1940s-built cottage on Dungarvan’s Gold Coast is nautical... and nice

Trish Dromey on a 1940s-built cottage on Dungarvan’s Gold Coast. It’s sleek, stylish and hi-spec.

Once a small and ordinary 1940s-built cottage, Neidín on Dungarvan’s Gold Coast is now sleek, stylish, hi-spec and ultra spacious with a nautical theme.

Its transformation was carried out by a pair of serial renovators from the UK, who on arriving in Ireland in 2000 built themselves a 6,000 sq ft half timbered, redbrick mock Tudor home near New Inn village in Tipperary, complete with a pond and a fountain. Moving to Ballincourty 12 years later, they swapped oak beamed, traditional accommodation for 21st century living and equipped their new home with an energy efficient air to water heating system, a cinema room as well a contemporary open tread oak staircase with glass banisters.

“It was a small holiday rental cottage with wonderful views of the sea and the golf course — we stripped it back to the walls and got an architect to design a two storey extension,’’ says the lady of the house, explaining that her husband project managed it and did most of the woodwork.

Although you can see the Comeraghs from the front, the best views of the Gold Coast Golf course, and the sea beyond it, are available from the side — so it has been designed so that you can see across the fairway to the coast from the windows in the main living areas including the kitchen, the back living room and the master bedroom.

Priorities

Prioritising energy efficiency as well as scenic views, the couple put in a high spec Daikin boiler, two insert stoves and Aluclad windows and secured a high A3 BER rating.

They turned the central area of the original cottage into a modern living room with large feature apex window and an insert stove. Splashes of blue, maritime paintings and a model sailboat give it a nautical feel while hidden technology transforms it into a cinema room at the flick of a switch.

On either side of this living room is an en suite bedroom with a little nautical embellishment and, behind it , is a bright modern dining room with two windows overlooking the golf course.

The owners moved the entrance around the side and added a single storey section for the kitchen which connects the original cottage to a two storey extension. Fitted with extensive classic style cream units, granite worktops and a large central island, the kitchen has a vaulted ceiling and bi folding doors opening on to a patio.

Beyond the kitchen is a utility room, a guest WC with nautical touches and a large modern living room with views of the Comeraghs one side and of the sea and the fairway on another A contemporary oak staircase at the rear leads to the first floor which has two bedrooms and a tiled bathroom with a modern freestanding bath. One bedroom has a four poster bed, possibly purchased during the owner’s ‘Tudor’ period.

Generous

The other is a generous sized modern room with, limewashed ceiling beams and an 18 ft long fully fitted walk-in wardrobe as well as a tiled en suite. Neidín is on a site of three quarters of an acre and its gardens which are mostly at the back have recently been landscaped.

The front area is graveled and has a rather striking boulder shaped water feature and some ornamental geese.The property has an integral garage at the rear as well as a detached workshop.

When the owners bought Neidín they were going to give it a new name until a neighbour told them it meant little nest which they liked, even though it doesn’t really describe the 3,170 sq ft property it has become.

Guiding Neidín at €750,000 Denise Radley auctioneers says that its Gold Coast location, five kilometers from Dungarvan is highly sought after “It’s just 0.2 kilometres from the water front and 0.4 from the Deise Greenway and is close to a whole range of amenities including golfing boating and cycling,’’ says Ms Radley. She believes that as a “ spacious, bright light filled home with beautiful views of the golf course and Dungarvan Bay”, it would be ideal for a family, a retired couple or for holidays.

Verdict: Will appeal to a buyer similar to the one who paid €745,000 in April for a five-bed house across the road called Bethany.

Dungarvan, West Waterford

€750,000 Sq m 294 (3,170 sq ft)

Bedrooms:4

Bathrooms:4

BER:A3