Sunnycove a wee home of huge character in lovely Leap

It’s as pretty outside as inside, says Tommy Barker of this water’s edge cottage

THE water laps up to the site boundaries of this chocolate-box pretty Leap, West Cork home.

As winsomely titled as it looks, Sunnycove is a wee home of huge character, within (or below) Leap village, a tidal inlet hamlet on the N71 between Clonakilty and Skibbereen.

It’s as pretty outside as inside, with colourful grounds, or at leastonce the winter gloom lifts.

To find Sunnycove, you drop down a few hundred yards from the elevated N71, off the Glandore/Union Hall road, as Sunnycove’s at water level, with its water-fringing boundary edged in greenery. It’s all very tidal, of course, so there’s boating and exploration options for occupants if you get the timing right: across the estuary is Myross Retreat Centre, set in large wooded grounds.

Built in 1880, the house’s history traded on that water proximity, its vendor notes, as it was built for a ‘sandlighter’ boatman Michael O’Donovan, who ferried sand for fertiliser ashore at Leap: his widow Ellen went on to be Ireland’s first female Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Estate agent Noel O’Donovan of Hodnett Forde seeks offers around €270,000 and he says that it is, indeed a sun-trap, with special setting.

He expects local interest and from the UK where he’s sourcing lots of inquiries (Sherry FitzGerald hosts an Irish property fair in London today, just for that target market). The fact Sunnycove’s within a village setting with services, on a bus route to Cork City, is a huge boon for older buyers, he adds.

The house, old stone and slate topped, but upgraded and easy on the eye with neat casement windows, is bedecked in flowers and climbers, aided and abetted by trellises, and they ramble over the front porch too.

Internally, the spec is high, sort of country look, and main rooms include a 20’ by 12’ sitting room, a 20’ by 9’ kitchen/dining room with Belfast sink and hardwood drainer, utility, guest WC and ground level walnut-floored bedroom with French doors to a patio and outdoor seating.

There are two upstairs bedrooms, with sloping ceilings and low-level windows; one’s en suite and the main bathroom has a bath with shower and painted timber floor.

VERDICT: Come on, sun.