While away the hours in the beautiful setting of Annefield

Tommy Barker is charmed by the renovation of this stunning Victorian.

QUICK, quick, cash in the nest egg and get yourself down to Annefield House: its gardens could not be bettered for next weekend’s Easter Egg hunt.

The only problem (apart from the Bank Holidays, and the chore of moving, that is) is that there are so many hiding places, the choccy eggs are sure to go on the missing list and may go to waste.

A spring market arrival with agents Michael H Daniels & Co, this Oysterhaven home trails garden glories thanks to its secluded six acres-plus of grounds, smartly tended and planted, with more than a century’s head start of mature trees as a back-drop.

It includes a long approach avenue, graveled drive and terrace by the double kitchen doors, ancient orchard with rare apple trees, woodland, raised veg beds, lawns, seating area, and a clatter of outbuilding and old botháns, one in use as an artist’s studio and with guest use potential.

At this time of year, you can see water through the trees, at Ballinclashet inlet by the causeway (the hip restaurant Oz Haven is at this junction) and the sea is less than a mile out on the tides, with moorings available in Oysterhaven itself, with the Sovereigns rocks as markers to the picturesque bay.

Kinsale, and its marinas and food-fest offerings, are a few miles away, and the greater

Kinsale area is thick with golf courses.

So, a pretty chic setting, really, all in all just a 20-minute spin from Cork city and airport. That location may well lure in an overseas buyer or holiday home hunter, English, maybe, though the grounds are so great, it would be a bit of a shame not to live here full time.

Then again at a €1.75 million guide price level, the likelihood a new owner could afford a part-time gardener, and despite the size of the grounds, it is all a manageable package.

Annefield House itself is in three basic clusters, built at different times in the 1700s, 1800s and after, each about 30’ in length, all in a row. The resulting long structure, effectively only one room wide, has been likened to a series of rail carriages, Presidential ones or Orient Express, perhaps.

The 100’ long house wears its age lightly, having been reinvigorated by its owners who bought it 12 years ago as a total do-er upper.

They weren’t novices and had renovated several other Cork houses prior to arriving upon this spot in the last days of its sale process.

They jumped in straight away, bought it in its overgrown and un-lived in state, and within four short months (yes, months, not years) had it pretty much as you see here, at least structurally so and soundly secured. Builder was Vincent Tubb, now based near Skibbereen, and he did the work with sympathetic aplomb.

Its floors were dug out and insulated, exterior ground levels were lowered to remove the threat of rising damp, the roof was re-slated, and new hardwood windows and door made in Victorian style.

It is insulated up top, though some of the exposed stone walls painted white internally need the heat to build up to comfort levels, and then thermal mass takes over.

A series of fireplaces, a solid fuels stove and oil central heating provide creature comforts, and the decor level is top-drawer, Devon cottage style, down to its heady scent of rambling roses, clematis and jasmine.

The owners had a pine furniture restoration business and art gallery among their many and varied previous businesses, and the art and crafts input is clear in every room: it’s not really a place that lends itself to creamy minimalism and the stripped down look. Except for the right-at-home stripped pine, of course. Well-chose architectural salvage fills in the gaps where original features had been lost or simply were too far gone to save.

It has four top floor bedrooms, and three bathrooms in all and the main en suite bathroom/ dressing room is a clever affair, with a shower hidden away in what appears to be a bank of cupboards.

The main bathroom has a cast iron bath and a separate shower cubicle with its top crowned in glass: this lid effectively helps cut down on billowing steam and condensation, say the owners.

The kitchen, in place of a previous gable end barn, is a practical serious cook’s affair, with large Lacanche range cooker, big island with sink, and off this double-height room and at the very end of the house is a large pantry/utility, with guest WC.

The vendors have built anew nearby, but couldn’t have put Annefield House up for sale in any better condition, just coming in to spring and summer colour blazes.

Right now, the garden delights include herbaceous beds, well-mulched and fed veg and herb beds, old stone border walls which may have delineated a sheep pen, old pine trees and hardwoods, seating areas and lawns, with a meadow behind, and an old orchard with rare varieties from the early 1900s. Annefield itself is well-placed to be the pick on the 2008 crop.