Water features and stars for neighbours at Ahakista

OLD or new? The design lines have been deliberately blurred at this west Cork home, a spot on three acres with stream and ponds, and which has Graham Norton and Christy Moore as relatively near neighbours.

The property at Maulnaskeha, Ahakista (trying saying that after a few jars in the nearby tin-shed public bar, one of the area’s other novel features), was initially planned as a lodge, to suit the naturally-formed shelf on which it sits, say the owners, but that design was amended to suit local planning restrictions.

However, the overall result is a house that appears timeless on gardens cultivated over the past eight years in keeping with the area’s natural mild micro-climate.