This €675k Beast of Ballyhoura was rescued from Celtic Tiger days' shell state

Bounce in the market? Tommy Barker reports on a high-end Cork-Limerick border home taken in hand as a 'shell' by a young family back from Australia

This supersized five-bedroom family home stretches to more than 5,000 sq ft of accommodation in the foothills of the Ballyhoura Mountains.

Ballyhoura, Cork
€675,000
Size	480 sq m (5,005 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	5
BER	B1

A RETURN to Irish family roots for an international couple, to the foothills of the beautiful Ballyhoura hills by the Cork Limerick border, saw the completion of this very large family, which had languished for years awaiting new life.

The couple have a mixed background, from opposite sides of the globe. She’s originally from Fiji, but grew up in Australia. He’s from Effin in Limerick, and they started their life together in Australia.

Touch of Oz?

However, they decided to move from the southern hemisphere to the northern one to be closer to his family, so their own children could be with grandparents.

They settled on this rural Ballyhoura spot, with plenty of space all around as well as their own site’s 2.25 acres, and rolled up their sleeves, big time.

Originally looking for an existing, pre-built home to move into, they switched focus when they came across this whopper and saw the potential it had to be brought to fruition.

The gracious curve of the home's centerpiece staircase, in the double-height entrance hall.

The one-off had been started in 2007, not alone in the vaunting ambition of those McMansion heady and frothy days when the Irish countryside as well as its cities seemed to be awash in cash, and was set to top 5,000 sq ft.

It was in a shell state, they say, but they fell in love with the sweep of views from the land and rooms, and the idea of taking on a big project took hold…. “too many Grand Designs episodes,” they wryly suggest at the end of a successful delivery, to the standard seen here.

Those views include, on a fine day, the Galtees to the front and even Kerry’s Macgillicuddy’s Reeks to the back, while the Ballyhoura walking and mountain biking trails (done to an international competition standard) are on the doorstep, as are equestrian facilities.

Main bedroom has views of the 'Reeks

And, if anyone living here wants  a bit of more formal finery, well, they also have Doneraile Park just down the way. It's a pristine 400-acre country estate on the side of a heritage village and the Awbeg river, with strong literary links and with the period 1700s-built Doneraile Court (home to the St Leger family for 250 years) now back open to the public since 2019, as a work in progress with the OPW.

One of the three sizeable ground floor reception rooms.

The area is rich still in large period homes (though Bowen Court was wilfully demolished), so big and all as this Ballyhoura one-off home surely is, it still isn’t quite the largest house in the hinterland.

The family bought nine years ago, in May, with what they ruefully say were ambitions to move in by the time one of their children, a daughter, was due to start primary school in the coming September.

Aussie-like brightness

While she made the school’s start, the house took a bit longer to be fully habitable.

It took several years, in fact, with attention to detail meaning there’s quality as well as quantity here with a crisp, contemporary touch, just witness the gracious curve of the home's centerpiece staircase, in the double-height entrance hall, with feature double entrance door with overhead apex windows.

Barn-stormer: spot the blue sliding barn door? Blue period

There are extensive polished concrete floors, with underfloor heating and even though the floors had not been poured with any specialist aggregate mix for polishing “we took the gamble to polish and it paid off,” say the occupants, now vendors.

Accommodation includes a scene-stealing kitchen/diner, with extensive white and blue units plus island

It’s listed with a price tag now of €695,000 via estate agents Ron Krueger of Engel & Volkers, based in Kinsale, acting jointly with Sarah O’Keeffe of REA O’Keefe in nearby Charleville, which is about 8kms away.

Closer is Ballyhea itself, a tiny dispersed rural community along and off the N20 Cork-Limerick road, known nationally and even internationally for the weekly march it supported for several years in protest at the Irish Government’s banks bailout.

This home’s owners did their own bailout version (though the price they paid in 2012 is hard to discern as the Price Register has 49 Ballyhea sales since 2012, but this one doesn’t have a more precise name) and then poured money into its finishes – the agents say it’s finished to exacting standards - as well as building an Australian-style contemporary pergola and seating bower on the rear terrace, which may well give them a 'bounce' in the market.

Australian-style contemporary pergola and seating bower on the rear terrace.

It comes complete with a fire pit, possibly more used to warm human flesh on cooler Irish evenings than for barbecuing sausage, chicken, beef or kangaroo steaks….

Accommodation includes three sizeable ground floor reception rooms plus central, scene-stealing kitchen/diner, with extensive white and blue units plus island, . pantry, plant room and an en suite ground floor bedroom.

Multi-function!

Up the curving stairs are four more bedrooms, all with bathrooms: two share one in a Jack and Jill layout with shower plus a bath, and the main bedroom is to the back, with walk-through dressing rooms/wardrobe leading to a large private bathroom with an oval, free-standing bath and walk-in shower. Rounding out this level is a walk-in linen press.

The house has oil central heating and gets a very good B2 BER, and as well as the 480 sq m (5,005 sq ft) home there’s a detached 105 sq m/1,200 sq ft lofted garage with twin doors.

VERDICT: Put this inland-set  house close to the sea, and you could probably double the asking price. It equates to a €138 per square foot valuation, and most one-off homes now cost much more than that  to construct.