Detached home near the city centre has a much-sought-after address

A LOVERS’ Walk house in Cork city gives buyers the chance to get quite a large home, on a relatively small and easily tended site.

St Joseph's is a 20-year-old five-bed detached house which turns some expectations on their head.

Primarily, its living rooms are on the upper level, all the better to catch the south-facing River Lee and Marina views from.

This family home is a couple of hundred yards from the end of Lover's Walk in Tivoli, up from the Lower Glanmire Road, which situates it about a mile east of the city.

It is being marketed by Donal O'Driscoll of Remax Cork and County, who says it has great appeal for buyers looking for space to spread out in and who don't want acres of gardens to tend. The existing grounds are compact, quite mature and have parking for two cars.

It comes with three first floor reception rooms, the largest of which is a 22' by 15' family room with step up to a dining area, and this room and the 15' square living room have the very best of the views: think Marina, Atlantic pond, Pairc Ui Chaoim, and endlessly changing river traffic.

The kitchen is also upstairs, with utility and back hall, and down at the lower level this house has five bedrooms ranged off a long central hallway though you'll have to trot back up a floor to find the main bathroom.

The attic is a great 400 sq ft, ripe for conversion and if a window or Velux or two can be put in here it will be a sun-trap. Otherwise, the house needs a bit of decorative updating among other expected spending after any sale concludes.

Donal O'Driscoll says the address along Lovers' Walk is exclusive and one of the city's best, the southerly aspect is bang on, and the price guide is €650,000-plus.