Right time to pounce on ready-to-move-into home

CHOCOLATE Box and oh so Surrey Downs, Endsleigh is a film-set example of the arts and crafts style and was built between the wars by the Coveney family, builders and surveyors.

The estate off Cork’s Douglas Road, is distinctive in its Tudor-bethan facades and half-timbered gables. Surrounded by manicured grounds and quaint timber gates with suitable names, this small cul-de-sac is resonant of a different time and place — little England in Ireland’s green and pleasant land.

But don’t be taken in: the old casements are now in PVC, the back of most houses wear large sunrooms and extensions, and the creeper-clad eaves provide shelter for top range motors. Old Endsleigh is definitely part of the new Ireland.