Ballymore Villa oozes charm in a great setting

With an affordable guide price, Tommy Barker says this 200-year-old property has kept a watchful eye on passing ships, including Titanic

BALLYMORE Villa was already 100 years old when a certain large ship steamed into its Cork harbour vista, created a bit of a local stir, and sailed off again — into the history books and a frosty tomb.

As the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes up next month, Cobh will share some of the worldwide spotlight of this human catastrophe; this wee, 200-year old cottage near the water’s edge has seen many ships, stories — and, indeed, owners, come and go, the Titanic being one of many.

One of the more picturesque properties along this Marlogue/Cuskinny stretch just two miles east of Cobh/Cove/Queentsown, Ballymore Villa is also probably one of the more affordable as it hits the spring 2012 market: it’s guided at €225,000 by estate agent Michael Piggot of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan, who says it is completely charming, and perfect for the buyer who wants something out of the ordinary, in an exceptional setting.

It isn’t just those out for pleasure walks along the Cork harbour shoreline and woods here who stop and admire the whitewashed cottage with its latticed windows and old slate roofs: it’s also been flown by, by an abundant birdlife, as Cuskinny marsh is home turf to as many as 150 species of bird. And, it’s where broadcaster Derek Mooney and his fully-fledged radio contributors have recorded and broadcast RTE’s annual Dawn Chorus each spring, for the past seven or eight years.

Cuskinny’s busy with human varieties of waders, walkers and callers other days too, and is set along a stretch of what’s known as the 21 Ditches, a shore-hugging walk full of low-tide delights. Here, too at Cuskinny, are the collection of houses little and large built in the early 1800s by the landowning Jackson-Bennet family

Ballymore Villa was part of the Jackson-Bennet Estate, which included Ballymore Cottage across the road from this ‘villa,’ as well as The Priory, Ballymore Lodge, Ballymore House, and Bennet’s Court, now the imposing building Cuskinny Court.

Local rumour is that a rake of the Jackson-Bennet family had built Balllymore Villa as a discreet spot for trysts with his mistress, and it was linked by a woodland garden path — along which he led some merry dalliances.

Now, after several private ownerships and improvements since the 1970s, the winsome, L-shaped Ballymore Villa house is back for sale. It last changed hands only four years ago, when its owners moved south from Dublin for work reasons, and now another work and new family move sees them somewhat reluctantly returning up country.

It’s a house that its fortunate occupants seem to love, quirks and all, and it has a pretty surprising amount of space given its quaint, olde worlde cottage look. There’s about 1,500 sq ft of space, for example, with two first floor dormer bedrooms, with dressing-room/walk-through closet, with baby room/store room, plus bath with shower, and those who want more bedroom space could consider making use of a room off the kitchen, which the owners use for making and playing music.

Character is everywhere, especially in room shapes and in exposed painted original stone walls, and while the L-shape layout is a bit random, the fact most of the house is only one room wide means many rooms have a double aspect, giving brightness — and windows were replaced some years ago with appropriate-looking painted hardwood frames.

It’s reckoned that given the roof pitch, it might have been thatched originally, but now most of it is roofed with hefty 24” slate, save for the 1980s-built hardwood conservatory with twinwall polycarbonate roof. That sun room/conservatory is one of the villa’s nicest sitting in/out and harbour watching spots, and with a south and west aspect it warms with any sun at all. It also looks out over the c one-third of an acre garden, lawns and woods, with naturalistic planting and landscaping, plus parking for a brace of cars off the quiet Cuskinny roadway.

There’s a modern kitchen, and a smashing ferny green garden view from its deep window sill by the sink, and the kitchen has a large solid fuel stove, with other fireplaces in the recently upgraded 15’ by 12; living room, and in the 15’ by 11’ music room/dining room. Oh, and there’s oil fired central heating as well, while the angled, approx 18’ by 12’ conservatory is a passive heat soak when it’s bright, and it has double doors to the garden and the patio by the back door.

Passersby by heading through Cuskinny will glimpse the sun room on the gable wall, and its Victorian outline and timber frame help to bed it down with the older, stone-built dwelling, while the facade more directly to the hill starting to rise up by the house, is suitably old fashioned, with jaunty lattice-windowed dormers.

Internally, one of the two main first floor bedrooms has had extra height gained by going up to the roof’s apex, and exposing some lovely old timbers in the process, but the other, larger bedroom and bathroom suite is still in a low-ceilinged section of the house. Even those a bit under 6’ tall will find head-height hazards if they don’t watch where they’re going. It doesn’t exactly meet current day building regulations — but it was built 200 years ago, and is still looking and standing well.

VERDICT: This cottage has all the character you’d want, in a convenient coastal setting.