Elegant Georgian grace

YOU can take “trading down” as a relative term — especially when you consider that the vendors of Lissarda House in Cork traded down to this quite large Georgian house only in the mid-1990s.

The Sherrard family bought Lissarda House, on the Cork side of Macroom, when they sold their family home, Maryborough House, in suburban Douglas around 1995 it is now an 80-bed hotel on 24 idyllic acres and one of the most sought-after wedding venues in the south thanks to its 300-year-old gardens.

Maryborough House was sold at the time for over £1 million a Cork price record at the time and millions more went into its development and extension by its purchaser Dan O'Sullivan who saw his investment turn to gold.

Five miles on the Cork side of Macroom, Lissarda House is now being sold by the Sherrards as it is once again too big for their needs children have grown up and moved on, with grandchildren in train, and the newly-provided stables aren't as used as they once were.

It carries a guide price of €1.6 million with Peter Cave of Hamilton Osborne King, comes with 13 acres of land, has beautifully proportioned reception rooms and four bedrooms at its first floor level.

It is a two storey, over-basement Georgian home, built in 1860 by a Mrs C Valence Whiteway, and in the mid-1900s owners included the Murphy family from Macroom and Sean and Julia O'Mahony who sold it to the Sherrards around 1996.

According to auctioneer Mr Cave, the impending completion of the Ballincollig bypass will drive up interest in Lissarda House, less than 20 miles from Cork city and airport, just off the roadside on the N22.

It comes up for sale with genuine period trimmings and lifestyle accoutrements, including a long approach drive, 13 acres of land, outbuildings, cobbled courtyard, 17 loose boxes, old lofted stables with conversion potential, outdoor menage, and sheltered gardens. Oh, and the Aga cooker in the kitchen is from Maryborough House.

The family have spent money on the house, but it without losing its character, and the spread of reception rooms includes sitting room, dining room and morning room, all with marble fireplaces, gracefully proportioned, with cornice detail, central roses and tall sash windows.

The entrance hall, beyond the porch, is spacious, and other rooms include a study, TV room and kitchen, while the over-basement design also facilitates other service rooms like laundry room, play room, stores, fuel store, harness room, with one lower level fifth bedroom and bathroom.

By the end of this year, it will be within a quick drive of the city, and Macroom town's fortunes five miles to the west have already had an uplift in the last week with the multi-million euro sale of the former GSI/Elan plant, and its planned conversion to business park and the prospect of jobs flowing back to the Lee Valley region.