AFTER 15 years in business at Grove House in Schull, Katarina Runske has confirmed that the property has been sold to a private family.
In many respects Katarina’s restaurant was more than a restaurant, it was a music venue too, as well as a place where artists could exhibit their work. For a time, it was also the location of her Anna B’s Bookshop.
The Swedish woman explained that it was after her mother Catherine Noren bought Dunworley Cottage in 1989 that she decided to move to Ireland. ‘I’d never been to Ireland before but when I arrived I knew that I was in the right place,’ she said Katarina, who worked for a time in two well-known restaurants in Kinsale, as well as having a shoe shop, and antique shop, and teaching piano. It was at her brother’s wedding in Jamaica that she decided to try something new. On her return, she rang an estate agent in Schull and told him she wanted an old house, preferably overlooking the harbour.
Stephen O’Keeffe told her he had just the house and, within a week, Katarina had sold her house in Kilbrittain.
Before the Level 5 lockdown, Katarina moved to East Cork to live at Ballymaloe Cottage. The property is owned by her older son Max who, together with his wife Susi, are planning to run a B&B post-Covid. The guesthouse and restaurant had been on the market since 2016 with a €1m asking price, but the sale price has not been revealed.
Katarina said she has plans to buy herself a little house, grow vegetables on a small level, and continue her passion for teaching piano.
