Sea views at Red Strand make homes tempting

NEXT door neighbours, two detached houses tucked away at the edge of a field overlooking West Cork’s Red Strand, are on the market catching the eyes of passing holiday-makers and promising a base for future breaks away.

The beach, six miles from Clonakilty and sheltered by the Galley Head peninsula and the wink of a lighthouse’s beacon sweep, is considered one of the safest in the region, and the overall Ardfield area around it is increasingly popular with Cork city-based buyers because it is within an easy hour’s commute from Cork city.

One Gahanive, Red Strand property currently on the late summer market is Seascape, a c 30-year old bungalow, with up to five bedrooms, on a third of an acre and priced at €350,000 by Eilish Cohalan of ERA Liam Hodnett auctioneers .

With expansive sea and bay views, it is under offer, at €335,000, decoratively it reflects the period of its construction and it has kitchen/dining, sitting room, study and five bedrooms.

Right next door, recently built and finished in stone, smaller in scale and more expensive is Southwind, a three-bed bungalow with a €395,000 price guide quoted by Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill.

Its site is almost wholly walled-in, with an old loose stone wall making for the lower edge of the ‘frame’ of the sea and beach view and blocking out a small mobile home park a distance beneath.

Southwind is a modern take on a traditional bungalow form, and has a central open plan living and dining area, with three bedrooms, one with en suite, and main bathroom plus utility.

Access to the two houses is via a narrow right of way around three sides of a field, so there’s almost a half a mile walk to get to dip a toe in the sea.

Showing the level of demand right now in the vicinity, a low-lying beachside site at Red Strand, with full planning for a 2,600 sq ft traditional style home, sold here within this past month for just over €300,000 with SWS Property Services. The purchaser is a local businessman and builder who may sell on the completed home.

Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill are to auction a one-third acre site at Inchydoney beach on Wednesday next. It has planning permission for a two-bedroomed, open plan home, and the price guide of €250,000-plus looks certain to prove shy on the day of auction given site scarcity in the vicinity.