Property heaven-sent opportunity for buyer

SPRINGFIELD is a gem of a property - it’s that simple.

The chance to buy 4.5 acres in a secret, verdant location 10 minutes from town doesn’t come up that often, so buyers should get their skates on, especially as selling agent, Sheila O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, already has an offer of the asking of €750,000.

Springfield in Rocklodge, Carrigrohane, was originally part of the estate of Rocklodge House, owned by brewing family, the Lanes and later by the Haughtons, the Cork timber importing family. Now broken up into smaller holdings, the roadways around the estate still carry large, specimen trees.

Words like ‘mature’ and ‘landscaped’ don’t do justice to the gardens and grounds of this one-off property. It’s the product of years of planting and incorporates woodland, rock, lawn and a paddock in one site. For the gardener, it’s heaven, for the purchaser looking for a large, private property, it’s perfect.

Now, Springfield does come with a house, and it’s not too small at five bedrooms, but by today’s standards, and taking into account the buying demographic for this property, it won’t be sufficient. And this is where this sale becomes interesting, because the house comes with full planning for a modern, 4,000 square foot property.

Whether or not the plans are to taste is a moot point - they’re there. After all, this is an area where restrictive planning means no interloping outsiders have a chance to build, not to mention insiders who effectively live in an A3 bantustan.

This permission is gold, and should convert to this in the bidding, according to Sheila O’Flynn, who looks forward to a line of well-heeled viewers through the house and grounds.

The house is a creeper-clad bungalow with south-facing lean-to and this is sheltered by a triffid-like vine with pre-pubescent fruit dripping from the roof. The kitchen and dining room have doors onto this area and the rest of the house is in two halves, one side has the bedrooms and two bathrooms, while the other has the main living room, which in turn connects to the dining room/playroom and onto the kitchen.

The property is more than liveable at the moment and would certainly suffice while, for instance, new plans were submitted to the county council. It might also be good to bear in mind that an old farmhouse and yard, with 2.5 acres of land, further out the road has been bid up past the €450,000 mark and doesn’t have anywhere near the level of finish of Springfield.

This house has to be viewed, (despite the cliché), especially now that the rhododendrons are in their full-blown finery, and the rest of the garden is climbing to mid-summer climax.

Except for the signposts, you could miss this house, set back from the road and behind a triple shelter belt of trees, this site puts the micro in climate and will have gardeners drooling - and if you’re not a gardener then there’s always someone to be employed to do the job.

Either way, this is land, and, (cliché alert), they’re not making any more of it.