Gardens the clincher at Ashbrooke House

GOOD and all as the family home Ashbrooke House, near Glanmire, Co Cork, is, it is the gardens that should seal a deal.

Built in the 1990s, and since upgraded and extended by the current owners, this fine house’s 0.9 acre of wholly-private grounds has changed dramatically during their 11-year tenure, thanks to a willingness to spend on sound professional advice and plans.

The owners asked well-known landscape designer Brian Cross to outline a garden plan for them back, oh, about 10 years ago. And, they asked him back again recently, and followed his advice to the letter.

The result is a peaceful retreat, full of green maturity, plus selected year-round colour, with the ‘good bones’ of hard landscaping – such as raised stone-fringed beds, railway sleeper lawn borders, pergolas with climbers, a couple of garden sheds, and numerous spots to sit and enjoy the tranquillity.

The upgraded house, in very good order inside and out, and with gardens surprisingly easy to keep, now has a €950,000 asking price as a summer 2010 offering.

For that, there’s a 2,800 sq ft house with well-proportioned reception rooms upstairs and down, upstairs are four bedrooms – ranged off a very large central feature landing – and effectively there are now three en suite bedrooms, as two share access to a very recently installed wet room/shower room.

Quality timbers are used on flooring and in doors, and just last year, a new sun-room was added to the south facing kitchen space (with newly-installed granite worktops), and both this space, the utility hall, plus the 26’ by 14’ sitting room/dining room, all have great southerly aspects. Savills’ Jarleth Boyd notes: “it is one of the most private properties you’ll find, and the privacy is added to by the extensive planting.”

There’s just about half a dozen individual houses here and Ashbrooke has a great, north-facing view of rich, rolling countryside, and fattened cattle in farm fields, yet within a 10 minute drive of Cork city.