Double offering at the end of west Cork coastal lane

SIDE by side, cheek by jowl — but separate — two west Cork coastal neighbouring properties have appeals to buyers seeking slightly different things.

Clouncunnig is a townland between two roads at Ardfield, with its very few houses reached via up along a cul de sac lane off the Clonakilty road just on the way into Ardfield village.

With a few weeks of one another, two older-style property offerings at the lane’s end have coincidentally come up for sale here, virtually rubbing shoulders with one another, one by auction, the other by private treaty.

The more substantial of the two is the offer of 18.5 acres of land, along with a single storey two-bed house, needing work, but with clear potential. Estate agent John Hodnett of SWS Property Services guides the entire lot at €450,000, but is open to selling in lots. Options include the house and old stone outbuildings in a yard on c 1.4 acre for about €180,000, and the rest of the land in one or two more lots. The way it is offered will bring interest from locals, second-home/holiday home hunters and others, while subject to planning restrictions, others may qualify to build a whole new house on some of the road-fronting fields. The land is suitable for any crop, adds Mr Hodnett. His auction is set for Friday, March 27.

Meanwhile, right next door is a more traditional-looking, low, two-storey farmhouse with adjoining lean-to, and a tacked-on front porch.

It pretty much needs full renovation and upgrading, says auctioneer Henry O’Leary, but he adds that it has been a while since a house and a patch of Ardfield land with a sea aspect (the sea’s about two miles away) got offered for sale for €150,000. Separately, but as part of the same estate disposal, he has a five acre bit of land, making €10,000 an acre right now on farm values.

For the €150k sum, though, a buyer will get the house, which is a manageable project, out-buildings needing roofing, an acre of land, and a two-bay corrugated barn with concrete walls. And, of course, quite close neighbours. Time to round up the friends?