Courtmacsherry comes calling with near-coastal and country setting, and old church next door for €480,000

Expanded West Cork home with chalet is close to popular bathing beaches such as Blind Strand and Broad Strand

Sat, 08 Jan, 2022 - 12:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker

Courtmacsherry, West Cork
€480,000
Size	194 sq m (2,077 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	D2

THERE’S a fine, stone sentinel, a neat square church tower, standing in view of this West Cork home called Lisleetemple, up for sale as an enlarged entity by the sea, being sold by its occupants of the last 18 years.

The property looks over a small and leafy backroad to the now deconsecrated Church of Ireland church building at Lisleecourt, in the parish of Lislee, near Courtmacsherry, and close to popular bathing beaches such as Blind Strand and Broad Strand.

The church (next to an even older graveyard with burials dated back 300 years) itself dates to 1830, and was deconsecrated in 1961 when its roof was removed.

Its steeple was retained, however, as it’s considered a useful object for sailors and fishermen, when looking for landmarks to get bearings on from the sea (Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary describes the church as “a neat edifice in the early English style, with a square tower, erected in 1830 at the expense of the parish, aided by a loan of £900 from the Board of First Fruits.”

The glebe which had accompanied the church is still used as a residence, but at a bit more remove than this church-side home, billed by estate agent Martin Kelleher as “a dream coastal family home.”

In at the chalet end: multi-purpose chalet at the garden's end, with a retained former church steeple in the background

He guides Lisleetemple at €480,000, and it’s a now-extended property, enlarged from the original three-bay typical West Cork farmhouse style, with a side wing and slight L-shape, holding a ground floor bedroom No 4, next to an attached double garage.

Mr Kelleher sold to his current vendors back in 2003, but says it’s now a bigger home than back then, and upgraded.

All, in, it has c 2,070 sq ft, with three first floor bedrooms, and three bathrooms, two of them en suite, one per floor, a very useful combination for families of all ages, visitors etc.

Some of the top floor rooms have exposed ceiling joists and beams, and lots of natural wood abounds in the decor, along with a large wood-burning stove in a curvaceous taken on the inglenook fireplace in the sitting room, the larger of the two reception rooms.

The kitchen, meanwhile, is at the corner of the house’s ‘L’, and has a green range cooker in situ.

The house gets a D1 BER, and the grounds are very well kept, with some feature touches, plenty of parking plus garage, has lawns and hedges. There’s even a timber chalet at one far corner of the garden, which can be used as a studio, guest use or home office, and it’s set by five, raised vegetable beds, all ready for spring 2022 planting-up, and a summer harvest for new owners.

Martin Kelleher starts first viewings early next week and says the phone has been incredibly busy with requests for visits, with interest so far primarily from those who’d live here full-time and perhaps work part-time in a hybrid model or who could work full-time from home as there’s good broadband, and Cork city and airport are just an hour away.

He recently ‘sale agreed’ a more modern, larger dormer home at Lisleecourt, which he had listed at c €450,000, and it was driven to a sum in excess of €550,0000 in a ‘best bids’ sale conclusion, indicative, he says, of the very strong interest in the past pandemic era in property around Courtmachserry and Clonakilty.

VERDICT: Say a buyer’s prayer for good intentions?