In chic, upmarket Menloe Gardens, a four-bed semi

AN honesty in its simple presentation, a west-facing back garden, and a setting just by the start of Menloe Gardens, off Cork city’s Blackrock Road, are key attributes of Coolavin.

Sales in favoured Menloe stir aspirational trading-up interest, and despite its compact size of 1,300 sq ft, this four-bed semi-d will receive viewing scrutiny.

A new market arrival with estate agent Timothy Sullivan, Coolavin has a €515,000 asking price — at a time when most well-set, Cork city suburban semis are selling for €300-400k; the extra bit added on here is the ‘Menloe’ factor — buyers will pay extra for the chic location.

Sullivan says Coolavin is “most attractive, with nice older-style features,” and says the size of the mature back garden allows scope for extensions: a ramble through the cul-de sac estate, with its spreading chestnut trees, shows how large you can go with a Menloe house.

This one stands on its original footprint by Menloe’s entrance, with a detached garage off to the right-hand side, and with a mature back boundary of tall trees and colourful shrubs.

Coolavin has a glazed-and-tiled front-entrance porch to the hall, a front sitting room with bay window, a rear family/dining room with French doors to the west-aspect back garden, a kitchen of 10 by 10’ with a pantry off it, and a guest WC: overhead are four bedrooms, of average size, and a main family bathroom. Heating is via oil, windows are double-glazed, and the attractive roofline, with its front gable and wee dormer (“an aesthetic front elevation,” says Tim Sullivan) is topped with natural slate.

Time to wander in, walk around, and plan your extension.