Trading up: Ballinhassig,Cork €625,000

Size: 370 sq m (4,000sq ft)

Open viewings planned for today of Ragbridge House, with Sherry FitzGerald, will prove what auctioner Johnny O’Flynn claims - “it’s exceptional.”

The large home off a back road from Cork to Kinsale dates to the 1700s as a land agent’s house, and was close to dereliction when the current owners took it firmly and carefully in hand. They integrated quality materials and salvage items to keep faith with its origins, but also to make it comfortable: its C2 BER rating is evidence that they brought it back a long way indeed.