Live a genteel life in this sought-after Victorian home

IT'S a hard one to call - would Rosemount, on Sunday's Well Road, Cork city, be suitable for children?

Big enough to be a family home, this attractive, three-storey Victorian has a long shared garden to the front and a back entrance to the rear, but it does have busy traffic passing during the day.

The odds are that it's more suitable for a couple or family with older children because it's a five-minutes to UCC and 10 minutes to town.

While it needs a bit of work, the bones look very good on a cursory inspection. High up over the road and south-facing, it's sunny to the front and the house generally feels warm. It's very cute inside and has great potential: it could be a very elegant townhouse with some decorative attention.

While there have been some changes, mostly in the plumbing area, they are fortuitous in terms of fitting en suite rooms in two of the house's five bedrooms. These run over two floors and two half landings, with the main bathroom offering a huge space.

The reception rooms are on the ground floor to the left of the main hallway which has some very unusual plasterwork and a curved landing.

The interconnecting rooms have period fireplaces (as do most of the bedrooms), and the front room has a Wyatt window with a double sash to the rear.

The kitchen extends into the back yard, which is a really good size (it has an interesting barbecue niche), and has enough space for entertaining as well as back door access to Shanakiel.

This is handy for bringing in the shopping, as parking on-street on Sunday's Well Road is out of the question. Rosemount did have planning permission for a garage and off-street parking which has since lapsed, but a re-application might be looked on favourably because of traffic congestion.

As one of those quietly genteel areas, Sunday's Well is always much sought after, to use an auctioneering phrase, so it's no surprise that Brian Olden of Lisney has given the house a guide of €495,000.