Playful family property has a touch of rock and roll

Oakridge House has a lot to offer — for both grown-ups and kids, says Tommy Barker

TOYS for big boys and small boys (and girls) are a feature of a snugly-settled builder’s own home, newly up for sale. Oakridge House, replacing an older dwelling on a carved out and partly quarried site with exposed back rock face at Clondrohid, a few miles from Macroom in north-west Cork, has the hallmarks of a confident builder, who also got stuck into maximising natural features on the three-acre site. In fact, not only was there scope for two paddocks and two stables, the man of the house also built a strong, 2,000 sq ft workshed and store for his business truckings, trailers and building materials — and matched that with a fantastic climbing frame/play fort/amenity centre for children.

It’s some piece of work, with twin timber towers, linking bridges, crawl spaces and tubes, storage and more. Bring a child to this property for viewings, and you/he/she will be sold on it. The house isn’t half-bad either. Built only a few short years ago, it’s a five-bed, two en-suites family home, with open and airy ground floor rooms, and a total of 2,700 sq ft of space, done, says agent Killian Lynch in Macroom, to a very high standard. Features include oak floors, central vacuum system, three reception rooms with solid oak floors, including a high, vaulted ceilinged dining room, and a kitchen with Belfast sink and tiled floor plus utility and guest WC. Two of the five bedrooms are downstairs, and for adaptable “livelong” use there’s an en suite bedroom at both ground and first floor levels.

VERDICT: You won’t be caught for things to amuse yourself with here, at any age. Landscaping by the entrance needs to be completed, though.