Buyers on the move to the Hill

THERE’S a different march up on Military Hill these days and it’s accompanied by the whine of the angle grinder and the staccato thrum of the pneumatic drill.

It presages the advance of the Middle Classes whose troops are the dusty and safety-booted millionaire class the average builder.

Dreary flats are now gleaming sash-windowed houses with magenta doorways and re-instated stained glass. The route to gentrification has been clearly mapped out by a buoyant property market and the convenience of the location.

Military Hill is an aerobic, 10-minute walk from Cork's Pana and a couple of minutes from the local shop and pub. Good schools are a stone's throw away and the city is your shopping centre.

Here, along a row of redbricks, Andy Moore of Andrew Moore and Co, is selling a prêt-a-porter property at 3, Roseneath Villas. And, while the house is south-facing to the front, the garden behind is high enough to get south-facing sun all day.

With a door to a rear mews entrance, this is a perfect size for those who want grass, but little mowing. Drop down a few steps and you're into a whitewashed yard area that gives onto a new kitchen extension, which in turn leads into a cool and creamy dining room.

The main reception rooms are to the front and could interconnect with the help of a kango hammer and then, French doors to the back yard might be nice.

However, that would mean destroying a lot of the good work already done here, as the house is in walk-in condition.

The next floor up has a decent bathroom on the half landing, with some nice new woodwork, a guest loo next door and two bedrooms. Then, on the last floor there are two other bedrooms.

Andy Moore gives a guide price of €425,000.