As the doors close on Lettercollum Kitchen Project in Clonakilty, its owners reflect on the past four decades, and look forward to their next adventures
WHEN Karen Austin and Con McLoughlin first came to West Cork 40 years ago it was a very different place.
Arriving in Timoleague in 1982, locals weren’t quite sure what to make of them, the couple remember.
They had come, with Con’s brother and other friends, from travelling around Europe, and India, and were a colourful bunch who were regarded as a ‘bit different.’ Hippies perhaps!
They were looking for a base in the countryside as far away from Sellafield, and potential nuclear fallout as they could, and they found it in a former convent, Lettercollum House, outside the coastal village.
Having bought the property, they embarked on an ambitious renovation project and opened a well-known hostel in the building, where they also ran an acclaimed restaurant.
The couple also ran a renowned artisan food business ‘The Lettercollum Kitchen Project’ in Clonakilty for the past 18 years.
Having just retired from the shop, they’re now looking forward to the next chapter of their lives.
But let’s start at the beginning: the trailblazers story began when they crossed paths in Antwerp in the late 70s.
From Kent, Karen left home at the age of 16 to travel around Europe where she worked in different kitchens.
She met Con, originally from Bray, and with the collective they came to Ireland to ‘disappear into the countryside.’
When they first moved here, the couple had a take- away van (West Cork’s first food truck perhaps?), making falafels in pitta bread, travelling around to music festivals.
‘We thought we were going to make our millions but no one knew what falafels were!’ said Karen.
In 1982, they started converting Lettercollum House, including transforming its one-acre Victorian walled gardens.
‘I remember there were still cubicles in the rooms from the nun’s time, and lino covering all the beautiful floors which we stripped back,’ she said.
Karen and Con cooked for guests using all their own produce from their organic garden.
‘All our scraps would go to our pigs and chickens, which we used in the restaurant, we made our own ice cream and pasta, and whatever was in season was on the menu,’ she said.
Today we’d call this agri-tourism, but they were just grafting for their family and doing what they loved best: growing, cooking and living sustainably, which is what we’re all aspiring to today.
The hostel developed into a guest house and Karen and Con also cooked for non-residents as word of their exciting dishes and flavours spread.
But like all old properties, the house was a ‘sponge,’ she said.
‘We worked and worked and worked but at some point we knew we needed to reclaim our lives and get some balance back,’ said the mum-of-three.
They sold the ‘big house’ in 2003, divided the property, and converted old stables for their own accommodation where they now live, surrounded by their family.
But closing the restaurant left them with the dilemma of what to do with their abundance of garden produce, which is where the shop came in.
It was a major success and very well known on the West Cork foodie trail.
But ultimately Karen said the management side of the business robbed her of time and energy for her beloved cooking, and after nearly two decades, it feels liberating to move on.
For now she’s looking forward to spending time in her incredible garden.
It includes her ‘office’ (a greenhouse made by her sons) … of course with a kettle, and Con’s lockdown project: a sauna, shower and hot tub that leaves celebrity architect Dermot Bannon’s in the shade.
Produce includes ‘rogue butternut squash that came up with compost’, apricot trees, aubergines, a tomato tunnel with more varieties than you might think existed, a kiwi and banana tree, golden turnips, pumpkins, sweet corn, spinach, chard, apple trees, soft fruits of all descriptions – and too many more to mention.
Karen also experimented with growing oats, quinoa and lentils this year and is forever tinkering around with new ideas.
‘We grow because we are addicted to flavour – freshly picked fruit and veg taste like nothing else. We eat like kings!’ she said.
She’s been almost entirely vegetarian since she was 18, and said eating organically is just a way of life for them.
‘It’s not something we really shout about or stuff down people’s throats. It’s important to us, and for the planet and I do think there is a greater awareness these days.’
She says she understands that food isn’t top of lots of people’s priorities with so many financial demands these days on a household.
‘But I don’t understand it when people seem almost proud to buy cheap food.
‘It doesn’t seem right to me that a butternut squash that takes six months to grow can just cost 49 cent in a shop. There seems to be very little respect for the grower and the producer.’
Her garden is a labour of love, but her first love is cooking, and having fun putting food on plates.
‘I’m a cook that gardens,’ she said.
She’s also one who teaches and writes, having held classes for the past 20 years, and has two cookbooks under her belt.
‘Moving forward, I’m looking at holding more cooking classes and hopefully encouraging people to use the best ingredients they can find to produce the best results,’ she said.
She also loves to travel, and was only in the door from Cuba when lockdown hit.
She’s next off to Greece where she hopes to host some classes in the future. ‘I love seeing new places but I’m always very happy to come home too, and to live here. Why wouldn’t I? It’s paradise.’
Karen can’t understand why people are proud to buy cheap food and thinks the grower deserves more respect.
Con with the hot tub and sauna he built during lockdown in the family’s organic garden just outside Timoleague.
