House of the Week: An idyllic mooring a stone's throw from Cobh

The Moorings is located on Whitepoint harbour, adjacent from the Five Foot Way, and features five bedrooms and 160 sq m of space

The Moorings, Whitepoint, Cobh. Pictures: KC 3DTours

Cobh, Co Cork
€750,000
Size	160 sq m (1730 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	3
BER	D1

Who wouldn’t trade a row of parked cars for a string of colourful dinghies if you could choose your own vista? 

So it is at The Moorings, a mock-Victorian home set close to the water at Whitepoint, with a dazzling take on the harbour, the nearby marina and the commanding Naval base at Haulbowline.

The water is a stone's throw away from The Moorings.

If you stood at the end of The Moorings driveway, you could easily send ripples through the water by flinging a piece of gravel across the road. It’s that close. 

If you had your own dinghy, you could park it right alongside all the others, and keep an eye on it from home, or launch it from the nearby slipway on Whitepoint Drive.

The Five Foot Way is a flat 1km walk into Cobh town.

The Moorings’ location has another bonus: it’s adjacent to the Five Foot Way, a flat, buggy-friendly, 1km walk into Cobh town, overhauled to a highly enjoyable degree by the local Tidy Towns Committee, with several amenities along its route, including a children’s playground and outdoor gym. 

It’s a fine example of community spirit and there’s more of that on show near Whitepoint Strand, where a campaign is underway to ‘Save the American Pier’.

In pretty poor shape, the pier was built to service a US Navy field hospital, during World War One, when there was a strong US fleet presence in Cork Harbour. 

The wounded were carried along the pier, at the end of Whitepoint Strand, to the hospital. Residents of Whitepoint are among those involved in the fundraising campaign.

Whitepoint is full of community spirit.

New owners of The Moorings may or may not choose to get involved, but at any rate, the campaign is a positive sign of a community with an appreciation of its history, which in Cobh, is particularly rich. 

The person who built The Moorings in 1990 had an appreciation of the town’s rich architectural heritage too, as they chose to mimic the style of its many, very fine, Victorian homes.

The Moorings was built in 1990.

The couple that bought The Moorings in 1994, Pat and Aideen Garrahy, did so precisely because of that Victorian-style appeal — and its proximity to water.

Aideen, a Dubliner, studied in UCC, and used to swim around Whitepoint with a college friend who was from Cobh.

“I loved Cobh and I thought if I ever moved out of Dublin, it was where I would like to be,” Aideen says.

Her wish came true when, as newlyweds, and having changed jobs, she and Pat moved to the seaport town, living initially in a granny flat.

They spent the next two years looking for their own place — Aideen had always loved The Moorings.

The Moorings was used as a holiday home while the owners lived in Dublin.

“I used to swim in the water there and I would see the lady who lived there looking out the window and I envied her. So when it came up for sale, we went for it,” she says.

After five years, with further changes of employment, the couple returned to Dublin in 1999 “but couldn’t bear to sell-up”. 

They used it as a holiday home, and for holiday lets and short-term rentals. They were hoping to eventually retire there, but with children settled in Dublin, they’ve decided instead to sell. 

The five-bedroom home is guided at €750,000.

It’s on the market with Johanna Murphy of Johanna Murphy & Sons auctioneers, and the guide for the five-bed, two-storey detached home, on 0.4 acres (they sold off 0.2 acres where site clearance is currently underway), is €750,000. 

Ms Murphy says new carpets and flooring have been laid and it’s been given a fresh lick of paint. It’s in good condition but will need an upgrade, particularly the kitchen and the patio needs repairing.

New floors have been put in recently.

Ms Murphy says the house has some lovely features, including a galleried landing above the double-height entrance hall. 

From the hallway, double doors lead to a large sitting room with a bay window at one end, with the kitchen diner at the opposite end, and a study/playroom and WC in between. A utility room has a door to the rear.

Four of the five first-floor bedrooms are doubles and one is ensuite. There’s a huge attic too (600 sq ft), insulated and floored and “easily converted”, says Ms Murphy.

Verdict: Terrific setting with uninterrupted harbour views. Ideal for family trading up. Good location vis-a-vis Cobh town centre, and onward commutor rail link to Cork city (about 20 minutes).