House of the Week: Three-storey country home near stunning Nohoval Cove for €425,000

Nohoval House dates back 200 years and has been well maintained by the current owners

Nohoval House is a short drive to Carrigaline, Kinsale as well as Cork city and the airport.

Nohoval, South Cork
€425,000
Size	277 sq m (2,960 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	G

THERE’S a lot of house, but right now, not that many bedrooms, at the period-era property Nohoval House, south of Cork city and airport, and near the sea, close to a stunning cove amid cliffs, and within a short spin to Kinsale.

Reckoned to date back about 200 years, the house has been in the same owners’ hands for decades, but they don’t really know much of its history, says auctioneer Dan Howard, who is now selling it for them, and who says they’ve taken very good care of it during their tenure here.

Mr Howard guides the distinctive, three-storey country home in a close to the coast setting, at what seems like a modest €425,000.

That seems reasonable for a period house with such personality, and just shy of 3,000 sq ft, on an acre of ground in pleasantly positioned Nohoval, about 16 miles from Cork city, six from Kinsale via Oysterhaven and Belgooly, and Carrigaline’s about 10 miles off too.

So, it’s probable the €425k AMV is pitched as it is due to the fact the property has just three bedrooms in its current configuration.

They are up on its top floor where there’s also a bathroom, with a very narrow back-up room also at this high level. It could suit as a nursery or dressing room.

Nohoval House has more floor area at its lower ground level, thanks to a single-storey annexe which holds a triple-aspect family living room and a dining room, off the kitchen which is in under the main block of this quite tall, stone-built home.

That main lower level also holds a study/hall in the midsection with spiral stairs up to the main entry hall above, and the far end from the kitchen holds not just one, but two bathrooms, one with a freestanding bath in a large room by a painted brick arch. The other has a shower.

There are a few access points to the gardens from this lower ground level, but the more formal or main entrance is up steps to a tiled terrace/raised patio and sit-out area, with an arched front door and glazed panels on either side of the door.

As distinctive as it looks, the wide, five-bay house is quite shallow, essentially one room deep in its core, so that many of the rooms get a triple aspect and so are brighter than you might expect in a period home, and windows have been replaced with uPVC double glazing in a Georgian-effect, small-pane style.

Its middle level’s two reception rooms each have solid fuel stoves, set into brick surrounds which were done in quite recent times, with a whitewashed rough-rendered internal stone wall as a visual feature in one of the rooms, which also has the pine staircase up to the bedrooms’ level above.

As it’s not a protected structure, Nohoval House had to undergo the ‘indignity’ of a BER assessment and gets a lowly G, despite the stoves and the double glazing, reflecting its age, and stone structure.

It appears in quite a reasonable condition and has been well maintained, says Mr Howard adding that its owners who are now downsizing having maintained it well and made their own changes along the way.

Now it’s up to the new occupants to also put a stamp on it, and most likely it will take further investment on top of the €425k guide to get it up to speed for 21st-Century family living.

Dan Howard said the property is privately set, on a mature acre with approach avenue for screening, with courtyard, drive and front garden “which would make a great mini football pitch for kids, and there is also a private garden to the rear with a stepped access. There’s also an old well here, but it’s not used.”

"Even before going to market in recent days, word was out that Nohoval House was coming for sale, and the phone has been hopping,” says the selling agent.

Selling points are proximity to the sea and amenities, with a national school close-by (the local pub, McCarthy’s was put up for sale in 2019), with short drives to Carrigaline, and Kinsale as well as Cork city and the airport.

Nearby Nohoval Cove is a little treasure of a spot for dips or kayaks, and there are options of all sorts fo water sports at Oysterhaven, where a sale has recently been agreed on the waterside period home Walton Court and courtyard at c €2m/2.5m (it sold separately to its holiday homes complex behind) and also a notable Nohoval sale was the upgraded and converted famine-era three storey stone mill at the winsomely-titled Man of War Cove or Smuggler’s Cove.

VERDICT: For the price of a bungalow or a decent suburban semi-d, a buyer can get a detached home on a coastal acre and upgrade to their own template.