'All the local people rowed in and got behind us': Cork women opens cafe in community she grew up in

It takes a village to raise a child - and it takes a village to raise a business.

When Eleanor Warnes wanted to open a café in her home village of Ballynoe, she called on the local community to chip in.

The result is the recently-opened Blue Cottage Kitchen in East Cork, in the premises of what was once the village shop.

When I arrive on a summer’s morning, it is beautifully decorated, bright and spacious.

Mum of three Eleanor doesn’t believe in doing things by halves.

“I’m up at 5am every morning!” she says. “I get great satisfaction from making people happy. I bake 60 scones every morning.”

She tells me about the teamwork that helped her achieve her dream.

“All the local people rowed in and got behind us with the renovation and decorating work,” says Eleanor.

“The painter, the tiler, the graphic design artist, were all local.”

She supports local as well.

“We brew Boardwalk Coffee from Youghal,” says Eleanor. “And I try and use as much local produce as possible.”

Eleanor is very appreciative of all the help. “My brother, Edward, did all the heavy lifting. Pat, the gardener, was a great help.”

Everyone who rowed in was part of the community where Eleanor and her nine siblings had grown up - she spent years living in various parts of the world before coming back to Ballynoe to settle down with her husband Simon and their family.

“It was fabulous,” says Eleanor of the renovation. “Really, it went seamlessly and was stress-free. Meeting people I knew years ago and meeting new people was just brilliant.”

The teamwork ethos extends to the staff in Blue Cottage Kitchen.

“I have a great team here working with me,” says Eleanor, who travelled extensively around the world when she left school after doing her Leaving Cert.

Among the staff is her son, Billy.

“He was at a bit of a loss as to know what career path to take. A lot of this is for him,” says Eleanor.

The café is also a tribute to her late sister.

“There were ten of us in the family,” says Eleanor. “My younger sister, Julianne, passed away in November, 2024. We were very close. This was for her too. We bought a scrap of land just across the side street outside as well as this premises. That is going to be a memorial community garden dedicated to Julianne.”

Eleanor and her siblings lost their father when she was nine years old.

“That was hard on mum and hard on us,” says Eleanor. “We were brought up on the farm with good healthy food. Mum was a great woman.”

Eleanor went to school in Fermoy. It didn’t sit well with her.

“I was not academic at all,” says Eleanor. “I lived in the clouds!”

Her life changed when she landed her first job in a deli in Fermoy when she was 19. From there, she went to Killarney for hotel work.

“I loved it,” she says. “I loved the whole process of cooking, baking, testing, eating!”

Working in a restaurant in Germany gave her taste buds other elements for the trade she would work in for over four decades.

“I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. I learned to speak German. In the restaurant, the owners made their own wines, dressings, etc.”

Eleanor came back to Ireland briefly, which was then in recession, before she headed for the Caymen Islands. That location must have been exotic.

“It was, for sure,” says Eleanor. 

“My flight was paid for through the company. I was cheffing, preparing and cooking a lot of shellfish.

“I lived on a resort and there were lots of nationalities working there as well as the natives,” says Eleanor.

“I learned how to dive! The Irish Catering Federation had a strong connection with the Cayman Islands.”

The Big Smoke then beckoned.

“I took off to the UK where I worked in a hospital,” says Eleanor. “And I bought a house in London.

“The hospital was where I got into pastry cheffing. I made huge batches of pastry every day, really large amounts, and I fed up to 400 to 500 people a day. A lot of cooking!

Romance was brewing too. It was a slow burner.

“My friend Tracey, with matchmaking in mind, had been trying to get her friend Simon and I to meet up for two years!” says Eleanor.

“We got together on his 30th birthday. We got married and have three children, Molly, Billy, and Issy. “We’ve never looked back.”

Is Simon a chef too?

“No, he’s into tech. Microsoft, then Amazon.”

Simon has another name. “Mr Google!” says Eleanor laughing.

“When we were renovating the derelict building here in Ballynoe that had been idle for 20 years, Simon was wonderful being hands on and offering support and advice, seeing the project through with me. We had a dream and we made it happen.”

They have their dream cottage too.

“Yes, we did up the cottage when we came back to Ballynoe,” Eleanor says. “Izzie was six months old when we bought the cottage. We like projects.”

They like travelling too.

“We lived in the USA from 2011 for five or six years. It was interesting.”

Working as a pastry chef and baker for over four decades across Ireland and abroad, Eleanor always adds that special ingredient to her baking.

“Lots of love goes into it!” she says.

What else makes for a light fluffy sponge cake or a light flaky pastry?

“Patience, and doing it with ease,” says Eleanor.

She was always hands-on, and when she returned to Ballynoe, she set to work on her passion from the family’s cottage.

“My garage was my kitchen attached to the cottage,” says Eleanor. “I baked all kinds of cakes, for occasions, for events, for weddings and for funerals. I had a market stall outside my gate. I sold my home-made jams and chutneys, giving people a taste of what I do, and I sold cake by the slice. It was a great experience, and I got a lot of orders.”

She then decided to open the café because, in her words, “I got itchy!”

Now she has her own little slice of heaven. With her natural gift of being a people-person, Eleanor greets all her customers by name. The walls of the café display artwork by talented local artists and schoolchildren.

Kerry, another vital part of the team, works here, and her home-made scented candles are on display alongside Eleanor’s fruity preserves and sweetmeats.

“Come into the kitchen,” says Eleanor. There I meet other members of the team, Sinead and Cathal.

“Sinead is my right-hand woman,” says Eleanor.

Back inside the café, I look around at the tables where friends are chatting and teens are laughing together. A man at one table calls out to Eleanor to say his morning scone and home-made jam make his day

There is nobody on their phones.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” says Eleanor. “People are meeting up, catching up, and enjoying a coffee break outside in the sun. Fabulous!”

Outside, in the patio area, Eleanor’s herbs will grow along the borders of the square.

She is full of plans. “I’m going to be doing Airbnb upstairs, letting three bedrooms out.”

Is there enough time in the day for this industrious lady?