Think big at Lough Derg

THERE are 32,000 acres covered by the waters of Lough Derg. One of Ireland’s largest lakes, it bounds Tipperary, Clare and Galway counties and is navigable over 40 kilometres, making it one of the premier residential and tourist locations in the country.

Good restaurants, cosy pubs, incredible views and all that water are part of the draw with new developments outdoing each other in size and style.

A new and very interesting development of houses with upwards of 3,000 sq ft of space has been launched at Moynoe, Scarriff in Co Clare. The largest of these tops 3,400 sq ft, and is priced at 690,000. The two smaller houses have a guide of €650,000.

The developer is German national, Michael Krohne, a man with a number of business interests in the area who is now beginning to dabble in property development and this is his first scheme. While Moynoe is nearing completion, another high-end, small-scale scheme at Ballyvalley is due shortly, with five, timber-framed houses planned.

One of the major selling points at Moynoe is the shared, private four-boat jetty that comes with the houses in the scheme. The jetty has berthing for craft up to 8 metres long. A private road leads through this small estate to the mooring and each house has private shore frontage.

Set on sites of an acre each which slope gently to the lake, each house has a defined boundary, marked by young copper beech. All the landscaping is already done, and each unit comes with a fully equipped kitchen, including appliances.

Designed by a German architect, Rolf Ditt, who flies in every two weeks to supervise, along with structural engineer, John Neylon, the houses are constructed to a very high, albeit, uncommon standard.

Helen Gallery of selling agents Sherry FitzGerald McMahon, says the layout of the remaining houses is open to change, but the design already provides for an open-plan layout with potential for up to five bedrooms.

Each house has a standard, two- leaved concrete base at first floor level and is finished in Scandinavian timber on the second floor. Finnish contractors Honka take over from the Irish craftsmen at this stage and complete the job they also provide all of the external and internal joinery and oversee the settling phase for a year.

The roof is topped off in natural slate and the internal floor is in concrete, with solid hardwood flooring finish, which meets and exceeds fire-safety standards. Maintenance is low, as the timber is fully treated, but will need painting over time.

Internally, the house comes with a fully-fitted German kitchen, inclusive of appliances and fully fitted and tiled bathrooms.

Each house has three en suites and guest bathroom.

family room at first floor level with a veranda to take in the wide, lake views. The ground floor has an entrance porch leading to a wide hallway with u-shaped staircase. From here is access to the kitchen/dining area.

At the other end of this huge room is the living area with stone fireplace and double doors to a patio, again facing towards the lake. Other rooms on this level include a very large utility room and en suite bedroom.

Upstairs off a big, square landing is a bedroom/study, a huge master bedroom with full bathroom and another en suite room which could be sub-divided or made into a complete suite.