High, and dry, but with  sea glimpses at €595k Cork coastal ‘haven of tranquility’

Extended Fountainstown home has green-fingered garden, and lots of house plants too

Fountainstown, South Cork
€595,000
Size	135 sq m (1,445 sq ft) plus 350 sq ft attic
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	C2

ORIGINALLY a cottage, this coastal home, within a short commute of Cork City and airport, was upgraded, enlarged, and made over to a dormer-style bungalow in 2008. With the current ‘drive to the sea’, the growing popularity of sea swimming, and the possibilities of working from home, might it be moved on a step further?

Exterior view of 'Dursey' in south Cork, named after West Cork island

Carrying a €595,000 AMV, this detached three-bed home of 1,445 sq ft is on grounds of just over an acre, complete with an outbuilding ideal as a home office or studio, plus glasshouse and polytunnel, plus scope for more hobby uses in the gardens, all within a short walk of the sea and a beach.

Sharing a name with the West Cork beauty spot of Dursey, pretty much the last staging point of the island of Ireland with ‘next stop America’ long a local boast, this Dursey is in a less-rugged setting. It’s 1.2km up from the beach at Fountainstown, and has both distant sea views and a nearer sweep of vista over the tidal inlet at Ringabella, where there’s an active outdoor pursuits/watersports base, Funkytown Activity Centre.

Fountainstown has, of late, also gone a bit funky town, with a noted surge in full-time residency in recent years among its scattered mix of one-off homes, even before the pandemic bit and people flocked to the sea and happily ensconced there for lockdowns and staycations.

Garden buildings

The Property Price Register shows over 40 resales with a Fountainstown address in the past 12 years. Of that mix, just five have gone over the €500,000 price mark, and they’ve pretty much been close to the water, with unobstructed views.

Of the 80-plus sales in the same period at adjacent Myrtleville, 11 have topped €500,000, and the strongest result to date is the €925,000 paid in 2021 for Atlantic House, a relocated timber frame home in a sentinel position, which had been part of Cork’s 1902/1903 Great International Exhibition, overlooking Poulgorm and Roches Point. It was this unique house’s third time selling since 2016, initially making €680,000, then €750,000 in 2018, before its latest, even larger jump up the price charts.

Bay window

A few further Fountainstown/Myrtleville market listings of late have come along with price expectations of up to, or even over €1m, and although one got offers over that level near Myrtleville, deals haven’t yet closed out.

This Dursey, Fountainstown home is guided on its recent launch at €595,000 by estate agent Jackie Cohalan of Cohalan Downing, who says “this lovely home is a haven of tranquillity”, adding that it’s in great condition throughout and “has a quiet, country ambiance with an intimate and cosy vibe, yet does not feel isolated or remote, despite its setting.”

(As an aside, listings on the price register under a Dursey search are pretty scant: there’s an apartment in Wilton’s The Headline back in 2017 at €138,000, and a house on Dursey Island in 2012 for a ‘mere’ €80,000.)

This far more accessible Dursey is set amid good farmland and large fields, with a scattering of other detached one-offs. It’s slightly inland and up a hill above the mobile home park and Fountainstown’s west beach 9pic, below right). While it does have views, they are of the more distant kind.

Distant views on an overcast day

Fountainstown has a local shop/cafe and bus service, and is some 7kms from Carrigaline, while Crosshaven is even closer for a further choice of schools, shops and services. Cork Airport and city are 15-20kms away.

This Dursey has the majority of its accommodation at ground level (about 1,450 sq ft), but there’s a further c 300 sq ft in the attic space under a fairly low pitched roof, with some restricted headroom. The three bedrooms listed are all at ground level, one of them en suite with a shower room, while the main family bathroom has a shower over a bath.

Likely to be the most used room of all is the sunroom off the kitchen/living/dining, making for a combined c 20’ by 20’ airy room, complete with a high sloping ceiling over the bow-shaped sunroom, with hefty support beams on display in attractive polished timbers, and there’s a small stove with flue running through much of the room’s tall volume.

There’s a separate, double aspect 17’ by 14’ living room with distant water views and an antique-style cast-iron radiator.

Kitchen has quality solid wood units

There’s a larger wood-burning stove here, set into an arched chimney breast, mounted on a Liscannor stone hearth atop some salvaged bricks, a slight visual link to the gardens, where use has been made of reclaimed brick in low walls and patios.

The kitchen and adjacent utility room have well-crafted units in solid timbers, varnished, and much of the other internal joinery (architraves etc) is in above-standard woods, with oak built-ins in the main bedroom. In contrast to that double-aspect main bedroom, the two other bedrooms are a good bit smaller, one being a single, the other a compact double.

Exposed beams

As first viewings commence at this Dursey home with some artful touches, interest may come from traders down and lifestyle-reason relocators, while for families looking to trade up, either in the vicinity or greater Cork/Carrigaline area, they’ll most likely look at getting more bedroom accommodation, either up in the attic or to one side.

VERDICT: Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside.