Move in and pay the price for this Georgian home

LIGHT the fire and relax - that’s about all you have to do at Dromidiclogh, Manch, Ballineen.

And surprisingly, what looks like and old Co Cork Georgian house is really just four years old and extremely comfortable.

According to Fiona Hourihan of Micheal Galvin Auctioneers, there is nothing to be done here except move in and pay the price. Which is an equally surprising €295,000 and begs the colloquial response - where would you be going, like?

After all, this neat, symmetrical Georgian residence has 2,000 square feet of space, a little chalet, a stone ruin and an acre of ground in a wooded location just half a mile off the main Bandon/Dunmanway road.

You’ll recognise this area immediately as the road becomes fringed with trees and woodland stretches behind old stone walls: the odd slate roof is visible above the treeline. The Manch estate, from which the townland gets its name, is run as an organic enterprise in one part of the land and the remainder is part of a new, broadleaf forest initiative.

The objective of the project is to convert the estate into a National Forestry Educational and Demonstration Centre with the support of The Irish Natural Forestry Foundation (INFF), an organisation established to promote native broadleaf afforestation in Ireland.

Which means, for the average house buyer, that the sylvan setting is likely to remain intact into the distant future.

Fiona Hourihan has seen good interest from Cork city dwellers in the property and says that if the same house were in Clonakilty, it would make double the asking price.

Enniskeane has a quiet, mid-Cork location, but it’s easily accessible and has plenty of amenities locally. Dunmanway, up the road has good schools.