Some dam fine lakeside options

A PLACE on the waterfront beckons in the Lee Valley near Farran for Cork home buyers.

The banks of the Lee reservoir above the Inniscarra hydroelectric dam have taken off in appeal among a wealthy set.

Several sprawling new homes have been built here, one just completed close to the dam is said to be up to 10,000 sq ft in size and now home to a young city developer.

Across the reservoir at Ballineadig, Farran, another member of a hugely successful property developing clan has recently built a c 5,000 sq ft family home - and right alongside this, a wooded site is now up for grabs with planning in line for a more modest-sized and “traditionally styled” home.

This hugely attractive four-acre site, with mature woodland and hundreds of feet of water frontage, is up for sale for €500,000, with outline permission to demolish an existing old dwelling and to replace it with a new single storey house of up to 2,000 sq ft. Planners will insist on new owners retaining most of the trees, which help make the site so attractive.

Estate agent Darragh Taaffe of Keane Mahony Smith is selling for the owner who acquired it about five years ago, and he points out the Ballincollig bypass will make it an easy city commute for those that still have to earn their daily crust.

Location is about a mile from the Lee Valley Golf Club.

Also for sale along the scenic Lee River network is a 30-acre holding with planning permission for renovation of an older-style dwelling on the land. Agent Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing seeks €650,000 for this, about three miles from the Keane Mahony Smith lakeside site.