€480,000 Cobh home has a unique waterfront setting
Strandville, Rushbrooke
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Cobh, Co Cork |
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€480,000 |
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Size |
143 sq m (1540 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
4 |
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Bathrooms |
2 |
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BER |
E2 |
“THERE’S a surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do.”
That’s according to Blue Mind, a bestselling book by Wallace J Nichols, which looks at why we are drawn to water and why being near it sets mind and body at ease.
For Mr Nichols, water provides a feeling of restorative equilibrium which he calls the “blue mind”.
Strandville in Rushbrook is the next best thing to a house boat ie a home as near as is possible to the water without actually floating on it. Throw a pebble from the rear terrace and you will literally hear it plop as it hits the water on the other side of the garden wall.
You can also launch a boat faster than a Max Verstappen pitstop, thanks to a public slipway running down along the outside of one of Strandville’s garden walls. A quick heave-ho and off you go, down the inner harbour, past the old Verolme Dockyard on your left, now owned by the Doyle Shipping Group where the business is ship repair, past picturesque Monkstown on the opposite bank, and on towards the town of Cobh.
So if it’s a blue mind you’re after, Strandville will bring you near the water, on the water, and perhaps even in to it, now that raw sewage is no longer spewing into the harbour following the opening last year of a new pumping station at the dockyard next to Strandville, the final piece of infrastructure in the €144m Cork Lower Harbour Main Drainage Scheme.
If looking at the water and not being in it is enough to improve your bandwidth, rest assured you can see it from almost every room in Strandville, with the exception of upstairs bedrooms to the rear and the downstairs utility room. It’s right outside your window while eating breakfast in the kitchen or when eating dinner in the adjoining dining room or from a choice of viewpoints in the living room, where there are also French doors to a small terrace.
Essentially, it’s a prime waterside spot and that is reflected in the €480,000 guide price.
Strandville is a 1970s build, a split-level property, built and lived in by its original owners until recently. Its interior is far more interesting than a typical ‘70s home - hints of quaint cottage and period style.
Because it’s split level, the formal entrance brings you onto a hallway/landing, where a window at the far end looks straight onto the water. There are two lovely arches in this hallway/landing, one framing that window and another framing the staircase upto the four bedrooms and main bathroom. A second stairway leads downstairs to the kitchen and dining room, both water-facing, while the large utility to the rear can also be entered from the driveway. A shower room off the utility, with '70s sanitary ware, is a good size.
The kitchen and dining room are regular shaped and separated by a solid wall but as selling agent Johanna Murphy points out, it could be knocked to create a very nice downstairs open-plan area, with the option also to incorporate an inhouse garage off the utility.
Back up the stairs, off the hallway, there's already a lovely living space - the formal sitting room, with plenty of windows, a fireplace, a stove and French doors.
The house is roomy and bright and sits on a decent plot, with a westerly aspect.
Outside, what you could almost call a garrison wall separates the garden from the water. Looking over the wall is like looking down from a ship, except with lawn underfoot. Steps lead from this lawn to a side garden where there are some well-chosen shrubs and trees.
A decent driveway in off the main road can accommodate a couple of cars. It slopes downwards, behind a high wall, towards a purpose built outhouse which, like the house itself, needs an upgrade. With a bit of elbow grease and investment, it could be a remarkably solid separate home office, with a 'blue mind' view.
While Strandville does need to be modernised, it could be done incrementally, Ms Murphy says.
“You could literally move in, turn on the (oil-fired) heating, get the feel of the place and work from there. It’s a very livable space as it stands, and you could do it up at your own pace,” Ms Murphy says.
With an E2 BER, it will definitely require improvements to insulation. Pretty and all as the small glass pane windows are, especially the bow window, they are single glazed and will need to be replaced.
Ms Murphy says Strandville’s key selling points are its waterfront location, private driveway and nearby slipway.
“It’s a great opportunity to acquire a waterfront property.
“For the boating enthusiast, there’s the adjacent public slipway and the boat club just around the corner. And there’s the home office potential for anyone looking to work from home,” she says.
"What's more the views are amazing in every direction."
That includes over to Glenbrook in Monkstown where Ms Murphy is also selling No 2 Gordon Villas, a three-storey Victorian home with a heftier price tag of €830,000, and even more commanding views.
Ms Murphy predicts good interest in Strandville "as waterfront properties rarely come to market".
This particular one is conveniently close to Rushbrooke commuter rail station, about a two minute walk away, while Cobh town centre is just minutes by car.
A unique setting by any standards. Needs investment, but could be done by degrees.
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