A gem of a house in Tivoli, Cork

Tivoli’s Cahernane is set where Cork’s monied classes colonised a sunny hillside, writes Tommy Barker.

Tivoli, Cork €350,000

Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 3

Best Feature: All done up

THE chance to build a brand new house on a site that took 12 years to get planning for in East Cork means the young family at Cahernane, Tivoli are upping sticks.

They bought this three-bed bungalow up above the city end of the Tivoli dual carriageway five years ago, and did a full restoration and upgrade on it since.

The south-facing hill-set house dates back to the 1950s, preceding by a decade or so the arrival of Cork’s first ever dual carriageway, skirting Tivoli and running from the city’s edge to Glanmire.

It’s arrival (as a sort of mini Naas dual carriageway) was considered wildly exciting...in more innocent motoring times.

Despite the rush below now, there are still ancient old cedar tress dotting the hills shouldering Tivoli, said to have been planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, interspersed by Georgian villas around Lota, and mid-1900s detacheds, built for Cork’s ‘managerial’ classes — an interesting residential mix.

Cahernane was owned for a period by the Brothers of Charity at Lota, and the current owners acquired it five years ago after a bidding process when it was in strong demand.

They’ve completely upgraded it, and done serious work in the gardens to get seating/decking areas front and back (there also a decent man’s shed/hut, and water feature) and now it’s a walk-in job, on a bright but initially at least, steep site of one-third of an acre.

Cahernane is the fifth entrance on the Tivoli road after the Silversprings Hotel, whose conference centre car park is high above this private home, and the first signs of the de-industrialisation of Tivoli have commenced, with tanks being removed freeing up long, distant southerly views.

The family here at Cahernane extended the entrance hall, and opened the kitchen/dining to a living room with open fireplace, and rewired, replumbed and put in smart new bathrooms.

The city end houses a master bedroom suite, with walk in dressing area/robes, good en suite and double aspect bedroom, with deck access.

Selling agent is Gillian McDonnell of Sherry FitzGerald, who guides at €350,000 and she says there’s little like it in the area, and she predicts a lot of interest, from a cross-section of home hunters.

VERDICT: A crown in the dual.