Glounthaune room with a view... of a heated indoor swimming pool

A veranda and a pool often go hand in hand and so it is that swimmers in Lynwood can step directly from its heated waters onto a veranda along the rear of the €650k house

Fri, 18 Sep, 2020 - 07:00

Catherine Shanahan

Colonised by detached one-offs with sweeping views of Cork Harbour, homes on Windsor Hill typically sell well.

This latest to market, Lynwood, comes with a water feature most of us can only dream of: A heated indoor swimming pool.

“Swimming was a great feature of family life at Lynwood,” says selling agent Michael O’Donovan of Savills. “Growing up, it was great for parties. The swimming pool was a big attraction.”

Sensibly, a glass hatch was installed between the kitchen and swimming area, possibly useful for passing through cocktails, but also allowing parents to keep an eye on proceedings in the approximately 5’ deep, 24’x11’ pool.

A veranda and a pool often go hand in hand and so it is that swimmers in Lynwood can step directly from its heated waters onto a veranda that runs along most of the rear of the €650,000 house.

Double doors from the kitchen and living areas also lead to this suntrap which overlooks a gorgeous sloping lawn.

Surrounded by mature trees and shrubs, Lynwood, on three-quarters of an acre, is not overlooked. Mr O'Donovan says there's "a great sense of privacy" as soon as you enter the drive.

Magnolia and beech trees, as well as several native Irish species, ash, rowan, and birch, are dotted around the grounds.

Like many of the houses on Windsor Hill, Lyndwood was built in the 1970s as a family home.

The current owners made good use of a stable nestled away in the front of the garden.

“They had a pony and they were able to ride out in neighbouring paddocks, “ says Mr O’Donovan. That single horse stable is still there for any prospective buyers with pony-mad kids.

The grounds are also home to a steel tech shed, a block built workshop, and a lean-to potting shed.

Of the house itself, Mr O’Donovan says it’s a deceptive-looking bungalow. “It’s 3,800 sq ft but you don’t get that sense from the outside,” he says. “The rooms are quite big, particularly on the south side of the house.”

Another house on Windsor Hill, Bluebells, which previously featured in these pages and is almost 1,000 sq ft smaller than Lynwood, sold for €570,000 in 2018. Last year, the six-bed Windsor Hill House sold for €750,000, according to the Property Price Register.

The buyer of Lynwood will acquire a home with the best of both worlds: Countryside near the city.

“That’s the quality the current owners most liked about the property,” says Mr O’Donovan. “It’s a rural setting and they could enjoy horseriding and country walks and still be within a 10-minute drive of the city.”

Lynwood is within about 8km of Cork city centre and 1km uphill from a commuter rail station which links to the city, Cobh, and Midleton.