Come Cuskinny dipping at waterside Ballymore Lodge, a €1.75m pearl in Cork Harbour

Rare bird: Cuskinny five-bed period home near Cobh on eight acres has woods, water and birdsong as part of its charms; the nearby Cuskinny marsh hosts RTÉ's annual Dawn Chorus

Sat, 18 Jun, 2022 - 16:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports Pictures John Roche

Great Island, Cork Harbour
€1.75 million
Size	284 sq m (3,050 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	D2

NOT too many homes have a lifebelt handily hanging on a garden gate — but there’s one for safety’s sake (and not just a marine flavour decoration) — at Ballymore Lodge.

A bit of a prize and a property pearl in the oyster that is Cork Harbour and its Great Island, the modestly-titled Ballymore Lodge is a water-fronting period home, on 8.5 wooded acres, along Cuskinny beach, east of the town of Cobh, and looking out the harbour mouth to the oceans of the world.

It’s a wonderful property mix: a period home of over 3,000 sq ft, south-facing, with acres of private grounds and gardens, glass house, stone outbuildings, and shoreline frontage, with private steps down to the sea, where there’s a lock-up boathouse set into the land for dinghy, kayak or other boat storage.

A person could be in Ballymore Lodge’s light-flooded rooms one minute, get caught by a glint on the water, and be out exploring it (or, catching it if it’s a shoal of mackerel or another ocean bounty) within five minutes.

Just don’t forget the lifejacket or lifebelt.

The injunction to stay safe on or by the water was a regular chant for the owners of this house, who’ve been here for half a century since c 1970s. A family of six was indeed safely reared at Ballymore Lodge, with the mother of the house calling “swim, sail and be careful.”

That advice given to the free-range and sea-faring six was recalled in these pages back in 2014 when Ballymore Lodge was first, tentatively put up for sale as a trade-down intention, with family reared.

Back then, in ’14, it had carried a €1.2 million AMV, but wasn’t sold. Eight years on, and a pandemic later, it’s an executor sale after the passing of the matriarch in February this year, survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, for whom Ballymore Lodge must have had the most precious of carefree childhood memories as “they were always in or on the water.” Now, it’s some other family’s turn to savour the same simple pleasures, from a private property and place to drop anchor, in the very heart of Cork harbour.

Ballymore Lodge returns to the market for summer 2022, and with thankfully warming seas too, guided at €1.75m by Sheila O’Flynn and Gillian McDonnell of Sherry FitzGerald, along with Roseanne De Vere Hunt of Sherry Fitz’s Country Homes/Christies affiliate division.

Between that trio, they can expect a buyer to come from Cobh, Cork, Dublin or overseas, rocking up by plane, bike, boat, jeep or train, given Cobh’s choice of transport modes.

The ‘Cove of Cork’, with its dotted island such as Spike and Haulbowline has exerted a draw for centuries, and Ballymore Lodge has been a witness to it too for the best part of 150 years, set right by, but well above, the water.

Its evolution even in the vendor family’s decades at Ballymore Lodge has seen immense changes, from days of battleships and cruise liners and the Titanic, fishing boats and pleasure yachts, and even since 2014 the pace has gathered: Spike Island is now a major tourist heritage attraction, for its forts and prisons, visited by ferry, while Haulbowline has cleaned up its act from Irish Steel days and now has a public park in lieu.

Such islands, or beaches, are but a punt, RIB or dinghy jaunt from Ballymore’s boathouse too.

With its 400m of frontage, the Lodge (anything but, it’s over 3,000 sq ft) is one of the few very good houses on good amounts of ground east of Cobh and wrapping around to East Ferry and Marlogue.

Resales are rare: possibly Cork harbour’s most beautiful home, East Grove which had been owned by the Glucksmans (Lewis and Loretta) made over €1.5 million, back in 2013, but that price was just for the house on one acre.

Several now of the finest are in the multi-million euro price category, especially as the global pandemic has added extra oomph and value to waterfront properties with grounds, and for seafarers, there are marina options both there at Marlogue and in Cobh, if craft are too big to haul up the shingle and slip to the tucked-away boathouse here at Cuskinny.

At its €1.75m guide, Ballymore Lodge is described by Sherry FitzGerald as “a truly stunning, period residence on c eight acres of beautiful grounds, offering a quiet and opulent sanctuary that fronts onto Cork Harbour.”

It’s less than a 10-minute drive to the centre of Cobh, via the Valley Road, and an added attraction is the dual access, so cars can come in one sweeping drive, and climb back up and out another: handy for those who can’t revere a boat trailer, horse box or even a mobile, towable sauna?

The house, graceful and lodge-like in parts with a side annex, has lots of period features, including exposed beams, high ceilings, decorative plasterwork, cornices and picture rails, a number of replacement sash windows, many with lovely arched tops, window shutters and internal doors.

Rooms include a porch, entry hall, two reception rooms, one of which is double aspect with a good white marble fireplace the other has a wood-burning stove. There’s also a simple kitchen/dining, study, utility, shower room and storage at ground.

Above is a good main bedroom suite (and getting great water views) with private bathroom, four other bedrooms, and family bathroom with separate WC.

Overall condition is good for its age, but well-heeled new occupants will almost certainly spend further on it post-purchase. As ever with older homes, it best to go slowly, and get to know the property first, its quirks, charms and delights and then there’s always the eight acres to work away with, full of mature trees, lawn, wildlife and birds of every size and feather.

Birds? Nearby Cuskinny Marsh’s Nature Reserve now has a place on an international aural stage thanks to RTÉs recording every year of the Dawn Chorus airing with input from Celtic cousins this year (it was on May 1) across RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Lyric FM, BBC Radio Foyle, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Ulster, and streaming globally beyond, on the web.

VERDICT: Will an early bird come from afar for Ballymore Lodge?

CONNECT WITH US TODAY