House of the week

The owners of this quality Blackhill dormer have made the most of its interiors, and of its lush country gardens too.

And now, they’re upping sticks, making a lifestyle downsizing move further out the road towards Kinsale and the sea.

Having bought this 2,500 sq ft home on a quarter acre above Five Mile Bridge, south of Cork city off the Kinsale road, they really did a serious upgrade job around 2004, says estate agent Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing, marketing the convenient country property at €450,000.

Set back off the incline called the Blackhill road, there is a lovely 75-metre country lane-like approach drive, fringed by an old stone wall on one side, and by mature planting on the other, while all around is the best of farmland, now just yielding its first (belated) silage crop of the season.

The site’s quarter acre is fully landscaped, with a mix of seating and bower-like areas, to the side and back in particular, so there is huge visual and amenity appeal for those looking for a country setting within a five to 10 minute drive of Cork’s ring road and airport which is to the north.

This fine 2,500 sq ft modern build, with Rationel double glazed windows and elevated sections in the middle of its dormer outline, has a great mix of day and night-time rooms, with seemingly acres of storage cannily tucked away in unexpected areas, upstairs and down.

Pretty much all of this family home’s ground level flooring is quality wide oak planks, from the central hall off to the right-hand side’s open and airy L-shaped kitchen/dining room, with seating area, and the wood works with quality, above-average solid pine units and wide dresser.

Off the to the other side are two more linked rooms, a lounge and a reading room. Like the house’s other adjoining living spaces across the way, timber sliding double doors knackily retract into partition walls out of sight, out of mind, out of the way until needed again.

There is one of the four bedrooms here at ground level, next to a re-done bathroom with tumbled marble-like tiled walls. These attractive tiles are used in the two upstairs bathrooms also, the very good master bedroom’s en suite and in the guest shower room too. All three bathrooms have underfloor heating, and the rest of the central heating is via oil. Two of the upstairs bedrooms have made very clever use of eaves areas, with Sliderobes, shelving and hidden wardrobes.

Decor levels here are uniformly good, understated, and set off by the owners’ collection of colourful original artworks and pieces, all easy on the eye despite the exuberance, and once outside the visual feast continues thanks to the huge efforts put into soft and hard landscaping, with a choice of outdoor seating areas, under clematis-draped pergolas and gazebos. The fully-formed gardens also have a veg patch, composting area etc, and a level, sheltered front lawn with some lovely copper beech at the boundaries.

LOCATION: Ballygarvan, Cork

PRICE: €450,000

SIZE: Sq m 233 (2,500 sq ft)

BEDROOMS: 4

BATHROOMS: 3

BER RATING: C2

BEST ASSET: Interiors and garden

VERDICT: A handy setting for easy access to Cork city and the airport, as well as to Kinsale, Carrigaline and routes to West Cork.