Ideal country living

Deer hunting is one of the rights of the new owner, says Tommy Barker

AN acre of grounds, a guest cottage, a river at the boundary plus footbridge, the right to hunt deer on your property, and a thoroughly discrete contemporary make-over: all of this and more is on offer for the price of a suburban semi at Duke’s Mill, near the Cork-Waterford border and Tallow.

Dating back to the 19th century, this four-bedroomed home was taken in charge by a semi-retired couple re-locating from a Cork city mews, who threw themselves, with some relish, into the challenge of gardens and country living.

Seven years after, with the work done, they are downsizing, but determined to stay locally.

Estate agent Ken Madden of Madden Estates seeks offers over €390,000 for Duke’s Mill, referencing both a mill that used to exist across the boreen, and the fact the river is controlled by historical landlord, the Duke of Devonshire, who owns the fishing rights. This house has rights to hunt deer on it. Venison, anyone?

The Glenaboy river, a tributary of the Bride which it joins at Tallowbridge, comes through the property, by the garden wall, and the vendors own a few slivers of land across the Glenaboy too, giving 40 metres of water frontage.

Everything changes in time: this place was once two cottages, one time it was a henhouse, then it got a solid, if not too aesthetically-pleasing an extension, and now it has been brought right up the comfort and style stakes. They also added a greenhouse made almost entirely from salvaged materials, such as bricks, slates, floor slates, windows.

The main dwelling is four-bedroomed, over 1,500 sq ft, and the separate study/guest cottage brings the floor areas to about 1,800 sq ft, finished, furnished and decorated to a professional palette, with tasty quirks and enhancements.

Contemporary design specialists Mimo have supplied lighting, Vitsoe and Moorman shelving, some furniture and the slicker of the kitchen units, while craft joiner Hans Leptien made tables, other kitchen storage units, telephone table, etc.

An Esse oil-fired range occupies the heart of the kitchen, while a wood stove features in the sitting room and in the guest cottage, too. Farrow and Ball paints are used in sections, with a keen sense of design balance between old and new in a house which, too, combines the best of old and new.

Quality, muted shade flat-weave carpets came from Hayes & Hennessy in Midleton, and the overall feel and look is one of relaxation and contemplation, a real retreat from urban stresses.

Estate agent Ken Madden feels it may well attract a buyer from out of Cork city, or from Waterford, or just be picked up by appreciative locals given its realistic price expectation. “There’s no reason it wouldn’t be bought as a second, affordable home for holidays. It needs only modest maintenance, with most of its acre left attractively wild, and with lovely cultivated sections and defined seating and patio areas,” he says.

Apart from the main house, and guest cottage (bathroom and bedroom in place, just needing a small kitchen to be self-contained) there’s a garage, and the gardens have been further planted with walnut, beech, formal beds, and there’s flower, fruit trees and vegetable beds to complete the picture.

The setting is almost quaint, down a country boreen, with the ditches cleared of weeds and now planted with Montbretia and wild garlic, and a 10 minute walk brings you to Tallow, having its own quiet resurgence. The hinterland is rich farmland, with the Blackwater a linking presence though this magnificent Munster region, and Fermoy, Midleton and Lismore are all convenient, while Cork city, Waterford city and Kilkenny all have the lure of brighter lights and transport links. As if you’d want to leave.