Harbour home a heavenly haven in Carrigaline

Haven House Church Road Carrigaline

Church Road, Carrigaline
€795,000
Size	265sq m (2,845sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	5
BER	Pending

THE setting is so obviously the star selling point at Haven House, but this all-brick finished harbourside home is a surprising charmer too, with quirks and almost ahead of its time for a home built the best part of 40 years ago – such as an outdoor entertaining area, with covered, all-weather fireplace.

Built with a very wide and generous ground floor footprint Haven House actually does what the name suggests, even if the name is only recently applied to it by its owners, who bought it off-market just over a year ago.

They fell for its charms when they came across it, and it’s understood it’s only had one previous family of owners from Europe who brought their own standards and sensibilities to its build, While it gives little away as to what sort of home it is from first impressions on its very private site off Church Road in Carrigaline, the sunnier side, facing the Owenabue estuary, gives a fuller reveal, looking almost like a large ski chalet: might it be down to the roof pitch and orientation.

Then, apart from the un-Irish looking exterior, another give-away is the window roller shutters integrated into the walls, where discrete internal pulleys draw down sturdy exterior blinds outside the quality Hele windows: it’s just the sort of feature you’ll find in many 20th century European homes, but rarely, if ever, in Ireland. But, they’re just the job for weather screening, and security.

Since the couple, with six grown children living elsewhere in Ireland, bought this detached c 2,800 sq ft home, they gave it a thorough refreshing, changing floor finishes, redecorating, other tweaks and a total décor change has made it feel farm more modern inside, muted and easy to get on with, as well as noticeably tranquil.

Even though it’s sort of an off-standard built, it’s a very effective one, with its four bedrooms split over two levels, two per floor, with a high provision of bathrooms, and is very bright in all of its main reception/day use rooms, thanks to a southerly aspect to the back, not only bang on for sun and heat, but also for estuary views.

Haven House is centrally set on a mature site with 135' frontage to the tidal reaches of the Owenabue downriver of Carrigaline, looking over the water to the low, dark outline of the Pepsi plant, to French Furze and the Crosshaven and Fountainstown road and, on the hill across is the upgraded and luxurious modern home Ngong, just sold very recently by Sherry FitzGerald’s Sheila O’Flynn, understood to have made around its €1.75 million 2020 guide.

Sherry Fitz’s Ms O’Flynn guides Haven House at less than 50% of the sale price of Ngong, in fact at nearly €1m cheaper as it’s listed at €795,000: what it sold for last time around isn’t fully clear from the Price Register, as the name has changed, while the Price Register shows 21 sales since 2010 with a Church Road address, with two over the €500,000 mark.

Haven House Church Road Carrigaline

In terms of location, it’s within a walk of Carrigaline, and is about 750 metres beyond the 19th century St Mary’s Church of Ireland church, along the road towards Currabinny, and views from Haven’s House’s grounds and main rooms include as the most beguiling the ones east towards the beautifully cultivated and parkland-like Coolmore House and estate.

Back to the west, there are glimpses towards the town of Carrigaline and to a boatyard off Church Road, where Glenveagh Properties have recently sought planning approval to demolish two warehouses and to build 39 new homes, a mix of two and three-storeys.

Apart from the full refresh when they bought and embraced Haven House, the vendors also drafted up plans for a modest rear extension, to be built off the midships’ dining room.

Coming in under the 40 sq m planning exemption, they also envisaged putting a balcony on the level roof of that single storey add-on which could be accessed from the very large first-floor main bedroom.

But, before they got the wind in their sales to move on that smart plan, a work move for one means a relocation from Cork, hence its arrival on the stock-hungry summer 2020 market.

Despite giving little way on the first approach to the front door, next to an integrated garage there’s a welcoming vibe that only steps a gear up once over the threshold, past the porch/vestibule, and into a hall with a slightly staggered mid-core layout.

Off to the right are two bedrooms, both of them double aspect, next to a bathroom, while to the left is a stairs, and a back hall linking to the garage, a guest WC, a family room with fireplace and great views, plus the wide kitchen, with views almost as good, albeit from a higher window.

Also facing the water and light are a dining room, linked to the main reception room, about 15’ by 20’, and with views via three tall windows: might next owners want to open out with even-more expanses of glass here?

Alongside this room, at a corner by the garden, meanwhile is the open-air seating spot, under a roof overhang for al fresco drinks or dining, warmed by an open fireplace set into a wall of the house, all ready for a BBQ or pizza oven to be plonked beside it to complete the good life picture.

Meanwhile, back inside, there’s a slender, tall window on the stairwell up to the first floor, where there’s a super main bedroom to the front, a second one to the rear as well as a bathroom, and storage room.

There’s a quirk to the upper floor’s plan, in that each of the two bedrooms has as walk-in/walk-thru wardrobe/dressing room, and these interconnect with sliding doors, so there are chances to extend or blend clothes storage, or pay ‘secret’ visits from one room to the next. They are easily secured, of course, but children of all ages will love the sense of hide and seek and discovery.

A bit surprisingly, the views can be as attractive at low tide stage as well as at a high tide, as the abundant birdlife steps up with waders in evidence, the mud-flats gleam silver at various stages of the daylight and all sorts of wildlife and marine life can come calling, even the occasional seal.

At higher stages of the water, the estuary is increasing enjoyed by kayakers and those in other small boats, as well as by the like of stand-up paddle boarders…or is it board paddlers?

The owners of an adjacent, large contemporary one-off neighbouring home have put a small jetty our from their garden boundary to make use of at a high tide, and Haven House has lots of storage options in any case for those with a love of the water and the sea, thanks to an attached, integrated garage with internal/external access, and a just-located large Steeltech shed.

As Haven House comes up for a change of hands, there’s a sense that the occupants had just hit their stride in terms of enjoying a new life chapter here, knew what they were doing with it incrementally, got the measure of this 2,840 sq ft home.... and then a work shift came along to upscuttle it all.

VERDICT: The word ‘haven’ in this home’s new name is surprisingly apt.

Haven House Church Rod Carrigaline