Cottage steeped in history

TIGER WOODS pops in for a spot of fishing just up the road and the river Blackwater winds lazily round the valley below.

The fields surrounding the house were probably walked by Field Marshal Montgomery, (long before he hit the sands of Africa), when it belonged to his family, and now this part of the former Careysville estate is up for sale.

Curragh Cottage has been standing for well over 200 years and in the manner of the time, its design incorporates some architectural flourishes. There are the Tudor chimney pots and wide barges on the main gables of the house.

Built of stone and standing on a large site, Curragh Cottage in Clondulane, Fermoy, is the product of a 10-year renovation by its vendors, Lesley and Gary Watton.

The unpredictable and very large house at Careysville, is now on the market with Micheal Barry and Gráinne O’Donnell of Property Partners Dick Barry and Sons for offers in excess of €900,000.

This lush, wooded townland is just a couple of miles from booming Fermoy town, (the bypass will add to its progress) and has the village of Clondulane on its doorstep, now with a range of new, ice-cream coloured houses in The Manor.

So, Curragh Cottage isn’t in an isolated spot, but it is very private. And because it’s part of an old estate, it has a long, mature driveway from the road.

The main house has 4,000 square feet of space, every inch of it renovated and then, there’s an apartment in the former coach house. This forms the boundary of the property at one side and there’s about 2,000 square feet of undeveloped outhouse left for conversion.

The cottage has a shell finish, which means new owners get to style each room, but the kitchen area does come with an old brick fireplace. This is reclaimed and newly built but incorporates an old baking oven that was once part of a big, working range.

There are four, very large reception rooms on the ground floor, including the kind of hallway where you could hold a ceilí and this comes with a hand-built and nicely curved staircase.

There are two entrances to the house: the first is through an entrance porch which faces onto the driveway and the second is round to the proper, front of the house and is accessed though double doors.

The porch leads onto a large reception room of 17’ by 24’ which has a box bay window and French doors to the garden. This leads through to the kitchen of 15’ by 19’ and then onto the excellent utility of 10’ by 19, which has a half door to a sheltered courtyard.

Next is a breakfast/ dining room of 16’’ by 14’ and this is followed by another reception room of 19’ by 20’ which has French doors leading onto the front garden.

The shell finish means the house is like a new property inside and it’s only when you go upstairs that the bones of the old building show through.

Here, the vendors have exposed the dark beams holding the roof and these have been sanded and waxed. A good tip for DIY’ers is the finish on the floor: the floorboards were just treated with Danish oil after sanding to give an antique glow.

There are five bedrooms at this level and only one is a single room. Two are en suite and the master bedroom includes a walk-in dressing room. There’s also a main bathroom and a guest bathroom on the ground floor.

And then, there’s the apartment across the front garden. Ideal for visitors, in dependant relatives, or even as a surgery or consulting room, this one-bed comes with a separate kitchen and bathroom addition and a main living room with gallery bedroom overhead. A big old stone fireplace with mantel tree is a feature and again, there is a half-door to the garden.

There are so many facets to this house it can almost be confusing on first viewing, so it’s well worth a second look.

The house has a pressurised heating system run on oil and is surrounded by its grounds of 1.5 acres.

The rolling country views come gratis.