Period villa with a detached bungalow is an ideal prospect

Everything’s in ship shape for this two-for-the-price-of-one Crosshaven family home

1 & 1A Prospect Villas in Crosshaven has magnificent views out across the water towards Currabinny.

Crosshaven, Co Cork
€690,000
Size	Main house: 286.85 sq m, Mews 65.51 sq m
Bedrooms	7 + 2
Bathrooms	5 +2
BER	D2 & C1

AT first glance, No 1 Prospect Villas looks a dead ringer for its conjoined twin (No 2 Prospect Villas), but more rigorous scrutiny reveals a striking difference.

That difference is in its favour. No 1 comes with 1A, a two-bed, independent, contemporary, mews-style bungalow, to add to an already substantial three-storey, 3,000 sq ft+ home. 

The view towards the yachts berthed in the marina at the Royal Crosshaven Yacht Club (RCYC).

The two-bed, independent, contemporary, mews-style bungalow.

It’s the kind of added extra that may help seal the deal at a time when families are clearly looking for more space to work from home, and it’s in the type of location that’s been a big draw over the duration of Covid-19, with coastal living emerging as a definite pandemic property trend.

So with space, location, and extra accommodation all ticked on the wishlist at No 1, what other attributes does the property have?

“Plenty,” says selling agent Tim Sullivan of Timothy Sullivan & Associates. A gorgeous Victorian property dating to the late 1900s, period features have been sensitively treated, so that original timber floors, doors, and architraves remain, as well as the original fireplaces. Ceilings are high, windows are big, with some beautiful bays, including in the large ground-floor sitting room and overhead in the main bedroom.

From those great bays, the views are magnificent, out across the water towards sylvan Currabinny or, closer to the Crosshaven side, towards the yachts berthed in exacting lines in the marina at the Royal Crosshaven Yacht Club (RCYC).

For a purchaser with a sailboat in their arsenal, a stroll down the hill from No 1 will take you straight to the RCYC clubhouse.

Back up the hill, just past No 1, is one of two nearby primary schools, Scoil Chros tSeáin for boys, and further along, Scoil Bhríde for girls.

No 1 is on the Upper Road above Crosshaven — a village with a strong community spirit and an active Tidy Towns committee. Services/retail have expanded greatly in the last decade or so, largely tying in with the arrival in the mid-noughties of O’Flynn Construction’s substantial Brightwater development. In fact, Mr O’Sullivan believes No 1 may appeal to a buyer looking to trade up from Brightwater.

“I expect all sorts, really, from people who’ve been thinking for the past year about getting out of town and moving to the coast, to trader-uppers from Brightwater, who’ve lived there for 15 or so years," he said. "Essentially, I expect a real cross-section." 

The vendor has lived at No 1 for two decades and is now downsizing, as her family is reared. Mr Sullivan says No 1 is “not investor territory”, and is “very much a family home”. 

With seven bedrooms — well in excess of what most families require these days — there’s lots of scope for playrooms/dens/first-floor or second-floor reception rooms (great views), more home office space/guests, or even Airbnb, taking in that two-bed mews. 

Crosshaven is, after all, a town known for its high-profile sailing events when visitors flock to the village. Registrations are already flying in for Cork Week 2022, a prime time for rentals, with some permanent Crosshaven residents known to rent out their own homes, the return is so lucrative. 

Nos 1 and 1A Prospect Villas are ideally located to cash in.

The house has a fabulous garden (200 ft long), all to the front, and there are two decks out back, at first-floor and second-floor return.

VERDICT: A terrific family Prospect, with A1 rental potential thanks to 1A.