Quality in the right place

CHILDREN will be in heaven playing among the hidden treasures of Classes House, and the grown-ups who’ll have to pay for it won’t be too badly off either.

There’s trees to climb, wooded and winding paths, an orchard, an old lawn tennis court crying out for a

soccer ball at least, a sheltered courtyard with sturdy sheds for toys, boats or dogs, and then there’s the mix of three basement rooms under the house crying out to be explored: the ceilings are low enough to dissuade adult interference down here.

Dating from 1823 (so the stone-carved plaque by the entrance steps discretely proclaims) the Georgian house is on such private and mature wooded hillside grounds along the River Lee valley you could be forgiven for thinking of the location as remote.

In fact, the Co Cork town in the midst of a 21st century make-over, Ballincollig, is just over a mile or two away down river and the nearby amenity park and a riverside pedestrian access route back to the town and its new shopping centre.

Classes House has an Ovens address, and is on almost two acres of wooded hillside grounds with gardens showing the benefits of decades of genteel care. It is by where the meandering River Bride meets the larger Lee: directly across the river is the old graveyard and church at Inniscarra, a popular summer bathing spot.

Classes House hits the market this weekend with selling agent Sheila O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, with a guide price of €1.6 million for the main residence and its immediate grounds of just under two acres.

And, at this level, in today’s money-rich economy, it will find a ready coterie of admirers who want the genuine article, a period home, without having to go halfway across the county for it and who don’t necessarily need loads and loads of land and outbuildings.

“Apart from the buying interest you’d expect, I think there’ll also be people coming forward who hadn’t even thought of moving, but would do so for a place as attractive as this,” says Ms O’Flynn.

It is a comfortable, unspoiled and manageable sort of property that gives the air of period living potential, without needing a permanently topped-up bank account to sustain.

Sherry FitzGerald calculate that there’s over 3,000 sq ft of space here, but it doesn’t feel overly grand.

In fact, most families will have no problem in colonising the space.

There are four first-floor bedrooms, not one of them is small, and the master bedroom has an en suite via a dressing area with built-ins, while there’s also a main bathroom and separate WC, ranged off the generous-sized landing and wide stairwell.

Downstairs has three reception rooms, attractive hall, guest WC plus a simple kitchen, and both the kitchen and dining room have French doors out to a lean-to single glazed conservatory.

The layout of rooms and current lifestyles would justify expenditure on a far grander, more year-round conservatory or sun room.