Trading up: Farran, Cork, €425,000

Go up and over the hill at Farran, above the Cork/Macroom road past Ovens, and you are almost into a different world.

Here, backroads past the Lee Valley Golf Club look over sections of the Lee river and reservoir.

After home-hunters’ long wait for a property on this stretch of Farran/Ovens countryside, estate agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald has not one, but two, new listings over and just under the €400k mark.