A TREATISE on housing by journalist and author, India Knight, attracted a lot of attention in a three-page spread in The Sunday Times recently, with West Cork readers paying particular attention to the Skibbereen-Ballydehob road sign slap bang in the middle of her living room.

Home by India Knight was published in October by Fig Tree and the article about the book states loud and proud: ‘Your house isn’t for other people. It’s not for Instagram. It’s for you.’

‘I love stuff,’ India stated in the article. ‘Teetering piles of books, messy kitchens, walls filled with pictures. This is because I love houses that tell the story of the people who live in them.’

So what’s the story with the sign? India happily replied to the question posed by The Southern Star with a veritable love letter to West Cork.

‘It is there as a reminder, not that I need one, of my great love for West Cork, which I first visited years ago as a guest of the wonderful literary festival in Bantry. I liked it so much that I stayed for ten days instead of for the one night I’d planned, and that was basically that.

‘My partner and I and sometimes assorted children (and occasionally dogs now that there is a dogs-allowed crossing on the ferry) try to visit at least once a year. I’d very happily live there, but I can’t because my kids are in London and I am anticipating grandchildren. One day, though. Maybe we’ll move en masse if the wretched Farage gets in. My father was Belgian so I’m an EU national, thank God. 

‘The sign comes from a bloke in a van in the market in Skibb. I didn’t enquire overmuch as to how he came to have it. I love Skibb and I love that market and I love Kalbo’s and Field’s SuperValu. I also love Bantry and Organico and the potato gratin from The Stuffed Olive and the parrot in the pet shop. And the fact that the petrol station outside Skibb sells individual ready-made fried eggs. And the crab sandwiches from Hacketts in Schull. And breakfast in Ballydehob and, of course, Levis, which is the best bar in the entire world. And all of it – I could go on for miles. This is all very food based but I am also quite food based and we eat like kings in West Cork. 

‘Ugh, I’m making myself wish I was there just typing this stream of consciousness. I’m not saying anything about the landscape even though that’s obviously a huge part of the appeal, but I don’t even have words for the wildness and glory of it. Also the embarkation points to America make me want to cry.’

In conclusion, India verified: ‘The sign points in the right direction, btw. It took us ages to work it out.’