Trading up: Ballincollig, Cork €345,000

It’s more sweetness and light, than briars, at the family home No 1, 1 Sweetbriar Lane, just at the very city end of the road into Ballincollig from the Poulevone Roundabout.

Size: 130 sq m (1,400sq ft) 

Bathrooms: 2 

Bedrooms: 3 

BER: C1

A three-bed semi-d in a tucked-away section of Inniscarra View, likely to date to the 1970s, it certainly feels far fresher inside than its age might initially suggest.

It’s also larger than the average, at about 1,400 sq ft, thanks to what was most probably a side garage conversion for a big utility and guest WC, all under the pitched tiled roof.

This Sweetbriar home is on open view today at 10am-10.30am with agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald, who says it was built at a period when builders “weren’t afraid to give an extra few feet to each room.”

She seeks offers of €345,000 for the well-presented property with yet another storage option, a block-built shed, in the enclosed mature west facing back garden.

The best example of that extra foot or few is in the rear 21’ by 12’ family/dining room, a good chill out space with cool blue-painted wall around the hearth which holds an integrated wood-burning stove (helping a C1 BER also, possibly?)

Also smart is the galley-style kitchen, the bathroom’s been upgraded and the walled-in back garden has mature landscaping too.

VERDICT: Definitely younger looking than its decades of vintage might suggest