Steeped in history, almost too nice to leave

Tommy Barker finds a former rectory that seems to get nearer to the city as you fall for its unique charms.

WHEN the owner of this house made the move here 27 years ago, her friends and family thought she was mad.

Now, with a family of four on the brink of adulthood or lurching into it, she and her husband are selling up and everybody thinks she is mad to be leaving.

Kinneigh House has that sort of attachment feel to it and, after just a few weeks on the market, it is still sending out ripples of desire, far beyond its country setting confines.

The property is three miles from Enniskeane in West Cork, just over 30 miles, or a 45-minute drive, to Cork city and airport. That's the sort of distance that some potential buyers will simply determine as being too far from Cork, while others will judge it to be a perfect driving distance to leave the big smoke and city stress behind.

And, once the house and its 10 acres has been seen and bidders smitten, it is a fair bet that more people will fall into the latter category than the first.

The location is steeped in history: just over the site boundary is the 11th century Kinneigh Round Tower, one of the very few in this country with a hexagonal base, and it is said that Brian Boru's son-in-law, Cian, is buried alongside, hence possibly the name of Enniskeane.

Decidedly modern in comparison to the tower is Kinneigh House, a mid-1800s Georgian home, a former rectory, with St Bartholomew's church still close by.

The previous owner, a Mr Longmore, came to live at Kinneigh in the 1950s from a vast rubber plantation estate in Malaya which at its height employed 200 people, and faded into a gentle decline in this house, and by the time it was sold it was in need of serious investment to keep the cold from the door.

The present vendors re-roofed it, put in heating, changed some windows and added on a lean-to conservatory porch by the front door and gave the vast majority of their home a decorative make-over that now sees it as the epitome of comfortable, manageable country living.

The house is for sale on 10 acres, again enough land, but not too much, ideal for a family into animals and gardening. And the mix is added to by an old stone-built stable block and courtyard with conversion potential.

There's about 3,000 sq ft of space, four bedrooms, three reception rooms, a nice airy hallway and graceful staircase and plenty of period features, high ceilings, fine old floor boards, fireplaces, and simple cornicing.

The 19' by 12' dining room has a graceful arch with decorative plasterwork framing a bay window (one of the windows which has PVC replacements) and the drawing room has a double aspect, good fireplace and measures 19' by 14'.

Three of the bedrooms are doubles, the bathroom is large, and for those looking for space, try looking down. Although it is a house lived in on two levels, it has a basement or lower ground level, with a number of store rooms and scullery/playroom, and could easily accommodate a US-style Great Room kitchen and recreation area for new owners with money to spend.

As it hit the market with a €600,000-plus guide with Sheila O'Flynn and Ann O'Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald, it quickly transpired that hopeful bidders will want to remind themselves of the 'plus' factor, it is going to have a very wide appeal as a period home within striking distance of the city. The more you want the house, the easier it is to persuade yourself that distance doesn't matter. If it was less, the price would soar.

People will tell you that 35 miles from the city is too far and you'd be mad to buy. The last owner heard that 27 years ago and she didn't exactly run out of it.