Fancy a quick Christmas bargain?

NICE garden – shame about the house. This property at Summercove, Kinsale, was the abode of three bachelors for some years and while their taste ran to gardening, it stopped at the front door.

Which is why the opportunity to buy a Georgian farmhouse in très cher Kinsale is offered at the knockdown price of €250,000 through auctioneer Victoria Murphy.

There is one catch (isn't there always) offers will have to be made soon as the owner is keen to sell before Christmas.

So, as a unique Christmas gift, how about a house?

The Old Stone House is, as Victoria Murphy so delicately puts it, "a property someone interested in conservation would die for". Quite.

It is a bargain, however, in Kinsale terms and with its position to the rear of the Bulman (which just won a major pub award), it's not far from the local amenity.

The house has a two down, two up layout with a flat roof extension at the rear housing the kitchen and the bathroom.

The gardens are lovely, says Ms Murphy, listing off musk roses, hydrangeas and clematis while describing in lyrical terms a collection of old sheds and outhouses to the side which could provide that much-prized Summercove addition, a garage.

The back garden has lots of apple trees ringed around a small lawn and there's even a stream bordering the house.

All these pluses should add up to buying interest, especially in Summercove where the ordinary, the rich and the famous have homes some even side by side.