Trading up
SPACE for home and business comes with this Ballinhassig, Cork Dutch dormer home on an acre (pictured), with purposeful work shed/office as well.
New to market with Jeremy Murphy Associates at Barrett’s Hill, not far off the Cork-Bandon Road and five minutes drive from the city’s fringe, this is a 1,800 sq ft-plus, five-bed home up for sale and ready to accommodate a new family of owners.
Its broad dormer roof means lots of space upstairs with good head height, and one of the five upstairs bedrooms is en suite, while there’s also a main bathroom, and ground floor guest bathroom.
Back downstairs, there’s a living room, family room off the kitchen/dining room which has a warming Aga-style range, and utility room, and several roms have views over the professionally landscaped acre.
The bonus is a 20’ by 35’ separate office building, built of insulated steel panels, handy for a wide range of uses or a home-based business, plus there’s a double garage.
Barrett’s Hill is near Ballinhassig village, which has a broad range of services and amenities.
Sq m: 170 (1,850 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 5
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
VERDICT: This is country living easy-style, near the city and Bishopstown, by a village, not remote, and a tidy acre to play around with.
THIS very spacious dormer property on Holy Island Road in East Clare has views of Lough Derg at the front, the River Scariff at the rear and Mount Bobalagh at the side.
Built in 2004 on a one acre site, it’s called Carraig Caiman in honour of the local saint who is said to have founded the monastic settlement on the island.
Selling agents DNG O’Sullivan Hurley say the four bed property is a very well maintained and modern. “It’s just 200 metres from the lake shore and is on an elevated site with great views,’’ says auctioneer Douglas Hurley.
Accommodation includes an oak-floored reception room, a large utility room and spacious kitchen with oak units, granite worktops and an island unit and a brick fireplace with oil burner. To the rear there’s a sun room with mountain views which is used as a dining area. There’s an en suite bedroom on the ground floor, while upstairs there are three bedrooms, including one with a walk-in wardrobe and two en suites.
Surrounded by lawned gardens, the house has a tree-lined boundary, planted beds, a patio and a vegetable patch. There’s also a detached garage and driveway with electric gates.
Sq m: 241 (2,600 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
VERDICT: For a family looking to upgrade in east Clare this has space, comfort and great views.
AS much a trading-in to the inner suburbs as a trading-up home is Montrose, a pleasant three-bed semi-d in Cork’s Cross Douglas Roads.
This stretch, linking the main and south Douglas roads, is equidistant to the city centre to the west and Douglas village to the east, and each is an easy walk away, with a choice of bus routes and available schools.
New to market here is Montrose, carrying a €290,000 AMV via agent Timothy Sullivan who says it has attractive, older style features internally, such as original fireplaces (including two in the bedrooms), while externally its best feature is a very long back garden and garden store.
A left-hand semi, Montrose faces west, with a gravelled front drive and garden, for easier car parking and turning as access to some of these Cross Douglas Roads house is right onto the road, without a perimeter footpath buffer for visibility.
There’s a decent 15’ by 13’ front sitting room with bay window, back reception room, linked kitchen/breakfast room, and one upstairs bathroom.
Sq m: 102 (1,090 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 3
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
VERDICT: Montrose is going to need some updating and possibly even an extension, but there’s plenty of garden space for it and the location is for keeps.
WITHIN a three mile drive from Limerick, The Willows at Ardnacrusha in Clare offers country living with lots of space and creature comforts.
The six-year-old detached house has 2,800 sq ft of living accommodation as well as a detached garage with an additional 1,300 sq ft of space.
Selling agents Remax auctioneers say it’s a tastefully decorated family home with high quality fittings, including some crystal and timber light fittings.
At ground level there’s an attractive central staircase, a large kitchen with vanilla units and integrated appliances, as well as a utility room and a timber floored sitting room with a stove. There’s also a spacious lounge/dining room with a fireplace, plus a tiled sunroom overlooking the back garden.
On the upper two floors are a bathroom and five bedrooms, including two with en suites.
The spacious garage has a 20’ high electronically controlled roller door and was built to accommodate a boat which the owners sailed on Lough Derg. Overhead in the garage there’s a large floored room. Set on three quarters of an acre, the house has a gravelled driveway and extensive lawned gardens with a patio at the rear.
Sq m: 260 (2,800 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 5
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
VERDICT: Set at Roo East, less than half a mile from Ardnacrusha — for sailing fans10 miles from Killaloe.
THERE’s a rustic veneer perhaps to Strawberry Lane, a dormer home on a Cork country acre near Douglas — but, in fact, there’s a bit of clever contemporary design in this house as well.
Window placement, for example, and the use of pitched, glazed inserts in its sunny front corners, mean its largely open-plan interior gets lots and lots of warming, good-for-the-soul light.
Agent Woodwards have re-launched it for sale after a deal fell through, so now it has a price cut too.
As it stands the house has 1,300 sq ft of living space, with a foundation and base poured for a 400 sq ft extension off one gable, with glazed double doors already in place so a new owner can just walk through to the extension. They just have to build it first.
The rustic look, meanwhile, comes from the rough plaster finish outside, and the use of timber, brick and stone, for example, around the hearth and solid fuel stove.
Other heating, meanwhile, is electric underfloor.
There are three upstairs bedrooms, one quite small, and the two larger ones share an en suite, while there’s also a ground floor guest WC with shower.
Sq m: 120 (1,300 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 3
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
VERDICT: The acre site so close to Douglas is a treasure.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
