feel this year you’re pushing the bicycle up the hill all the time.
But I’d just love to sustain where I’m at. For the first 10 years, I was very driven to grow and grow. Whereas now, it’s about keeping the quality as much as I can and to keep serving people in the way we’re serving.
At home at Hare’s Corner
I built a house in town in my early 20s and sold it when I was 30, so I was renting and looking. It was always a dream to have something with a little bit of land. I was driving by here one evening, saw the ‘for sale’ sign and jumped the gate that night. The following day, I made an offer. I got the keys after nine months and had started the renovation, ordering windows the day before lockdown! I thought the job would take seven or eight months; it took 18 months.
The house is 93 years old, so it needed to be re-wired, re-plumbed, re-plastered, re-insulated, everything. I filled five skips myself; I had no choice. When I moved in, I didn’t have a kitchen: I had one room, which was the sitting room. It took about a year after getting in to finish. But in hindsight, when you’re in a building, you get to see what it needs as opposed to what you think it needs.
The name, Hare’s Corner, comes from Irish mythology and the tradition that when you were cutting a meadow, you always left a corner. If you didn’t, it would come back and haunt you! The other side of it was to leave a corner for nature to flourish.
There are five acres here. I have six Swiss Valais Blacknose sheep: the ram, Justin, came from Askeaton, and the ewes, Juniper and Jasmine, from Donegal. Bealtaine was the first lamb born here. I also have two springer spaniels, Cara and Brinklow, cats Bosca and Bruscar and four horses: Dolly and Priscilla, who are Shetland ponies and Rio and Lady. I’m getting chickens next: the hen house ‘Peckingham Palace’ has been spec’d! I would be- I suppose the word is a workaholic- but when you have animals, you have to go home and feed them. They’re just that switch off.
Every morning I walk Ventry beach with my dogs and to me it’s like mass. I’ll only ever be of west Kerry. I get joy from people getting joy from here. Though I always say I hope the main road doesn’t get too straightened; keep a few bends!
– In conversation with Maria Moynihan
Read more
Waste not, want not with Orla McAndrew
Rise: finding her rainbow's end
There’s a saying as you come in to town and it’s carved on a stone: ‘Ardaíonn áiteanna áirithe an croí. Fágann an Daingean rian ar an anam.’ Certain places lift the heart, but Dingle leaves a mark on your soul. West Kerry is in my soul.
I grew up in a business house. We were plant hire and quarry, but my father’s greatest indulgence was his farm. When I was very small, it was sheep, dry stock and he loved his pure bred Charolais. I lost my dad 20 years ago, but looking back now, his farm yard was exemplary. And everything we ate was grown or reared or milked.
Growing up, I was always up the yard. I wanted to be a vet, but didn’t get it; and I wasn’t going back to school! So, I went into AIB at 19 as a teller. Then I came home to help my parents with the construction of Emlagh House [an award-winning guesthouse] and ended up running the B&B. At that time in Dingle, your season was May until October, so I did something different every winter: mediation, marketing, interior design, entrepreneurship, counselling and psychotherapy. But the one thing that people always said to me along the way was, ‘Why don’t you open a shop?’
Grainne Kavanagh is celebrating 10 years in business on the Dingle Peninsula. \ Bríd Ní Luasaigh
Are you being served?
I opened The Coach House in 2013. I knew zero about retail. I had five suppliers and €12,000 for fit out and opening. The first three years I didn’t take a wage; I was cleaning holiday homes myself. But I realised very quickly that the key to retail was hospitality: ‘Are you being served?’ And psychotherapy: ‘How are you today?’
Now, I stock 38 Irish makers across candles, cards, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, leather goods and cashmere. I’m very conscious that people can come into the shop and they can get a beautifully wrapped gift for €16 and a card for €3. I want everyone to feel that their contribution is valued. And if someone buys nothing, we’ve improved their day. You can go into supermarkets now, or pharmacies, and pretty much serve yourself and leave. People forget that we all want connection.
I speak a lot of Irish in the shop. At home, it was measca [a mix of English and Irish] but all my schooling was as Gaeilge. I can’t do maths in English! I have a sign in the shop that says, ‘Is fearr Gaeilge briste ná Bearla cliste’ [broken Irish is better than clever English] and that gives people confidence. I love to hear it… the tourists would be fascinated!
Grainne Kavanagh stocks 38 Irish makers at The Coach House
In September I’m celebrating 10 years in business. COVID was a major struggle, but there was three of us employed and I didn’t take any grants. We just kept growing and went from 70 products online to 360. But I think this is the most challenging year. The Christmas of 2021, my electricity bill was around €600 and the Christmas just gone, it was €1,300.
I’ve had three suppliers go out of business in the last three months. There seems to be a 30% increase in costs for a lot of people. I just feel this year you’re pushing the bicycle up the hill all the time.
But I’d just love to sustain where I’m at. For the first 10 years, I was very driven to grow and grow. Whereas now, it’s about keeping the quality as much as I can and to keep serving people in the way we’re serving.
At home at Hare’s Corner
I built a house in town in my early 20s and sold it when I was 30, so I was renting and looking. It was always a dream to have something with a little bit of land. I was driving by here one evening, saw the ‘for sale’ sign and jumped the gate that night. The following day, I made an offer. I got the keys after nine months and had started the renovation, ordering windows the day before lockdown! I thought the job would take seven or eight months; it took 18 months.
The house is 93 years old, so it needed to be re-wired, re-plumbed, re-plastered, re-insulated, everything. I filled five skips myself; I had no choice. When I moved in, I didn’t have a kitchen: I had one room, which was the sitting room. It took about a year after getting in to finish. But in hindsight, when you’re in a building, you get to see what it needs as opposed to what you think it needs.
The name, Hare’s Corner, comes from Irish mythology and the tradition that when you were cutting a meadow, you always left a corner. If you didn’t, it would come back and haunt you! The other side of it was to leave a corner for nature to flourish.
There are five acres here. I have six Swiss Valais Blacknose sheep: the ram, Justin, came from Askeaton, and the ewes, Juniper and Jasmine, from Donegal. Bealtaine was the first lamb born here. I also have two springer spaniels, Cara and Brinklow, cats Bosca and Bruscar and four horses: Dolly and Priscilla, who are Shetland ponies and Rio and Lady. I’m getting chickens next: the hen house ‘Peckingham Palace’ has been spec’d! I would be- I suppose the word is a workaholic- but when you have animals, you have to go home and feed them. They’re just that switch off.
Every morning I walk Ventry beach with my dogs and to me it’s like mass. I’ll only ever be of west Kerry. I get joy from people getting joy from here. Though I always say I hope the main road doesn’t get too straightened; keep a few bends!
– In conversation with Maria Moynihan
Read more
Waste not, want not with Orla McAndrew
Rise: finding her rainbow's end
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