A selection of house types in a peaceful woodland setting at Brookwood, Crosshaven

There are quality woods inside, and outside, at Blackberry Cottage, in the woodland scheme of one-off homes called Brookwood. 

Brookwood is a collage of various house types all dotted about a large, mature hillside of hardwood trees, once part of the Aghamarta estate, up above the Carrigaline to Crosshaven road near Drakes Pool, with a hugely successful amenity walk, buggy and cycle path skirting the shoreline of the Owenabue estuary underneath.

And, unseen up in the woods are just under a dozen private homes, on large sites, typically an acre or more.

Thanks to the tree screening, and communal electric gate access down the approach avenues, all is quiet in Brookwood, where the only downside of the green cloak and even autumnal leaf colour spectrum is the obverse truth, that it pretty much blocks views of the estuary.

Estate agent Trish Stokes of Lisney has a new offering up in Brookwood, called Blackberry Cottage, and she guides this 2,200 sq ft four-bed dormer at €535,000.

Seventeen years old, and now being sold by the family who’ve lived here ever since, it’s on 1.1 acre in what Ms Stokes bills as ”one of the most unique settings Cork has to offer.” It comes to market hot on the heels of the sale of an adjacent high-end home, Croí na Coille, a larger 4,000 sq ft six-bed on 1.25 acres which Lisneys put up for sale in May of this year, guiding €820,000, now with a sale closing close to that sum.

There’s only a handful of comparable sylvan settings of what were serviced sites in woods dotted around Cork, and others include Monkstown Demesne (with a public road through its majestic hardwoods), and the gated scheme the Orchards at Maryborough House Hotel - and all have their devotees.

So, the woods outside the house’s walls are a given, while inside, Blackberry Cottage utilises ash and maple timbers in its floors and decor, sourced from the Coolmore Estate.

(Those doing the Crosshaven waterside walk will spot the 18th century Newenham family’s Coolmore House across the water, still proud, but at certain points one of Cork harbour’s enormous new windmills seems to hover and scythe ominously in the background).

Other timbers featuring in Blackberry Cottage include pine kitchen units, and reclaimed pine beam in the 16’ by 14’ kitchen, supported on stone corbels. Other joinery - such as internal doors is in teak and materials “ combine well to give a house full of warmth,” says Trish Stokes.

Other accommodation includes a family room off the kitchen, with garden/patio access, a 16’ by 15’ lounge with bay window and cast iron fireplace, with wide-plan floor. There’s also a home office, utility and guest WC at ground floor level.

Elsewhere are four bedrooms, two with en suites, and mirrored sliding robes, and family bathroom.

Externally, the grounds are sloping, with lawns amid paths through trees and with a deck on an upper section reached up steps made from reclaimed rail sleepers.

VERDICT: Branch out

Crosshaven, Cork

€535,000

Size: 205 sq m

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

BER: C2

Best Feature: Rare, woodland setting, between Crosshaven and Carrigaline, and a niche scheme of less than a dozen homes.