With spades of charm

An immaculately restored 2,400 sq ft home, at peaceful Nadrid, Coachford, has up to six bedrooms and four bathrooms, says Tommy Barker and was found at the end of a six-month hunt by Andrew Ashford and Marian O’Leary, when they returned from Australia in 1999

A ‘PROPERTY Wanted’ ad in the Examiner, a random chance reply, and taking a pot shot at a briar-entagled wreck, are all part of the back-story of Freshwater Farm, a Lee Valley offering with country home charm.

Reaching this spot was the end of a six-month hunt for Andrew Ashford and Marian O’Leary, when they returned from Australia in 1999. Finding the perfect farmhouse on a couple of acres “was more like trying to find the proverbial hen’s tooth”, according to the vendors. “We contacted every single auctioneer in the whole of the county. Eventually we just gave up and decided to stick a wanted ad in the Irish Examiner. “But, that opened a whole new can of worms! We had a massive response, the only problem was that we ended up going to look at various piles of stones in the middle of absolutely nowhere, which were being passed off as doer-uppers.”

Luck came to their doorstep, or vice-versa, when Marian was five months pregnant and ready to ‘nest and nurture’ — when a Coachford farmer offered this spot and bravery and a bag of cash sealed the deal on a building that the Aussie returnees fell for, with its romance of a bygone era and fell into renovations.

“What took two days to take apart took another 12 years to put back together!” the couple exclaim.

The site, all-in is over two acres, and acting for the vendors of Freshwater Farm is Shane Moloney of Coakley Moloney in Cork City: Guide price is €325,000. The immaculately restored 2,400 sq ft home has up to six bedrooms, four bathrooms; good living rooms and a dining room, an old-world kitchen; self-contained guest annex; stone outbuildings and character in spades. Lots of landscaping has gone on in tandem with the build, plus a 60’ by 20’ sheltered sun patio in Indian sandstone.