Craving coffee at Mary Moran’s cottage in Ballintubber

IT was far from cappuccinos, lattes and croissants Mary Moran was reared, but today, you’ll get the finest of coffees, teas, sweets and treats in the cottage that bears her noble name.
Nestled in the heart of Ballintubber, this charming, whitewashed rural dwelling has been given its latest lease of life by sisters Sinéad and Helena Chambers.
Now called ‘Crave at The Cottage’ but still widely known as ‘Mary Moran’s’, summer has just arrived when The Mayo News calls to visit one bright Wednesday morning in early May.
At first glance, we’re half-expecting a hen or a goose to make an appearance at the red half-door in the whitewash stone exterior.
We enter to be greeted by the smell and cosiness of a roaring turf fire. Inside is a warm, naturally lit café that is modern and stylish but retains its unique rural Irish charm.


WONDERFUL GIFT The traditional stone cottage that was left by Mary Moran to the local community in Ballintubber.

Helena, Sinéad and their cousin, Shauna, are all on their feet keeping a steady flow of patrons fed and watered.
With Mary Moran keeping a close eye from a portrait above us, we sit down with Helena and Sinéad, who tell us about their long-held ambition of setting up a coffee shop.
They initially thought about a premises in Newport, Castlebar or Westport, or even a horse box, before they started serving lattes and buttered scones in an old stone cottage.
“What we really wanted to do in here was just create a very warm, cosy atmosphere for people to come in and sit, be able to hang out,” says Helena.
“I stop at those coffee trailers all the time. They’re great, but it’s nice to have somewhere and sit and meet your friend. Lots of local people living around, they were crying out for somewhere to go,” she adds, before excusing herself to attend a cheerful group of six women who’ve arrived in for lunch.


INVITING INTERIOR Customers enjoying a cuppa and cake at Crave at the Cottage.

Located in the middle of nowhere along the road to somewhere, Mary’s Moran’s is hard to miss when travelling the main road between Castlebar and Ballinrobe. The cottage itself is part of the Celtic Furrow, a unique heritage centre showcasing artefacts and customs from Ireland’s ancient history.
However, Mary Moran’s old abode is a relic of much more recent past. Since 1989, the cottage has been at the centre Ballintubber – geographically and metaphorically.
After going to her eternal reward, Mary Moran gifted her home to the community of Ballintubber. The derelict cottage was soon renovated by a local co-cooperative, who reopened it as a tourism information centre.
Over the years, it hosted not only tourists, but set dancing, meetings, and all other manner of dos, functions and gatherings. It has always boasted catering facilities, with different operators serving food and refreshments on and off over the years.
Sinéad and Helena remember the place well from their childhood.
Like many others, life brought them away from the land of St Patrick’s well. Helena managed an Evergreen health-food shop in Galway before moving home, while Sinéad worked as a chef before moving into project management in Dublin.
One day, Sinéad passed by Mary Moran’s and decided to make inquiries. Next thing, the wheels were in motion.


OVERSEEING ALL The portrait of Mary Moran that today hangs on the walls of her cottage.

With the help of local man Con Lydon, the Chambers sisters agreed to lease Mary Moran’s from the community council and restore it to its recent glory.
“Fr Fahy would have put a lot of time and effort into building the Celtic Furrow. This was a really big part of people’s memories,” Sinéad explains from beneath the photograph of Mary Moran.
“A lot of people go, ‘I remember that, I remember when it opened’. So it was really nice to be able to reopen it, something that had meant a lot to the public.”
Under the care of Ballintubber Community Council, the cottage was kept in good enough condition to be used for meetings and did not require major refurbishment.
“We obviously put our own stamp on it,” Sinéad adds. “I think it was just the community space that we really loved about it and giving people somewhere to meet that wasn’t the pub.”
Long-term, the Chambers sisters hope the cottage will prosper with local support and a healthy tourist trade from Ballintubber Abbey and the Joyce Country Geopark.
They’re also on for selling sandwiches made with their own sourdough bread as well as boxed coffees, teas, treats and other goods from their own suppliers.
But no money can buy what Sinéad and Helena have enjoyed most since reopening the old wooden half-door.
“I think one of the nicest things that I’ve heard people saying is that they’ve met people that they haven’t met in a long time,” says Sinéad.
Helena agrees. “It’s really lovely, people we’ve not seen in years. It’s nice to have so many people around, even our own age group.”
The cottage is right back at the heart of the community, just as Mary Moran would have wanted.