Monkstown, Cork €475,000

Size: 165sq m (1,780sq ft)

There’s no ‘diamond in the rough’ quips about this Diamond Hill Monkstown home - it’s pretty smooth operation.

The upgraded 1940s dormer bungalow up on Diamond Hill’s heights had modernising work done and overseen by local architect Dermot Coveney who included dormers and an apex window over the hall entrance. It is on a smashing one-third of an acre site above Cork’s Monkstown, facing south and east over the harbour.

It’s a classic family home of 1,800 sq ft, or even a down-sizer for buyers leaving a larger period home, says agent Mark Rose of Rose Properties, who guides at €475,000: he bills the very private Diamond Hill property “a gem.”

It has electric gates, parking for a half dozen cars to the front, and was redesigned to have large windows overlooking both Monkstown Bay and the one-third acre of tiered gardens with patios, greenhouse and steel shed. There are two reception rooms, one with wood-burning stove, and both this room and the kitchen have the best views.

Cork is a commute with choice of routes back to the city, while right on the doorstep is a golf course, marina, sailing club and tennis club, national school, shops and bars.

VERDICT: A good Monkstown option for those who don’t want any of the harbour village’s many fine Victorian homes.