Walk-in Watermeadow in Crosshaven, Cork

Tommy Barker visits No 6, Watermeadow, a spacious, bright new build that’s top quality and has water views.

Crosshaven, Cork €575,000

SQ m 255 (3,200 sq ft

Bedrooms: 5

Bathrooms: 4

BER: B1

Best Feature: Brand new

Having scoured the Cork market for a decent, modern detached home in 2013/2014, a family who’d moved to Cork opted - after months of frustration - to get a serviced site, and to build exactly what they wanted.

But, as in the scheme of things, you make plans, and circumstances change. Now, having built their dream home from March through to November 2014, and having been in for Christmas, they are moving back to their home county for professional/work reasons, to their previous family home.

However, they are bringing some of their most recent build experience (and their architect) with them: they are going to extend there, using ideas they liked here.

Architect for this Crosshaven home was Eric Beamish of Beamish and Co in Carrigaline “and he pretty much got what we wanted, 90% of it or more, after the very first meeting he had with us, there were just very minor changes,” say the couple, of this extremely well-built five-bed home, with over 3,200 sq ft of space on a site of a one-third of an acre.

It’s No 6, Watermeadow, part of a niche, almost rural setting of sites by the RCYC sailing club, with outline planning for detached homes, and is brand new to market with Michael O’Donovan of Savills, who guides at €575,000.

It’s a top quality home, punching in with a good B1 BER, has a very good floor plan, spacious and bright.

The house at 6 Watermeadow is quite shallow, but broad, and the private rear aspect faces directly south, meaning all of the main kitchen/dining/family living rooms get all-day sunlight, and solar gain.

“It’s so warm; for Christmas Day’s dinner we had all the doors across the back of the house opened up,” they note.

The grass is only now starting to thicken up on the one-third of an acre site at No 6, and while the back view is up a sloping meadow toward a wooded boundary, the front view is through trees to the Owenabue estuary, with lots of yachts and masts filling the view, as well as the harbour’s wind turbines visible over the Currabinny hill.

The specification here is as high as the build quality, with a superb grey and blue kitchen in painted tulip wood, done by CFF (Hannon Kitchens), coincidentally based only a few miles up along the Owenbue River in Ballygarvan.

Tiling came from Supreme Tiles, and stoves from Flor O’Mahony’s in Togher, and stand-out features start from the galleried hallway inwards, with its three overhead Velux windows offering water views from the landing.

Ceiling heights downstairs are 9’, and windows are tall, in the main, double glazed, meeting passive efficiency standards.

One of the two living rooms has a triple aspect, and across the span of the kitchen/living/dining is good utility space, with access to an integrated garage. There’s a ground floor office or bed five, with an option to open it to the ground floor guest bathroom.

Two of the four upstairs bedrooms are en suite, with dressing rooms, and the master bedroom really is quite the suite deal, private to back corner of the house with large walk-in dressing room, large bathroom and has sliding door access to a south-facing flat-roof balcony with glass balusters.

And, given the roof profile, the design allows for excellent walk-in eaves storage space too – no waste.

VERDICT: Harbour home, water views, and walk-in quality job.