Years of planting give Ballinlough house total privacy

WE are a nation of knockers, but we have now moved from mean begrudgery to wanton house demolition. But, hopefully, that won’t be the fate of Somerton House in Cork.

The country is full of those who’d rather knock and rebuild than take time and effort to save the buildings which should be kept, but this hidden house should be saved.

Its gloriously jungle-like gardens containing golden Irish yew, alders, acacia, eucalyptus, monterey and Scots pines, tea tree and wildlife-friendly planting deserve a more sympathetic treatment.

Lost in the depths of suburban Ballinlough, within Somerton Drive to which it lent its name, it is an Edwardian four-bedroom home of some 1,750 sq ft, needing a financially healthy amount of work.

Built in 1900, it has been disappearing from public view ever since, thanks to a series of green-fingered owners.

Seed merchant William A Atkins owned it from 1941 to 1963, and then Pat and Mary Brosnan took it over, with their five children. Plantswoman Mary turned it into a bit of a plant and tree archive.

It was originally on three acres, but it is now boiled down to a totally private third of an acre.

The feature is a 22ft-long proper, old-world conservatory attached to the side, while there’s also a long, long greenhouse and a stone outbuilding.

The selling agent is Ann O’Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald, who guides it at €750,000.