To the manor bought

IT mightn’t be Rudolf and the other reindeer frolicking on the lawn — but white deer with a lineage stretching back 400 years does have a touch of magic about it.

A handful of individual house sites are up for sale in the grounds of Mallow Castle, beside ancient forestry, overlooking the Castle, grounds and the river Blackwater all in the heart of the crossroads Munster town.

The herd of white deer at Mallow Castle are said to be descended from two white harts given by Elizabeth I to her god-child Elizabeth Norreys whose family rebuilt an old Desmond castle at Mallow in the late 1500s.

The ruins of that castle still stand, and the current castle in the English manorial style has portions from the 16th century and was enlarged and rebuilt in the 19th century.

Held over the centuries by the Jephson family, Mallow Castle finally found a new breed of owners in the 1983 when it was bought by US career diplomats Mike McGinn and Judy Moore who'd worked in Congress a sort of West Wing meets old wing.

The couple, had been on the look-out for a thatched cottage on Galway Bay, but ended up viewing castles and places such as Castlehyde and Mallow Castle instead.

"We're to the manor bought," quips Mike McGinn. "We couldn't afford to buy, it, but then we couldn't afford not to either," he adds, and Mallow Castle became home for their two sons and the boys' grandparents.

Now, 20 years later, the last few house sites in the grounds of the castle are priced at €200,000, prompting comparison with the original (undisclosed) castle selling price.

Estate agent Michael O'Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald O'Donovan says: "These sites are in an exclusive, once-off location, within the town and the castle grounds, looking down on the river and with the deer next door."

Mike McGinn and his wife Judy, now a writer, fought long and hard to get planning permission for the seven sites, to be set in an enclave behind electric gates. There is planning for six dormer bungalows, and three of these serviced half-acre sites are left to sell at the €200,000 guide through Sherry FitzGerald O'Donovan.

Cork County Council manager Maurice Moloney was the first to make the move, and has built a single storey home here on one of the sites.

Mallow is on a fast-track to growth, with 200 decentralised jobs coming with Fáilte Ireland, an enhanced commuter rail service began last weekend, and Fleming Construction are in the planning process for a 200,000 sq ft retail development on the town's old mart site.