Buy a slice of country life

YOU can have a great outdoor life at Atlantic House, a coastal West Cork house up for sale on a handy amount of land to keep horses or ponies on.

The elevated two-story house, a sort of mid-1900s take on the traditional farmhouse structure, has its eyes wide open to the views, with large windows all around to capitalise on the full sweep of the Atlantic ocean beneath.

Location is six miles from Clonakilty, between Ardfield village and the popular Red Strand, with Galley Head lighthouse a locational marker and the perilous Stags rocks further to the west.

The safe bathing beach Red Strand is also popular with people who ride horses, and horses and riders they are a frequent sight a short trot away from this residence, splashing through the beach's shallows, while the white horses of the sea roll in to body-boarding surfers' delight.

Atlantic House is on 3.5 acres of land, offered in lots with 0.75 of an acre as one option and the house and 2.75 acres another possible divide. Price guide quoted by Henry O'Leary Property Partners at €400,000-plus is surely conservative given even site values in recent sales: while the one quarter/one-third acre site at Inchydoney making €500,000 last month was considered exceptional, sites all along this stretch are in hot demand. One near to Atlantic House right on Red Strand made over €300,000 in August. Also at Red Strand, agents ERA Liam Hodnett this week 'sale agreed' a dated five-bed bungalow Southwinds at €460,000, handsomely over its €350,000 price guide and up the road they have an old stone school building and handball alley at Ardfield which is also sale agreed at over €200,000.

Atlantic House is a bit dated internally, but has four bedrooms, a large 25' by 13' living room, separate dining room, kitchen, ground floor shower room and first floor bathroom. Externally, there's a garage, and workshop.

Locally, amenities include two all-weather tennis courts, GAA club, beaches, several coves suitable for angling from and launching boats, beaches, woodland walks at Castlefreke and whale and dolphin watching from Galley Head.