Starter home: Blackwater Valley, Cork €260,000

Sq m 168 (1,800 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 2

BER: D1

Best Feature: Ship-shape

The owners of this four-bed home along Munster’s Blackwater Valley hope to up-anchor, to return to Cork city for a period - and have a plan hatching to move longer term to Crete, swapping a river setting for the far-sunnier Aegean.

The upgraded c 1,800 sq ft four-bed is for sale with Michael O’Donovan jnr of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan in nearby Fermoy, who guides this smart-looking home on a verdant half an acre with glasshouse, raised beds, landscaping and views at €260,000: it’s in walk-in order, on a half-acre site, with raised veg beds and glasshouse, he adds.

It was taken in hand in 2007/8, when it was reroofed, rewired and replumbed, new floors, doors and architraves were added.

There’s a luxury main bathroom with jetted bath in a tiled plinth, plus it has a re-tiled en suite shower room by the main bedroom.

It was extended too, to the south, where there’s now a bright, contemporary modern kitchen linked to a dining room at its end, with zig-zag part-tiled, part-wood floor.

Separately, there’s a large living room with raised hearth (though ther’s also oil central heating), for cosy, evenings in listening to the radio or music: clearly home to music lovers, one room here houses thousands of catalogued CDs.

The bungalow is bright and accommodating and is set near pretty Ballyduff, 15kms from Fermoy and has modern comforts, in a rural and pastoral Blackwater setting.

VERDICT: Country living made easy on county borders.