House of the week

What with the bird song, and the tolling of a nearby church bell as the solitary background sounds, you could well be in the midst of the countryside at this dormer bungalow called Cluthar.

Instead, you’re in the heart of Blackrock ‘village,’ in one of Cork city’s settled suburbs, with privacy galore. An unusual house type for the area, the detached 1,400 sq ft family home is a new market arrival with estate agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing, who can be sure of a wide cross-section of viewers checking out this rare product.

He’s mostly going to get trading-down interest it seems, but there’ll be competition from better-off first-time buyers, couples and small families who are going to have the location pretty much up on a property pedestal.

It’s set across the Blackrock road from the period Dundanion House, fully hidden from view as the furthest in of a trio of off-road homes, with its eastern boundary tracking the line of the old Passage West/Monkstown rail line (see pic top left).

That old rail line is now a very popular walking route and superb city amenity, with walkers instead of trains puffing along it, linking from the Atlantic Pond on the Marina to the Mahon/ Rochestown walk, going up and over the ring road and the Douglas estuary as part of its route. It’s such a boon for city residents, and it’s right on the doorstep, beneath Cluthar’s manicured quarter-acre site. And, just a few hundred yards away is Blackrock’s pier and shops, cafe culture and weekend markets.

So, a stellar location for buyers who want a bit of the country in the city, and the house then goes on to tick several more desirable boxes for those currently home-hunting. There’s easy parking, well-tended gardens ready to burst into life, and the house is in the middle of its site, south facing at the back, where there’s a sun-room added on off the kitchen/dining room to maximise the aspect. Just outside is a crescent-shaped sun terrace, with low curved brick wall and trellis, with spring bulbs just starting to poke their way to flowering status, while the rest of the flower beds (looks like rich soil too) are all set up ready for summer showing. What with crazy-paved paths, lawns, mature screening and shrubbery, as well as two sheds, there’s plenty outdoors here to keep anyone happy, tootling and potting away.

Internally, the house —likely to have been built around 1990— ticks lots of boxes too, with some recent spending evident in the two well-tiled bathrooms, one per floor, and with a double shower upstairs and a bath/shower downstairs. Cluthar has two reception rooms with fireplaces, the larger to the front at 14’ by 11’, the back one off the kitchen/dining room is more a cosy TV room, albeit with French doors to the patio.

Kitchen-wise, there’s an ORM pine kitchen with dresser, and utility with oak units.

Upstairs are two bedrooms, or three if a new owner wants to reinstate a partition — but, better again would be to reorder what’s now a funny-shaped large bedroom by taking away another stud wall, for a really decent sized main bedroom. Both of the upper floor bedrooms have a double aspect, with gable windows, and south-facing Veluxes painted white.

None of the house’s rooms are particularly large, bar the open-shape, 23’ by 9’ kitchen tee-ing into a 11’ by 11’ sun room, and it’s this key or core section that’s rightly going to get maximum use.

Overall condition is very good, inside and out, though some viewers might want to update the kitchen a bit, and make better use of that upstairs bedroom configuration.

VERDICT: The setting and gardens could take a house twice the size.