Ballydawley House is on six acres of grounds, including vast frontage onto the Bandon estuary.

MY mother, contrary to the popular phrase, must have raised a jibber - because I missed one of the better property opportunities in the South two years ago.

For shame that a property reporter would not know her onions enough to back a hunch - in fact, I galloped in the opposite direction.

Okay, the story is that Ballydawley House, at Dunderrow, Kinsale, was offered for sale as a farm some time in 2000, through Paddy Murray in Bandon, Co Cork.

The house and six acres of grounds, including vast frontage onto the Bandon estuary, were being offered separately and albeit in fairly good condition, the property would need work.

And the price, around £250,000 Irish, or so - the equivalent of a hefty mortgage then, but as the market has spiralled upwards, a derisory sum that only serves to mock the faint-hearted hack.

Let’s face it, this was a dream property - it had a graceful Georgian House, (even if it there was the possibility of it being a money-pit), a duck pond for those happy little fowl who would patrol my organic garden and a pier for summer diving for the kids - with a boat maybe later on.

Fear of landing up to my eyes in debt, with a half-finished house that would be impossible to heat, never mind paying the oil bills. probably stopped me.

Fear of the unknown, moving from my cosy little neighbourhood into virgin territory was another factor. And, I kept telling myself, it would all be too much, with a job, kids and a daily commute, I’d never pull it off....so I let it slide.

Now, my dream property is back on the market - and what’s worse, relatively unchanged, but with a price tag closer to one million euro, 800,000, to be exact.

Peter Cave of CB Hamilton Osborne King is in charge this time and yes, he describes Ballydawley as ‘one of the few undiscovered Georgian country houses of Co Cork’ - ouch.

It has, he goes on, an exceptional location set at the end of a small, no- through lane and delightful, unspoilt valley views.

The wide river frontage doesn’t go unmentioned, neither does the pier, but the duck pond could now become a lake if a dam at one end of a river inlet was re-instated, says the brochure.

And, apparently, you can sail back and forth to Kinsale from here as well, taking to the open sea when the mackerel are shoaling.

While it behoves me not to show my jealousy, it’s impossible knowing the chances are given to you so few times in life.

But, how bad, I’m still in my own cosy neighbourhood and the teenagers would definitely have hated Ballydawley. There, another opportunity missed.