Live life to the max at the World’s End

FOR those who dread the onslaught of TV channels from around the globe in the digital revolution, there’s an irony in the fact that the Head of RTÉ’s Digital Television development lives in a place called World’s End.

Gerry Reynolds took up the reins of digital TV with the national broadcaster after a spell as head of broadcasting in RTÉ's Cork office, and is adopting a 'make haste slowly' approach in the digital markets, seeking appropriate partnerships for RTÉ's terrestrial channels.

Coming up to eight years in situ in World's End Kinsale, he is selling up the house he built in the coastal town. Despite a schedule that sees him flying to Dublin, to Europe and beyond, he intends to stay living locally near Kinsale, with his wife Tina and children Jyothi, age six, and two-year old Ramiya.

The house is on a site of an acre, on a cul-de-sac with great harbour views close to the Trident Hotel.

"Where other people might have had a few extra quid and traded up the car, we bought extra bits of land around the house," says Reynolds, who unexpectedly is now selling as he and Tina feel the site is too open now to be safe for small children.

The three-storey, striking five-bed family home is on the market with estate agent Clare Atkinson of Keane Mahony Smith, with a €760,000 price guide, which reflects the amount of garden/site space and the possibility of limited development potential.

The house has typically Kinsale features, such as slate hung walls, interpreted in a contemporary way.

Reynolds sings the praises of the collaborative design process that brought the house to fruition back in 1996.

A planning design clinic conducted by Kinsale UDC, initiated by the now-County Architect Billy Houlihan, helped to short-circuit the frustrations of trying to build new houses in sensitive settings by suggesting from the outset what might or might not be allowed. "It was a pro-active move, and very helpful," says Gerry Reynolds.

The end result is a bright family home with first floor living space (and a kitchen with unique mosaic splashback) and deck spaces. It has the main bedrooms at the lower and top floors, a pressurised zoned heating system, mains services, lots of parking and, surprise, surprise, the place is heavily wired for IT and Television.