The long drive home

WE Irish like to build our houses in prominent roadside locations, making the statement “this is where I live”.

The Paddocks, in Knockraha, outside Cork city, takes the opposite approach: it is set well back from prying eyes.

The Paddocks values seclusion: it is built at the end of a 200-yard long, beech-tree lined drive, off a quiet county road, two miles off the Cork-to-Dublin road and the Watergrasshill bypass. This location is ten miles from Cork city.

Styled along the lines of a Victorian villa, construction on the Paddocks, a single-storey house measuring 2,800 square feet, began in January.

It has been built and finished to the highest of standards. Posh bathrooms, high, corniced ceilings, oak internal doors and teak external ones, a marble kitchen floor, painted built-ins, integrated appliances, and a log stove set into a kitchen wall space comprise some of the features.

The Paddocks is modelled on a similar villa seen by the vendor in Scotland. Plans were drawn up by Niall Skehan and the house was constructed by Leighlin Building.

The vendor, who has also built or developed several other 'one-off' houses in Cork within the past five years, viewed a similar - though more extravagant - single-storey villa, Furness Polo, in Naas, earlier this year, which sold at auction for €2m.

The Paddocks is selling for €600,000 via Anthony O'Regan and Paul Scannell, of Keane Mahony Smith estate agents.

The Paddocks, which has private, electronic gates, is built on the grounds of a demolished house, on a mature bordered site. This is accessed via a shared avenue (a house and farmyard are situated beyond).

The attention to detail in the Paddocks is tremendous. There are two halls, one outer and one inner. The inner hall is octagonal and has a glass dome overhead, with skylights set into the slate roof.

Each of the rooms connecting to the hall is angled to facilitate its unusual shape. Off this bright hall are three bedrooms two en suite a guest bathroom, a kitchen and a dining room.

The dining room, which measures 20' by 16', leads on to a lounge measuring 25' by 21': this has six windows, French doors leading to the front garden and a gravelled drive. Both of these are linked to the reception room and have nicely proportioned, salvaged antique fireplaces.

The floors in the house are predominantly of Honduran pine, apart from the kitchen and outer hall, which have marble floors. Ceiling heights are 10'.

The kitchen has a Belfast sink and beech-wood worktop. The main en-suite bedroom has a roll-top bath.