Keeping standards high at the edge of a tourist town

WELL, yes, they do build them the way they used to - sometimes. Anyone who has ever bemoaned the drop in building and finishing standards can take heart at this Kinsale, Co Cork, home, constructed 10 years ago for the long haul.

It was built for his own use by Ken O'Brien of Kinsale's family-owned E&T Builders, who've done some of the town's best and biggest Ardbrack houses, among other one-off beauties, most of them solidly in the multi-million euro price category.

Now, it is Ken and Lorraine O'Brien's turn, as they put their 5,000 sq ft home on show and on the market. And, its €1.75 million guide via agent Johnny O'Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald is little surprise given Kinsale's resurgent values: a knock-down bungalow at Ardbrack made €1.5 million last month via Victoria Murphy, and a €4 million waterfront home sale was also notched up via Sheehys and HOK.

Colneth House is on over half an acre, and is an elevated, edge-of Kinsale town home with river, harbour, and slightly more distant ocean views from its Cappagh setting.

Colneth House has the stamp of quality from the basement/cellar room and foundations right up to the crowing roof finials. And that roof is a masterclass in how to give yourself a work-a-day headache, superbly detailed in hand-make French clay pan-tiles with curvy 'Granny's bonnets' tiles along its many ridges and dormers, as well as cascading down the eight-sided sun room.

Ken, a QS with a perfectionist streak, and Lorraine O'Brien constructed Colneth House around an earlier 1960s house on a larger 1.3 acre site. The original house has now been fully swallowed up by this lushly-finished individual home.

There are up to eight bedrooms in all, all with en suite bathrooms, and Colneth served four seasons as a high-end guesthouse. Now, one double sized bedroom is ideal as a games room, another is a home office, another an aromatherapy room and the surprise is just how usable the house is for private family usage, without a sensation of left-over or unnecessary space.

The house fits the description 'nothing spared': thus, it has no less than eight heat zones, a double Aga oven (kerosene-fired) in the kitchen, as well as secondary oven and hob back-ups, as well as two kitchen sinks, one in a central granite-topped island.

Lorraine O'Brien did the decor which will have a broad appeal and the house exudes a warmth, from the fan-lit and leaded glass front door inwards, and the curved and winding stairs by Waterfall-based joiner Jim Barry is a stunner, with polished mahogany handrail.

There's loads of knacky detail, and the tanked basement underneath the conservatory is just one hidden surprise. In the garden, under the shade of a Scots Pine, there's a sunken barbecue area, and the detached lofted garage could easily convert to a home office or granny flat.