Caroline Crowley, Project Development Manager at Irish Landmark Trust
I'VE BEEN HERE for two and a half years. I've a degree in history of design, specialising in architectural history, so I consider myself incredibly lucky to be doing this job.
We give a viable new future to a building that would otherwise be lost, and we do it by providing short-term accommodation so that lots of people can enjoy them.
We have 18 restored properties in all, five in Northern Ireland and 13 in the south. If I had to pick a favourite myself, it would be Blackhead Lighthouse. It overlooks Belfast Lough, and when you look out the kitchen window there's just you and the sea.
Our office is in Temple Bar, Dublin. I live in Bray, Co Wicklow, so I'm up at 6.30am to miss the traffic and at my desk by 8.30am.
One of the biggest parts of my job is fundraising, so I'll spend a good deal of most mornings doing that.
We rely totally on government funding and private donations, so I'm always ringing and writing and e-mailing funding agencies and local authorities, dealing with conservation grants.
Grant applications are all about paperwork, so there's a lot of that, too. And once we receive the money, then comes all the organisation of spending it. I'll spend much of the day managing conservation projects too. We are currently restoring the Triumphal Arch Gatelodge at Colebrooke Estate, in Co Fermanagh. The plan was to have it open in time for Christmas, so that has been taking up a lot of my time.
We don't own any of our properties, but lease them for 50 years at a peppercorn rate. What we don't do is create museum pieces; each one is given a new lease of life so that it will continue into the future.
If I'm not going out for a look around the shops at lunchtime, I'll have a sandwich at my desk, and in the afternoon much of my time is taken up with keeping an eye on finished conservation projects.
We recently put new windows in the lighthouse at Wicklow Head, for example, which was a big job. Or it could be something as small as a lump of lime render falling off a house.
Our client base is very varied, half-and-half Irish and from overseas, with a lot of Americans looking to rent our accommodation in Dublin city.
We rent out the three floors above our offices in Eustace Street. We also have a mews at Merrion Square that now have horses from the Garda Mounted Unit downstairs, which is lovely for guests.
Our second-most-popular property is Anne's Grove, a miniature castle in Castletownroche, Co Cork. We get a lot of men booking it in order to propose to their girlfriends, because it is so very romantic.
• In conversation with Sandra O'Connell