All decked out and waiting for you

’Dooneen’ is a nice place to be on fine summer’s day. Tommy Barker reports

There’ll be plenty of chances to hit the decks at this Dooneen, coastal home, a mix of old house and a contemporary extension, joined by a link section and wrapped in front by a swathe of south-facing decking.

And, apart from a quite sublime setting a couple of miles west of Castletownshend towards Toe Head, five minutes from sandy beaches at Tragumna and Sandycove beach itself, the other cheering fact as it comes up for sale is its price guide: Skibbereen agent Pat Maguire guides it all at €250,000. That’s the sort of price a dead-average bungalow in the locale might still hope to achieve.

It had previously been on the market for a period before being rented out, and now as it comes back up for sale it is being heavily viewed, and is already under offer over €220,000 and moving nicely, says Mr Maguire.

This is a sizeable, well-finished home on a half acre site with a wide sweep of coastal country views, including the incline of Toe Head, with three of the bedrooms in the original house section and with a trio of perky roof dormers to boot.

That’s the ‘old’ c 600 sq ft section, albeit with a few modern twists in the clean lines of the decor and smooth replastering, in its glazing and half door, and further exemplified by the skeletal steel staircase with cherry wood treads and some sandblasted glass door touches. Off to the right, the neutral white and quality timber look continues in the c 1,200 sq ft add-on, done about eight years ago on a far larger palette. The main living/dining/kitchen wing is high-ceilinged, with exposed beams tracing and supporting the lofty vaulted ceilings, and with large expanses of glass for views and light. This airy living/dining wing is 35’ by up to 20’ in scale, and is T or L-shaped in sections.

Scene grabber is this wing’s south-facing gable wall looking to the coast and rise of hill: it has got double doors, glazed side panels, and, overhead, two further panes of glass to complete a triangle up to the roof’s apex. Then, as if that’s not enough, there’s a sizeable run of more glass and sliding doors to the raft of decking (south and west access and vantage points) which, externally, helps to unify the house’s three defined sections — the old, the new and their stone-faced link.

One of the house’s four bedrooms is off this expansive great room’s end, which means that it too has double doors to a south-facing section of decking.

Those viewing it right now are a mix of relocators, some UK interest and business people looking for a full-time home: “we’re not seeing much of the holiday home market right now,” observes Mr Maguire.

VERDICT: Setting, quality, and value — what’s not to covet?