Chaffinch Hall — class inside and out

With beautiful gardens, elegant extras and handsome interiors, Chaffinch Hall is a delightful buy, Tommy Barker reports.

WITH work started on the renovation of a large, period home recently purchased nearby, interior designer Bernie Evans and her husband Kieran are set to up sticks from Chaffinch Hall, which they built from new on a clear, country site 20 years ago.

And, by the look of it, they won’t be too caught for appropriate furniture for their next place — this Mallow home now on the market in the Blackwater Valley appears full to the brim.

Quietly available over the winter months, it is now set for a spring and summer sale, with its gardens coming into their own and their very best as a strong selling tool.

On landscaped, shrubbed and scrubbed gardens running to about three-quarters of an acre (complete with temple-like garden summer pavilion reached via stepping stones over a fish-stocked ornamental lily pond) it’s for sale with country homes agent Michael H Daniels, who seeks around €495,000 for quite a special buy.

Designed along classic lines by the couple themselves, with input from a local architect, Chaffinch Hall’s a two-storey, 2,500 sq ft four-bed and brick-faced home, complete with wisteria trailing over the facade — and with a lavish interior, bedecked with swags, rich drapes, expensive wallpapers, some feature decorative hand-painted walls, quality flooring and top-end finishes.

A lot of the items and accessories were sourced in France (Bernie’s own showrooms are in Mallow’s Glenview Terrace), lending a fairly opulent and individual look, with some quirky surprises. The entry hall alone sets a tone, with stone/tile surrounding the hall door, the floor’s tumbled marble and the stair ballusters are bespoke, in a William Morris style.

While the house’s character is set off by the paintings and finery seen here, and so will change once the place changes hands, there’s still a lot going to be left for new owners to work with, without having to start from scratch again. (One suspects professional advice could be found without having to look too far afield.)

Auctioneer Michael Daniels says Chaffinch Hall is “a handsome spacious property, presented in first class order, tucked away in a pleasant rural setting within easy reach of Cork.” That setting is Castle Kevin, about six miles from Mallow along the Mitchelstown road, and about 30 miles from Cork city, with easy rail and road access.

The house’s grounds have had huge amounts of work, and money, invested, with the 40’ by 30’ pond a real scene stealer, home to hundreds of fish, while the feature brick pavilion is used for fair weather dining, summer evening gatherings and drinks parties: having to navigate the stepping stones is clearly a good spur to relative sobriety.

The hard landscaping/garden architecture is added to also by a pergola by the house, another sheltered spot to sit and admire garden views and wildlife in. The owners say they got the house name from the abundance of re-breasted chaffinches, matching the house brick hues.

Rooms include a double reception room, French themed, with ceiling plasterwork, dado, white marble fireplace with raised brass insert and French doors to the pergola/terrace, as well as double doors to the garden room, which has feature Romanesque painted walls and gold-starred ceiling.

That garden room also has terrace/patio access, and the formal dining room opens to a herb garden. Another reception room, a sitting room, is the less formal evening ‘withdrawing’ space, with attractive brick and timber fireplace and a dusky terracotta wall colour. The kitchen and the dining room have Amtico flooring.

Overhead, the main bedroom has a fireplace and is big enough to be set off by a large four-poster bed, with dressing room and en suite bathroom off it. Two of the other three bedrooms have en suite shower/bathrooms, and decor levels are as high as you might expect from a professional hand. The family bathroom has a slipper roll-top bath, with shower head, and the master bed’s en suite has another bath.

The pond is a real visual treat, while the house has gardens running up to it on three sides, with parking in the fourth quadrant. Trees include weeping willow and birches. Other garden features are a lime tree walk and climbing roses on the timber pergola.

VERDICT: It’s not surprising that the owners here are moving to a bigger challenge, they’ve left nothing unturned, inside or out, at this country home.