WATCH: Kilbrittain Georgian original is a seat of tranquility
WATER, water, everywhere — it’s quite the backdrop, foreground and intermittent feature of Burren House, a west Cork period home with pond, lake, fountains, as well as sea/harbour views.
And, off winking in the distance is the Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse, glimpsed from this Kilbrittain hillside home and a private 20 acres with lodge and courtyard conversions; the Old Head hoves into view thanks to the fortuitous setting of Burren House, looking directly east/south east past the mouth of Courtmacsherry Bay, a chink of coastline clearing that lets the sweeping light beam in — in slow, sweeping arcs.
Proximity to Cork city, airport and Kinsale and the sheen that hangs over the Old Head and its golf course like a lustrous veil of super-wealth, will in all probability be key selling points as Burren House comes to market for the first time in almost a decade and a half, with agents Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill in Clonakilty, and Roseanne DeVere Hunt of Sherry’s Country Home division, allied to Christies International.
At a launch price of €4.2 million it’s one of the dearer period-home west Cork properties to try to lure overseas buying interest, as Burren House’s next owners are most likely to be from abroad, or at least to returning Irish ex-pats, with bankable fortunes made working or investing overseas.
Dating to 1790, this Georgian original on a sheltered stretch of ‘easy’ coastline was bought in 2002/03 by UK businessman Mike Newman and his Canadian-born, UK-educated wife Jane, a jewellery designer with some Irish roots in her too along the way.
After they bought, they did a major upgrade and overhaul, that took the best part of two years, using the service of Clonakilty builder Pat O’Sullivan whom they highly rate, and employed architect John Morehead of Wain Morehead for advice on the five-bay house’s renewal. To say the work done was thorough would be quite an understatement.
It has a new staircase, new sash windows, ashlar stone facade, underfloor heating and thermodynamic solar-type heat and hot water sourcing for low running costs, and hardwood floors and doors are all back shiny and good as new.
And, after the work was all done, and the grounds of some 20 acres also enhanced with a feature pond with trout, and small, sitting-out feature jetty, the couple let it go on show, opening it up over a couple of summers for outdoor opera recitals, with Don Pasquale and the Barber of Seville performed here. It was touch of Glyndebourne meeting Kilbrittain, with funds raised going to the hard-working RNLI service across the water in scenic Courtmacsherry.
It’s not a huge house, by any stretch and with four bedrooms (many lined with silk papers) many families could fill it out quite readily.
It’s extremely comfortable, without being too intimidating or overly large, and the guide price of €4.2m does include most furniture, antiques, and other specially sourced items looking absolutely at home here now.
There are cabinetry units made by joiner Eric Pearce, who lived locally in Kilbrittain and who married the recently deceased painter Patrick Scott, as well as commissioned wall and ceiling murals, and the suitably country-style painted timber kitchen is by House of Coolmore and has, as you might expect in this sort of home, got a four-oven Aga for parties small and large.
If visitor numbers do swell, well the property mix does indeed have room for the troops, or visitors, or extended family right on hand behind, in a series of courtyard/coachhouse conversions.
These old vernacular buildings, full of aesthetic charm and stone-faced, provide three more bedrooms with bathrooms, and there’s a two-bed staff flat, other accommodation, a studio, workshop, haybarn and garages for classic cars, or boats, or hobbies, or horses.
Also incidental then is Burren Hill Lodge, a good quality four-bed 2,500 sq ft bungalow at the entrance, with its own access, and this could be sold off by Burren House’s next owners if they don’t need yet another house on their books, plus their own landscaped 20 acres and paddocks.
Adding real charm and a slightly different international air to Burren House is the small, trout lake just out of sight of the house to the west, fringed in rhododendron and a view in its own right. it even has a seat invitingly set out at the end of a short timber jetty for those who might fancy a bit of ‘wild’ swimming, in a tame environment.
There’s also a long, elegant and slender garden pond with rounded water feed at its top, and this pond — like you’d see in a North African courtyard — is flanked by slender yews, accompanied by a flower-wreathed long pergola walk for classical garden touch.
In addition, there’s an orchard, woodland shelterbelt, vegetable garden, and beyond, local walks and beaches at Kilbrittain and Coolmaine (where the Disney family still has a castle), as well as beaches past Courtmacsherry.
Kinsale is a 20 minute spin in one direction, Clonakilty’s about the same to the west, and Cork city and international airport are about 35 minutes off, or just an hour on a very bad day.
One of West Cork’s higher end homes, with a lofty guide price, but for right buyer it will all be about the quality, convenience to the airport and the specific setting.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
