Trading up: Ballydehob, West Cork €245,000

Sq m: 170 (1,820 sq ft)

IT might look like quite a standard dormer home, albeit painted in a cheerful bright yellow hue, but Willowbank has a few eco trick up its sleeve. Or, at least under its polytunnel plastic sheets.

Set on 1.5 productive acres at Gortnagrouph, Ballydehob, this modern three-bed home scores a very good B3 BER energy rating. That’s thanks in part to its ground-source renewable energy geo-thermal heating system, with piping run underground covered (and warmed) by a large 45’ by 20’ plastic polytunnel.