Many home owners raffling their property have made headlines in Ireland in the last few month, one of them, Deirdre Mackesy, owner of Robin Hill House has caught our attention.

Deirdre’s competition dubbed “Win a Victorian Home and Business in Cobh”, has a prize package that includes the €1.5m property, plus the award winning B&B. At the moment, there are 6 ensuite bedrooms in the beautiful old house and a charming wooden cabin on the grounds with scope to build another wooden cabin and a sauna in the garden. The property will be 75% furnished.

“This competition will give someone the opportunity to have a lifestyle package that they may not be able to achieve through conventional channels. This gives someone who has the passion and drive, the opportunity to thrive in their very own business, when they may not have the financial means to do so otherwise,” Ms Mackesy said.

“Having this house and lifestyle has allowed me to have not only a successful business, but not compromise on enjoying the rewards of having my holistic healing centre on the premises. Spending my days taking care of my patients, organising yoga retreats and sharing my love for cooking Mediterranean food (Tapas) has been an amazing and irreplaceable experience.”


Why exit the business in such a fashion?
The novel approach to exiting the business was adopted by Ms Mackesy after realising that people were raffling anything from a bottle of wine to cars, houses and businesses.

“I decided to exit the business this way as many of my frequent visitors, would say how much they would love the idea of running a B&B business and I realised that people who could afford a property like this, would probably not have the interest to continue with it.” she said.

“I heard of a few other businesses abroad (USA, New Zealand, Australia & The UK) taking this route and decided to explore this further.” It’s a win/win for so many people in the equation. The Hope Foundation will get a percentage. The winner will get this very special property & business for €60.00. I will get enough to pay the balance of the remaining mortgage & a few bob to take me into semi-retirement. Raffall get paid and everyone is happy. Deirdre says “it’s a no brainer I really think the concept is very clever”. You have got to be prepared to do the work to get the message out there to sell the tickets. People are very interested in this whole concept & ticket sales are doing very well.
The American’s are particularly interested in buying tickets probably due to Cobh’s connection with the exiles who had to leave for the chance to a better life during the Irish famine etc..

She said that the business continues trading successfully and she will provide training to the lucky new owner if required. Alternatively the winner can turn it back into a family home which includes an adjacent apartment and a little wooden cabin or the new owner can sell up and walk away with a nice sum of money in their pocket.

In purchasing a €60 ticket for the prize draw, entrants will be in with a chance of winning the property and the B&B business.

5% of the total monies generated will be donated to Deirdre's chosen charity, The Hope Foundation.


What’s your next step then?

“To answer that, I need to tell you a bit more about my journey so far” she said. “I qualified as a nurse in the UK and I worked in A&E and hospice care. Then I spent nearly 2 years with GOAL in Africa working in a leper colony in a slum area outside Khartoum and also in Darfur with victims of famine and war. It was through GOAL that I met Maureen Forrest, founder of the Hope Foundation, we were part of the inaugural Cork branch of GOAL Ireland and we worked in Rwanda in the coal phase and since then we are great friends and I’ve visited Maureen’s many projects in Kolkata. Maureen Forrest is an amazing woman with great vision, energy and foresight.”

It was in Africa Deirdre first came across complementary methods of healing and she setup her first clinic in 1997, practicing Acupuncture Homoeopathy and Chinese Herbal medicine in Glanmire Co Cork.

“I studied many areas of holistic and complementary medicine including: Reflexology, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy massage, Reiki, Ear candling, Tuina, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Homoeopathy in China, London, Cork, Dublin, India and Sri Lanka. Deirdre also studied higher level pharmacology, anatomy & physiology whilst working in the pharmaceutical industry for 9 years .

“I come from a family of successful business people so it is in my genes to continue innovating, so I want to dedicate my energy and time to healing people!” she said. “Over the years I’ve formulated a number of homeopathic preparations to support my patients and I want to spend more time doing that as well as to spend time “giving back” a bit. My plan is to do some voluntary work maybe “end of life care” with Acupuncture. I also want to travel and live in the sunshine. I have visited the Hope projects in Kolkata and would love to help out there when I have more free time.

About the Raffle

Deirdre is giving a very lucky winner the chance to win a “dream” Victorian property overlooking Cork Harbour for the cost of a €60 ticket. The winner will become a millionaire overnight by receiving the fully furnished property worth over €1,100,000 along with the award-winning 4 start Failte Ireland approved bed and breakfast business, with no mortgage, rent, legal fees or stamp duty. Total value of prize is estimated at €1,500,000

The raffle is being managed by www.raffall.com but ticket can be purchased by visiting www.robinhillraffle.com

Tickets will be sold until March 2023, when a winner will be drawn on Friday, 24th March 2023 at 11:08 or when the last ticket is sold (whichever comes sooner)




About Robin Hill House:
Robin Hill House is on the Rushbrooke Estate on the western side of Cobh. In Gaelic Ringcoltig (Rushbrooke) means 'Heartland of the Navy'. Rushbrooke contains some of the most beautiful examples of Victorian houses in Ireland, many of which are listed buildings, including Robin Hill House.

The area was named after Frederica Harriet Rushbrooke who built Robin Hill House on a large site in the area in 1866. Quite a few of the original features still remain today, with the Gothic style porch, original Victorian tiles, shutters and cellar echoing a rich and varied past.

The house remained in the Rushbrooke family until the 1950's when it was sold to the Irish Church authority and was converted to serve as a rectory for Christ Church next door. The rectory was known as Glebe House until the 1970's and since that time it has been a family home, a B&B, a restaurant and now a Guest house and holistic therapy centre.


About The Hope Foundation
The Hope Foundation is a registered charity No: 13237
working with street and slum children in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India.

We work to free children and poor families from lives of pain, abuse, poverty and darkness.

Living on the streets, children are exposed to horrendous physical and sexual abuse. Those who survive are left to fend for themselves, with no promise of a safe future. They are forced to work from as young as five years of age to earn money for food and so cannot go to school. HOPE works to free them from child labour. HOPE funds and operates over 60 projects.

WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN HAVING DEIRDRE ON YOUR RADIO SHOW TO TALK ABOUT THIS NOVEL WAY OF PARTING WITH A PROPERTY. IN THE UK, AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND IT IS PROVING A VERY POPULAR METHOD?

IF SO PLEASE CONTACT DEIRDRE

MANY THANKS

ASAD MAHMUD
(ADMIN/PR.)

www.robinhill.ie