An ideal collectible property

Tommy Barker says this Co Cork home comes with some hidden gems.

COLLECTORS beware: there’s a place called stop, and this country home with lots of extra touches is close to that line.

Home for decades to an avid collector of, oh, just about everything, from art and sculpture to statuary and plants, it comes up for sale minus its many, many contents. But, hey, make an offer – everything has its price.

This Crookstown/Cloughduv, Co Cork home on over an acre shows how quickly time passes. It was built on a bare acre site back around 1978, and the owner took her mother’s advice about the wisdom of generous planting from the very outset. Result? as green and colourful a spot as you’ll find, with hidden areas, paths and walkways, a fairy path, orchard, large studio/storage space, and two stables as well.

Set a 10 to 15 minute drive west of the fringes of Cork city, it carries a price guide in excess of €450,000 with Tom Heffernan of Sherry FitzGerald Hinchion in more distant Macroom.

There’s a whole lot on offer, quite a densely-packed package, with options for various types of new residential and work-from-home uses as well.

There’s about 2,200 sq ft of living space in all, over two levels, and what is most unusual is the way the house is effectively split into two levels.

The only way to the extremely long set of linked first floor, wood-panelled rooms is via an outside gable staircase and decked balcony overlooking fields of pasture: in effect, it is almost one house on top of another, with the top one the equivalent of a self-contained apartment, and with acres (but not enough for the owner) of storage.

Downstairs, the feeling is of a much older country-style house, deliberately kept old in feel and tone to match the antique furniture and abundant art works. It suits the look, and the collections, but a new owner will want to brighten it all up quite a bit, but this isn’t going to be too costly.

Overall, this Ballinguilla home has up to five bedrooms, plus three bathrooms as well as an en suite, along with two reception rooms, kitchen/dining room with Esse range stove and ORM kitchen units, pantry, utility and internal halls – and each and every room is feature-packed with attractive, collectable things to look at and admire, while a good security system and prying CCTV cameras keep a baleful, watchful eye over the house approaches.

The house (given a stone facade a few years ago) has a whole lot of space going for it, and the site and grounds have some great outdoor areas, including the sheltered rear courtyard, a great party place, complete with fruiting fig tree by the studio wall. Other trees and plants include limes, pines, maples, cedars, sloes, roses, sorbus, and willows, giving the utmost privacy for people, and an abundant outdoor buffet for birds and wildlife.