HOUSE OF THE WEEK
Midleton estate agent Michael Russell recalls a time, when selling a house on some unkept land, that he jokingly told a bidder that he would include a goat to graze it if she bought it the property. After the deal went through, sure enough, he got a phone call, looking for the goat. Surprised, but true to his word, he bought two goats in a bar for a tenner and delivered them to the house, Weeks later, he got another phone call — the garden was tamed, and the goats could now go, thank you. Doubly surprised, he found a second home for the duo, reprising their garden clearing role for another person- “and 15 years on, I’d say they’re still doing the gardens of East Cork,” Mr Russell laughs.
Now, a boat will be of more use than a goat at this Rathcoursey retreat, part of a cluster of homes on the shoreline fringing Cork harbour a couple of miles out from Midleton, looking across water to Ballyannon wood by Midleton, and to Great Island near East Ferry to the west. (East Grove House, home to Loretta and Lewis Glucksman has just sold across the waters at East Ferry, in a c €1.8m deal to a local East Cork family buyer.)
