Boom and grow forever

Tommy Barker looks at a large high-spec home which has been extended and upgraded many times

Sat, 12 May, 2018 - 01:00

Tommy Barker looks at a large high-spec home which has been extended and upgraded many times

THIS Lee Valley home, with over one hundred years of history hidden away deep within its original farmhouse stone walls, has featured in these pages before, and each time it comes up for sale, it’s a further improved family pad.

Now clearly at its best ever, with a BER hoisted up from a D1 to a B3, it’s being sold by a professional couple, with young children, who barely batted an eyelid at extensive renovations, and who now have the appetite to build from scratch, further into the country.

Welcome back to Drom Siobhra, meaning ‘the little hill of the bold fairy,’ set at Curraleigh, Inniscarra, with peeping views down over top tillage land to the Inniscarra dam.

It last featured here back in 2012, when it was lived in by a couple who’d returned to Ireland from six years working in Florida.

Before then, it had come to market in 2005, being sold at that time by a Dutch architect, who’d worked with Roy Disney on Coolmaine Castle in coastal south county Cork. Before that, it was owned by Colm Burke, the Fine Gael Senator and former MEP, and each and every one left a mark.

Now, it’s an extended/wrapped around two-storey four-bed detached home of 2,100 sq ft, spotless and warm and bright, backed up by a c 500 sq ft detached one-bed guest apartment, which could easily be integrated into the main residence.

Apart from possible use as au pair’s base, or for relatives and visitors, there’s scope for rental income via Airbnb or such like, says estate agent Robert O’Keeffe of Irish & European, noting very strong Lee Valley accommodation from European and UK anglers and from those visiting the National Rowing Centre upriver in Farran.

The location of the south-facing property on an acre, with expanses of expensive limestone paving and terraces, is along a lovely leafy cul de sac road above the main Inniscarra road.

Hot spots and employment bases such as Blarney, Ballincollig, and Hollyhill are an easy commute away, as are schools, so its next owners may come from this sort of profile and background, keen on country living lite.

All the heavy lifting has been done here — floors were dug up and insulated and relaid, windows are now triple glazed, two wood-burning stoves back up the efficient oil central heating, it’s wired for surround sound (as is the south-west aspect patio) and has fibre broadband and CAT 6 LAN network linkages for home-working, has an alarm and security cameras, electric gates, and lighting along the short approach avenue.

The acre has lawns and woods and trees including willow, sycamore, lime and ash, a small stream, a treehouse for children, a garage and a novel well-built octagonal sun room/gym/yoga space, with an elaborate pagoda style copper roof, and is wired for power, with a sturdy, deep, cut limestone sink.

Inside the pristine main, valley-viewing home are three reception rooms, lofty kitchen/diner with four roof lights in a vaulted ceiling, granite worktops above painted unit, utility, guest WC, and four overhead bedrooms, one with en suite, with the overhead rooms layout a slight reminder of the house’s pattern of growth, and improvement, over a century, and several mindful owners.

VERDICT: Tip-top order home with extras, and extra income potential too.