House of the Week: Cork Harbour homes which have just a couple of bonds in common

Sat, 03 Nov, 2018 - 00:00

Tommy Barker reports on two homes that form our house of the week.

SEPARATED in age by almost 150 years are two Cobh, Cork Harbour homes which have just a couple of bonds in common. Apart from the loose connection that they have the same selling agent, Liz Hannon, who extols the virtue of each, they both have a self-contained guest wing or an apartment, as a hospitable back-up to their main range of accommodation.

Apart from those few connections, and sharing a setting on the expansive harbour’s Great Island, they are chalk and cheese, really, or at least two different varieties of cheese, one mature, the other fresh, and are therefore priced accordingly.

Most broadly affordable is Bramble Lodge (pictured, above), a modern four-bedroom bungalow with an updated, contemporised interior, on a half-acre gardens site, out at Ballelane, near East Ferry, a marina, shoreline walks and Marlogue Woods.

Apart from its c 1,740 sq ft of upgraded living space, to the rear its also has a completely self-contained granny flat, with two bedrooms, and both it and the main residence have private patios.

Bramble Lodge is priced at €430,000 by agent Liz Hannon of English Auctioneers in Cobh town, who says its owners of the past 12 years did the upgrades and that “it gives the joy of country living, within easy access of all amenities.

And, with features like a great, high-ceilinged 23’ by 13’ sitting room, with double aspect and wood-burning stove set into a tall (c 11’ high) red-brick chimney breast, as well as some glass blocks set into internal partition walls, she adds that “it’s filled with natural light adding to the great sense of space throughout.” Separately, it has four bedrooms one with en suite, plus a further living room linking to a glazed bay or sun room by the front doors, along with a dining room next to a porcelain-floored kitchen with Shaker-style pale timber units, topped with black granite. There’s also a utility, and Stira access to an attic, while bathrooms have underfloor heating, run separately to the main central heating.

Meanwhile, it’s hearts have been warmed, and bellies fed, at Oakhurst (pictures right), one of Cobh’s great Victorian-era homes.

Set on Cobh’s Lower Road, overlooking the water and shipping and the Naval base at Haulbowline, and with its own roots going back to British naval glory days around 1860, Oakhurst is a commanding 4,300 sq ft residence, in top order, and which has been paying its passage of late both as a much-favoured Cobh B&B under patron Eileen Pearson, and also has an Airbnb presence (signalled at €75 a night), with Eileen rated as a Superhost on the site.

A home as well as a guest business, Oakhurst (below) has a uniform five-star B&B rating on Tripadvisor, with international guests praising the host, the house itself, and the grounds, as well as its setting, within a 10-minute walk of the town, promenading parallel to the harbour walls.

It’s in excellent order, with retained period trim features, original fireplaces plus an 8kw Morso stove, as well as a conservatory with heat and rain sensors on electric windows, with raised deck access while the hard-working kitchen has an Aga for producing the requisite full Irish breakfasts and porridge.

The upper level has four bedrooms, two of which are en suite and at lower ground level are not one, but two self-contained units, one a one-bed, the other a twin-bedded one, and online shows rates quoted at €550 a week for the larger.

It’s on suitably private grounds, and estate agent Liz Hannon guides at €750,000, all-in.

“I think it’s a great buy: I keep doing the Lotto in the hope,” Ms Hannon reveals, and adds “it’s some substantial property, in fairness, and it’s in excellent condition having been so well maintained by its owners over the years as they also raised their family there. It’s a great workhouse now, too. If someone was coming out of a two-up, two-down in the right location in Dublin, they could buy this for nearly the same money.... some difference in property prices.”