Not so identical twin has style and lots of space

HERE’S a thought: semi-detached houses don’t have to be left and right mirror images of one another. A strikingly simple pair of semis on Clonakilty’s Fernhill Road prove the point.

The architect-designed duo, Sunlea, were built here at the foot of the hill near Clonakilty town centre and Dunnes Stores a few short years ago and now No 2 is a new market arrival.

It packs a bit of a punch and not just in the style stakes. The front façades and interior layouts of each house (designed by architect Geraldine Coughlan) have more than subtle differences, but are similar in size and in their easy-keep novel tiered-deck gardens.

No 2, for sale with Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald with a €445,000 asking price, manages almost 1,850 sq ft of space and hardly a small room in the place.

Even the hall is bright and large, at 16’ by 11’, and upstairs two of the four bedrooms have their own en suite bathrooms. The master suite is to the front, with a bay window, and the bay is a feature repeated in the 16’ by 15’ living room.

There’s also a study, a 22’ by 15’ kitchen/dining room, cloakroom and utility. A pretty impressive floor plan, in fact.

Built by Hillback Developments, who’ve gone on to develop two of the first exemplary quality large commercial buildings at Clonakilty’s former GAA pitch in the town centre (and the replacement GAA facilities just built by Flemings are also top-drawer), this only pair of Sunlea semis shows that paying attention even to small projects pays quality dividends.

No 2 is showhouse quality, with landscaped gardens getting both morning and evening sun, which don’t sacrifice interest and colourful planting for ease of maintenance.