Perfect place to watch the sun go down over the sea

Tommy Barker is suitably impressed by a manicured manor by the sea.

A SURGE of positive interest greeted the proposed sale of Cregane Manor when it hit these pages last weekend, guiding at a most modest €1.5 million.

Its arrival for sale also possibly prompted an extra burst of Lotto ticket buying activity. A handy enough jackpot win (not even a roll-over multiplier is necessary) could put this most coveted of south coast homes within many appreciative buyers’ reach.

Viewings kicked off this week, with agents Anne O’Mahony and Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald, tapping into instant Irish interest. Christies will also give it an international canvas, given west Cork’s cachet.

After all, Cregane’s recently deceased vendors were English, with a business in shipping and other private homes in the Britain and Greece. Before that again its owners were Dutch.

It is close to a perfect package: a period, pristine Victorian home with huge appeal on an historic site with some old ruins, with pretty gate lodge, and converted stone courtyard buildings, giving scope for guests, either paying ones or friends, who are sure to call.

It is on over 30 acres of private naturally landscaped and lush grounds and gardens, mostly in woodland, with ponds, bridges and some wildflower meadows sloping to the sea and the strand at the Warren, all located a mile from Rosscarbery village.

Just an hour from Cork city and airport, it is an easy commute option, for those working in the city, or the City, as in London.

Its carefully minded feel is no accident: Cregane has been cared for since 1949 by local man Donal Harte, who had several of his children born in its gate lodge. He has worked at Cregane for three sets of owners, in 60 years, but, no, sorry he is about to end his caretaking link at age 87. Cregane in its current fine fettle owes him a debt (he instigated the restoration of the gardens in the past decades, now tended by two part-time gardeners) and he knows every inch of the place, talking knowledgeably for example of one of the later installations, two 500’ deep bore wells which provide geothermal heating for the main house.

That house dates to 1871, pre-dated by its flanking stone outbuildings, now made into two self-contained one-bed apartments, facing the house across an elaborately sandstone-flagged yard with neat waterfall, pond and ornamental ironwork with feature roses, done by Cronin’s Forge.

The site has a history reportedly going back to the 6th century when St Fachtna set up ‘The School of Ross’. Later an English settler family the Starkeys made Cregane Manor theirs in the 1600s, and it was rebuilt in its current manner, high-gabled and ornate Victorian style when it reportedly became the seat of the last Bishop of Ross before the Church of Ireland dioceses of Cork, Ross and Cloyne were amalgamated.

Although original features have been kept, they’ve also been enhanced, tastily so. Windows have hardwood joinery over radiators, making for practical view-savouring window seats, and the added-on ornate conservatory is exactly in the right style, with cast iron supports for its strong roof timbers. It quite practically is double glazed, with roof blinds to prevent overheating. Power and water are supplied to the middle of this room’s marble floor, for a water feature.

There are two interlinked formal reception rooms, a large home office, a family room, a rear utility wing with WC, shower and wash/boot rooms, and with intact architectural and ornamental features, such as cornice work, quality timbers, intact sash windows, good fireplaces, overall stout construction, and a broad pitch pine staircase.

The top floor of this c 3,500 sq ft main house has four big double bedrooms, one to the rear in what’s almost a guest suite, and an unusual supply of three bathrooms, at least one of which could be opened into a front bedroom to serve as an en suite.

And, despite the house’s virtual privacy from all aspects, bar the ocean, many of the rooms have greenery-corralled views to the beach, sea and pier at the mouth of Rosscarbery’s tidal inlet leading up to the causeway and lagoon. Now reinvigorated, the historic ecclesiastical village of Ross (St Fachtna’s Cathedral is Ireland’s smallest) has a population of some 1,000 souls, and a summer swell and beachside buzz.

Good and all as Cregane Manor’s house and ancillary guest accommodation is, new owners will be as happy outside in the gardens. Abundant with flora and fauna, they’ve a mix of wild meadows with walkways simply scythed through them, walled garden and orchard, rose beds, ponds, secret seating, tree-shaded approach avenue and created bridges. Enough ground to create some work and maintenance demands, to be sure, but also giving huge pleasures in return.

In a gloomy home and international market and economic backdrop, Cregan Manor’s bid for new owners isn’t the best of timing, but its sale prospects are guaranteed. It is as good as it gets, and is going to get rich bidding.