Higher calling
YOU are Lord, or Lady, of all you survey up on the ridge a mile inland from the sea at Moanroe Lodge, a place where the owners went large on the amount of space.Location is in south Co Cork, four miles from Carrigaline towards Minane Bridge; the sea inlet at Fountainstown is just about a mile away; Cork city is 11 miles off.
It is a recently-built house that cries out for a telescope in the sun room or poking out through an upstairs window, given the views surrounding it.
At over 500' above sea level, it earns the description elevated, which puts it head and shoulders above the local landscape: nothing blocks the views.
Despite being rural, it's not the sort of place that is plunged into Stygian darkness: there is a lighthouse at the Old Head of Kinsale flashing to the west, and to the north, Cork Airport lights are another transport beacon.
Cobh and Cork are to the east, with the cathedral spires visible and a distant grandstand view of the town's regular firework spectacles.
If you have your long distance spectacles on, or the telescope set up, you can apparently see to hills in Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary, weather permitting.
If the weather drives you indoors from your eight acres of grounds (paddocks for ponies, three stables, the full country lifestyle thing) the five bedroomed house has over 3,000 sq ft of space under its dormer roof, with the layout giving priority to several large rooms rather than lots of small ones.
Both the master bedroom and main living room have nice deep bay windows (with neat lead flashing over the bay tiles), while the master bedroom has an en suite and a large dressing room off the bedroom at the other side, which could be changed to another bedroom if required.
The kitchen, with Shaker maple units, beech worktops and integrated appliances, has a tiled floor, as does the good sized utility, and apart from these tiles, virtually the rest of the ground floor has maple floors.
Another contemporary twist is the curved glass block wall in the study to the front of the house: it lets more light and space into the entrance hall area. This space has the main staircase in a stained pine, and the same sort of stained wood is used for a dado, looking just a bit crude and out of place with the other more contemporary features.
The kitchen/dining area opens directly to a lofty sun room, with beech wood beams and pine panelling contrasting with the wood effect PVC double glazed windows.
Views from this comfortable room are down the large main paddock, currently home to a handful of horses.
Those into horses will come cantering down to viewings of this 750,000 rural and coastal spot, hopes estate agent Kevin Silke who put the house up for sale just at the start of this month.
He notes that families with adults or children who love these often costly beasts now find it hard to either get additional lands or house sites with five-plus acres of land and planning permission to build. And the likelihood of getting planning to build in such a setting is increasingly slight in any case.
Serious horse fiends, of which there are many, are often prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of euro for land alone, and in this instance the property has a fine large house, expensively paddocked post and rail fencing, and an extravagantly long drive running along the side of a public road. A shorter route could easily have been put in, but this lengthy route means the horses are more safely set behind the avenue, accessed only via remote controlled metal gates set into tall stone pillars.
Stone is used to face this generous home's front facade, and the roof is a solid affair (necessary given the exposure to the elements) with lots of valleys, dormers and bays, giving plenty of visual variety to camouflage its bulk but probably a nightmare to build.
Depending on who buys the house, there are options for four, five or even six bedrooms (a family room is an optional bedroom).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
