Derrylea has ‘best’ address for discerning buyer

THERE’ll be lots of peering over the fences to see what the previously-arrived and new-ish neighbours have done to extend and upgrade their Menloe Gardens trophy homes.

Be warned, though, from even a cursory glance at some house-sized extensions behind some recently upgraded homes, the bar has been set rather high.

Menloe Gardens is one of Cork’s ‘best’ addresses — and you have to say that with a bit of a twang if you want to get more irony than snobbery out of that line.

This autumn’s property market offering to the hawkish Menloe watchers and waiters is Derrylea, a five-bed detached near the entrance by the main Blackrock Road, just before the green with its spreading Chestnut trees: might as well pick up a few conkers while coming from viewings.

It is on the market with Mark Kelly and Gretchen Kelleher of Lisney, and it has been 30 or 40 years in the same family’s ownership.

It shows all the signs of care and quality, as well as earlier-style extensions, but it is dated nonetheless.

The sale price is put at €1.2 million, and how much more you spend is entirely up to yourself. At this buying level most will be looking at splashing out a few hundred grand, and the location copper-fastens the wisdom of almost any further spending.

Menloe Gardens has just a couple of dozen Garden City ‘Domestic Revival’ homes (not out of place say in Somerset, or Adare), semis and detacheds, and as they come up for sale money is literally thrown at them.

Derrylea, thanks to its extensions, is already good sized at about 2,200 sq ft, and has five bedrooms, two with sinks, but no en suite bathrooms, a first floor main bathroom (with pale green suite, not avocado, but still unlikely to survive a make-over), and ground level bathroom.

There’s a fine, front-to-back of house reception room, overlooking a rear sheltered patio, a smaller second room across the hallway, and a big T-shaped dining room/kitchen, with pale blue Murray kitchen units, around so long they are almost back in fashion with the high-gloss coloured kitchen brigade. In addition, there’s a utility/scullery and pantry/rear hall, with guest WC.

Windows are replacements from the originals, central heating is in place, and as the kitchen extension has eaten into part of the original attached garage, further space can be annexed here as well. Essentially, Derrylea is a place a good architect could make huge sense of with a change of layout.

Gardens front and back are nicely planted, and the west-facing rear of the house looks over very mature boundary trees of an even grander property.