Retreat without restraint

IT is called the Hermitage - but it’s a classic misnomer. Andrew Carlos Clarke is not, never was and has no intention of ever being a hermit.

The larger-than-life estate agent with the lofty, throaty, smoker’s raspy laugh, burst on to the nation’s TV screens last summer when he featured in the RTE series, Kinsale Lives.

Now, Andrew’s bachelor pad in one of Kinsale’s most scenic settings is up for sale as he prepares to move lock, stock and Jamaica-themed home bar, back into town.

“My woman problems are, hopefully sorted out,” he says this week as a reassurance to the maidens of Ireland. So, he’s going steady with someone, then? “No, not really, I’ve someone in mind, though,” he says. No real personality change there, then.

Andrew’s brother, Bob Carlos Clarke, is one of the world’s top glamour photographers, so the eye for feminine pulchritude is in the genes. Even colleague, Kevin Kelleher, in auctioneering firm Keane Mahony Smith sends Andrew up, agreeing, “he came across as a bit of a cad in the programme.” And, you know someone really is a cad when they readily agree with such a description.

The Carlos Clarke home at Castlepark, Kinsale, has been updated since Andrew shook it up in 1998.

He did the necessary building renewal work to the 1940s farmhouse. It’s on an elevated acre site with views to Kinsale harbour to the east and Sandycove and the Old Head of Kinsale to the west.

“There’s only 11 houses up this hill above Castlepark, and as it is a protected scenic area, the likelihood of getting planning for a new house is remote,” says Kevin Kelleher.

He diplomatically describes the house as done ‘bachelor-style’, which part-explains the home bar on a Jamaican theme, complete with corrugated iron ceiling and reggae/rasta decor, minus the tall potted plants.

There’s about 1,200 sq ft at present, spread over two levels, and the bedroom tally was deliberately reduced from three to two rooms, with a new bathroom as well. Each bedroom has access to a separate decked balcony on either side of the flat-roofed kitchen extension, while there are two good-sized reception/party rooms.

The price guide is €1.25 million, but the worth and future direction for the property in new ownership will be to extend and upgrade further.

“The site is so good, and so rare, that a very good large house here would be worth €2 or €3 million,” says Kevin Kelleher. Apart from the existing main house here, there’s a granny flat and stone outbuildings with conversion potential.

Location is about two miles from the town by road and harbour bridge, less than half that as the gull flies.

On a similar vein, across Kinsale harbour at exclusive Ardbrack, another estate agent, Victoria Murphy, has a basic three-bed brick bungalow on a south-facing 0.65 acre site, up for sale with a €1.5 million price tag.

Again, it is the views and location determining the price.

She says builders are flocking to it, with a view to knocking and rebuilding a far more spectacular home to suit the setting, with an end value of €3 million. “It won’t be there for long, so view now,” she says of the Ardbrack offering.