House of the week

YOU’D sort of know that the owners of this family home at Ballyard, Dungourney, about eight miles from Midleton in rural east Cork, had built before — there’s the feeling they knew what they wanted.

The contemporary take on the two-storey farmhouse works in the setting, just perhaps needing tree planting and other landscaping to further bed it down on its grassy acre site, which faces toward a forestry-covered hill north of Midleton.

Already, this well-proportioned storey and a half/two-storey home has a children’s play area to the rear like a small adventure park, along with outbuildings and sheds (with safe compound for dogs), and plenty of car parking and turning space in front, ready for future seasons of colourful garden planting along the perimeter. And, the back garden’s lawn is cut into by a sizeable paved space, ideal for shooting basketball hoops well away from pristine white painted walls.