Elegant pillar of society on Cork's Blackrock Road

SOME houses brashly proclaim their virtues, brag about values and boast about their size. However, Sharon Vale isn't one of them.

Just over 50 years old, and on the main Blackrock Road in Cork city, it is a discrete remove from today's nouveau home excesses, yet would knock many a pretender into a cocked hat.

It has had just two owners; the first moved after just five years and the next family have enjoyed it since, rearing a family of seven.