This cannot fail to light up your life

A BIT of a Kinsale beacon in terms of its accommodation, The Lighthouse is a 10-bedroomed, 10-bathroomed house that may be just about to give up its days of taking in guests to instead accommodate the largest of family needs.

Just publicly on the market with James Murphy & Co (it had a brief website flirtation in the spring) it is on a hillside at The Rock, in the top coastal tourist town just up from the garda station.

Mr Murphy guides it at €1.3 million — and, really, things are back on form in Kinsale to such an extent that no one bats at eyelid at €1 million-plus tags.

At least here you can see the value in the accommodation spread, and surely all that plumbing for 10 bathrooms (nine are en suite rooms) must have cost a fair share of cash to begin with. Not to mind the cost of soap, shampoo, detergent, towels, etc.

That’s all so much water under the bridge, though, for anyone buying this as a private residence, and it is possible a new owner will re-order the configuration, to give a smaller number of larger rooms — bring on the engineers and architects.

The design at the Lighthouse is Tudor-style, the location is within the town and an easy walk of just about everything, while there’s lots of off-street car parking for those who have to go further afield.

Mr Murphy says the house has space, character and ambience, and rooms include a reception hall, a 17’ by 13’ living room with stone fireplace, exposed beams and stained glass. Double doors lead to the bay-windowed dining room, there’s a hard-working kitchen with oak units, utility, and of course the 10 double bedrooms, of which nine are en suite, and main bathroom. Central heating is oil fired — and the owners are fired up for a sale.