Size: Sq m 65 (700 sq ft)

Location: Ballea, Carrigaline

NOT every one-off house built during the boom was a McMansion — for every monster-sized block of a house mindlessly plonked in a field, there’s probably another built just right for its setting, and more discretely placed.

There might be a temptation when coming home to Northbrook to go an extra mile or two past its gates — some of Cork’s most accessible beaches, such as Fountainstown and Myrtleville are just further out along the road.

Trish Dromey finds a Fountainstown beach home on the rocks

Some of the finest views over the Owenabue Estuary and a location cheek by jowl with Carrigaline town makes this 41-acre farm a sure fire winner on a number of levels.

Quality will out, and it shines through in Moorpark, a classic villa-style bungalow with sea and Ringabella views in Cork’s Fountainstown.

After a spell under corrugated steel, original thatch has been restored, writes Tommy Barker.

Tommy Barker was hugely impressed by this Currabinny home, thanks to its stunning location and tasty design.

TWENTY acres of good tillage land at Ballyfeard, south Cork, may also have potential for planning, says agent Roy Dennehy.

THE house Upper Deck looks like it should ring a bell — literally.

OVERLOOKING the neighbours is never going to be a problem in a renovated detached dormer at Currabinny.

UP above the throng of the beach, but close enough to trot downhill to in just five minutes when the sun bursts through, is 4, Seaview Place, at Myrtleville, outside Cork harbour near Crosshaven.

NAMED after a beach in Wales, and owned by a Welsh woman and her solicitor husband, Setlands, built in 1974, is an architect-designed house high in Cork’s harbour region.

STILL an incoming tide at Cork city’s nearest beach at Fountainstown, then? Following a recent sale by public auction of a pretty villa-like bungalow right by the popular beach in Cork for €875,000, estate agent Roy Dennehy has consolation prizes for disappointed underbidders.

YOU’LL have the yachting world at the end of your garden if you are quick enough at 1 Ard na Lí, in Cork harbour’s Crosshaven.

THE plot thickens, and amazingly, actual house values can diminish. Strange to hear it said, but given the right location, the house quality doesn’t much matter anymore, the value is all in the ground, the site, the plot, the view.

WHAT you see isn’t what you get at The Lodge, a Templebreedy, Crosshaven, coastal dwelling for sale with a €350,000 asking price.

THERE’S good money to be had for daily commutable Cork houses in and around Crosshaven, and the million euro barrier has been breached again in recent weeks.

A HUCKLEBERRY Finn and Tom Sawyer type of lifestyle for youngsters is offered at Arbutus.

RAIL, road and ferry are access options at the Rushbrooke, Cobh, house Anduain. A larger than life semi which certainly doesn’t fit the conventional image of the term, this home has 2,000 sq ft of space, all done to a high spec, and was built just four years ago.

BUILT within the last two years is Firview, a 2,600 sq ft dormer home, with extra wood trimmings, on the Forest Road outside Carrigaline in Cork.

By Tommy Barker

“A STUNNING interior” is how auctioneer, Roy Dennehy, describes ‘Ferny’, at 7, Dun Eoin, Carrigaline, in Co Cork.

SEASIDE houses close enough to commute to city jobs are on the crest of a wave, judging by the €575,000-plus price guide with this Fountainstown dormer bungalow.

THE OLD two-up, two-down has seen many ministrations since the cottage has come back in vogue as a des res.

WITH sites in the area going for a maximum of €300,000, auctioneer Roy Dennehy expects keen interest in newly-built detached house priced at €550,000.