A wild flower meadow adds to the radiance of this €455k Timoleague home
Abbeymahon, Timoleague
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€455,000 |
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Size |
264 sq m (2842 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5 |
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Bathrooms |
2 |
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BER |
B3 |
DESIGN principles were to the fore inside and out at this terrific Timoleague home, where the business of planting and cultivating was approached with as much gusto as the house construction.
It was a professional job all ‘round, with established Bandon architect Úna O’Sullivan working closely with the owners, Mike and Rita Brown, to design a home that took their own ideas on board, spruced up by her expertise.
Outdoors, the expertise was all Rita’s. As a professional landscaper she had a design drawn up before the ink was barely dry on the house plans.
“I had the garden planned before the first brick was laid,” she says, “I knew exactly where we were going with the garden.” She designed it so that the areas nearest the house are more formal, gradually giving way to a more natural state as you move further away.
“I like defined areas and neat lawns near the house,” she says, and sure enough, the land immediately around the house is a combination of manicured lawn and gravel. Set further back, closer to the road, at the front of the house, is a wild flower meadow, which, come June, will be vibrant with corn marigolds, poppies and cornflowers. It takes up about one third of the 0.9 acre site that their home sits on and it brings together plants that get along well and that stay on into September.
There’s more manicured lawn outback, as well as a gravel drive, and a colourful selection of shrubs, including a bed of purple hydrangeas.
“I planted so that there is something in bloom all year round, so that there is always something to look at, but at the same time, I've kept it low maintenance, “ Rita says, thanks to her choice of low care flowering perennials such as hydrangeas and weigelas, and trees like Japanese Maple, and a Cherry tree. The wildflower meadow is low maintenance too, now that it’s established. While it would be a dreadful shame to dig it up, Mike points out that it could be adapted for other uses, such as turning it to pasture for a pony “or you could even put in a tennis court”, he adds.
His wife’s eye for design and his own photographer’s eye - Mike is a professional photographer - were useful when it came to the design of the house itself, which sits into a slope.
“We had our own ideas about the layout and the practicalities of family life,” Rita says. Their emphasis was on creating a good flow between rooms and making sure both adults and teenagers had their own space.
It helped that the five-bed, 264 sq m house is over four levels, with just a couple of steps between most levels.
Rita and Mike had the main bedroom at the very top level, where the scene stealer is a set of double doors that open to overlook the back garden, fronted by a Juliette balcony.
The ensuite is classy too, crisp white, offset by striking deep green tiling, with a his and her sink.
The kids (now adults) bedroom accommodation was at a level below and their parents also made provision for a separate downstairs living space by including two living rooms in the house design, one for the teenagers.
“It was very handy. We had a family room off the kitchen and then a separate living room for the adults to retreat to,” says Rita.
Another handy design feature was the decision to include a separate entrance to Mike’s home office.
“For anyone working from home, it’s very useful to have your own entrance. It means clients don’t have to come through the house,” Mike says.
They couple also included a sunroom, with French doors to the patio to the front of the house, which is west-facing. Rita opted for a more solid build sunroom than a conservatory because she feels conservatories tend to overheat in the summer. The kitchen diner gets the sun in the morning and front patio gets it in the evening, as well as the sitting room, which has a big bay window.
Additional accommodation includes a guest WC downstairs and a utility room, and a shower room/wetroom on the first floor.
The Brown’s built the house in Abbeymahon in 2007 – Mike grew up in nearby Courtmacsherry and wanted to stay in the area – but with family reared, they are planning to downsize. "It's too much house for us now," they say. They’ve put their home on the market with Don Brennan of Clonakilty-based Sherry FitzGerald Brennan Busteed, and the guide price is €455,000. He says interest is “fierce”.
“We are seeing interest from Cork city, Clare, Galway and Tipperary, as well as locally.
“It’s a fabulous house, ideal for a family and ideally set-up for anyone working from home,” Mr Brennan says.
He says it could also be “an excellent B&B” given the number of bedrooms and its location, just over 1km from the sea, and near an abundance of beaches, such as Dunworley and Broad Strand. Timoleague village is 2km away and it’s 3.5km to Courtmacsherry village, while Bandon and Clonakilty are a 20 minute drive.
School buses pass the door bringing kids to secondary school in Clonakilty and the primary school in Barryroe.
Hard to know who's stealing the thunder between house and garden. A family home to savour.
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