In quiet Arvalee enclave

THE word ‘enclave’ could have been coined for the four houses at Arvalee, in Cork’s Frankfield suburb.

Set apart from the bustle of the city and removed from the larger housing estates, Arvalee is a niche of four, big, detached houses, built on a site bought by four separate buyers in the late 1990s, each of whom built their own homes (a location marker is the limestone Church of Ireland church and pretty, Gothic-style, former old-lodge building to the east).

Douglas village is a few minutes’ drive one way, and the Kinsale road roundabout and ring road are the same, short jaunt in the other direction

There had been a run-down, old, stone-topped residential tower building here at Arvalee, built probably as a bit of a folly, and in bad shape when put up for sale a decade ago. The four people, neighbours ever since, took a ‘punt,’ buying the land but not subject to a planning grant.

Planning was secured, as is the site by virtue of a setting that is back from the road, now with an electronically controlled access gate for security.

Arvalee’s avenue gives a strong sense of homecoming, fringed by a mature boundary and line of trees on the left. The middle two homes are based on a Victorian architectural style, and the two end ones are done in brick.

Just up for sale is number four, brick-finished and with 4,000 square feet of immaculately-kept and well-built space, on three levels. There’s as much space as any buyer could want, with up to seven or eight bedrooms in all; three of them, at first-floor level, are en suite, plus there’s a floor of rooms left over for use as bedrooms, study, or storage, on the top level.

The centrepiece linking it all together is the central staircase, in pride of place in the large entrance hall, and which splits into two side landings and then continues with the same, solid-oak joinery quality (done by Rosewood Joinery) all the way to the top floor. It has the red carpet, appropriately, all rolled out and leading upwards.

Number four, Arvalee, is for sale with Mark Kelly, of Lisney estate agents, who seeks €1.4m for the fine family house on a site of one-fifth of an acre, being sold by its builder-owner and family.

While the design is on the conservative side, build quality is exemplary, with concrete floors at ground- and first-floor levels for security, solidity, sound proofing, fire resistance and other attributes.

Solid-oak joinery predominates, on the ground floor, in the stairs, doors, skirting, architraves, and in the kitchen units, too, which are topped with black granite.

There are two good reception rooms (each with white marble fireplaces) facing one another across the hall, to the rear is a large kitchen, plus dining room, and big utility and guest WC, and, to the back, is a private garden and patio space, deliberately designed to be easy to keep and with banks of flowering shrubs. There’s also a good detached garage, and big, practical, outdoor, secure side area for recycling, storage, hobby gear, pets etc.