Butler awaits a buyer

HARD to find a fault with Butlerstown House — even the asking price of €1.5 million seems reasonable, all things considered.

The 200-year-old Georgian house, an hour from Cork airport and a mile or two from the sea, is in mint condition, thanks to a small string of owners who’ve had it on average a decade at a time, since the 1960s. They’ve included Dutch owners, rock song writers, a dentist who re-did the moulded plasterwork, and the current occupants have Welsh/German roots, and a passion for perfection.

They’ve made it work for its living for the last number of years, first as a five-bedroomed guesthouse, then offering it for up-market self-catering accommodation, retiring to their own quarters at one end of the long wing when paying guests are in situ.