When size does matter

Spacious Dublin Pike home Dunroamin may put an end to your search for a house, writes Tommy Barker

YOUR house search could well be over if you like the look of this large Dublin Pike home, by a fish-stocked river and glen a few miles north of Cork city — after all, its name is Dunroamin. The house name was picked by its family owners (with eight children) when they bought it nine years ago, reckoning their days of roaming and house-building were over, done and dusted. But, now that the last of the clan have departed, it’s just too big.

It comes up for sale as a walk-in job via Paul O’Driscoll of Thos J O’Driscoll & Co, who’s open to offers around the €635,000 guide. It has about three-quarters of an acre of landscaped gardens, terraced and stepped at the back, with a lower bank of decking, veg and herb beds, lawns and more. Plus there’s a detached garage on the approach side of the property.

The location is Ballincrokig, near the Black Man pub, five minutes from Blackpool, and the well-stocked Glennamought river passes the back of Dunroamin and Murphy’s Rock on its western boundary, on its way towards Blackpool. The area is rich in wildlife, with herons, foxes and rabbits as nearby inhabitants.

The business-owing couple bought Dunroamin as it was just about completed, being built by one-off builder William Punch for his own use, but they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and they reckon they spent a further €100,000 on extras. Auctioneer Paul O’Driscoll describes the two-storey, brick-faced home with unusual brick columns by its front door as having “a stunning interior and exterior, and a great east-west aspect and panoramic glen views”.

It’s very spacious, with 3,000 sq ft, all very well finished out, with two reception rooms and biggest of all is a rear conservatory, at 21’ by almost 16’ wide. This great room off the kitchen/dining room has four Velux windows in its pine-panelled roof, plus ceiling fan to cool the place down on sunny days.

Thanks to its access to lots of decking for sun-soaking and a feature gazebo, as well as its westerly glen aspect, it’s the sort of place you can imagine whiling away the hours. Then, there’s further decking lower down and seating areas for outdoor dining, and the owners have large garden sheds and a glasshouse.

Back inside, Dunroamin has one of its six bedrooms at ground level, plus a bathroom, so it’s adaptable for all ages and mobilities, and overhead two of the five other bedrooms have en suite shower rooms. The whole interior is spotless, with features like solid oak kitchen, marble hall floor, marble fireplaces etc.

VERDICT: Immaculate inside, fully developed outside, there’s space galore here for a new family to colonise and enjoy.