House of the week: Bride Valley

It’s a case of ‘always the Bride valley, and never the Bride’ in the case of the setting of west Waterford’s winsome Brook Lodge.

Looking far older than its 1977 genesis is this scenically-set lodge style home, on up to seven acres with tennis court and swimming pool, near both Lismore and Tallow. Located closer to Cork City than to Waterford City, it’s a bucolic sort of retreat in any case from any sort of city bustle.

Auctioneer Michael H Daniels describes Brook Lodge as a “charming country property, hidden away by wonderful gardens and grounds, with far reaching views over the Bride Valley.” So, you know the river’s there. It’s just tantalisingly out of view amid the greenery. Designed to an old world palette (there’s a classic vernacular lodge along the Ring of Kerry near Blackwater Bridge, Kenmare, it might even be loosely modelled on?) there’s just over 2,600 sq ft here, mostly at ground level, with two en suite bedrooms overhead.The ground floor has bed four or optional study, and a larger bed three, plus bathrooms, while living accommodation spans an attractive drawing room, linked with double doors to a dining room and each have oak floors, there’s sun patio access, and a fireplace with adjacent bellows.The kitchen’s got some updated appliances, a double Belfast sink, and beech worktops, with a good-sized utility next door to it, which houses a new condenser boiler.