Castlemartyr golf lodge for €280,000 is above par

Could attract retiring downsizers who enjoy golf

Golf Lodge 13 at Castlemartyr may appeal to someone looking for a holiday home.

Castlemartyr, East Cork
€280,000
Size	139 sq m (1,500 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	4
BER	C1

There's a good chance that the Singaporean owners of Castlemartyr Resort will hoover up this privately-owned golf lodge as they already own most of the others — and they have very deep pockets.

Since buying the five-star resort just over a year ago, Dr Stanley Quek (alumnus of Trinity College Dublin and current pro-chancellor) and Peng Loh (whose Irish portfolio includes Sheen Falls and Dublin’s Trinity Townhouse) have invested €8m in a comprehensive overhaul of the resort.

This includes a refurb of its 108 bedrooms and a newly-constructed lobby, as well as pumping significant amounts into expanding its dining experience, doubling the seating in its existing restaurant, now known as Canopy (formerly Franchini’s) and adding a second restaurant just last month, Terre. The latter, fine dining under French chef Vincent Crepel, has ambitions for not just one, but two Michelin stars, says Breffne McKenna, the resort’s director of sales and marketing.

With such a focus on increasing the appeal of an already attractive resort, which the Supple family developed, and which British businessman/hotelier Martin Shaw and the late Chinese businessman Zhenxin Zhang bought for close to €13m in 2015, before selling it again for a reported €20m to its current owners, it would surprise no one if the hotel bought the lodge now for sale for €280,000.

One of just six not owned by the hotel (they have 36 of the 42 lodges), it’s been in the private ownership of Patrick Fagan of Mullingar-based Fagan Office Supplies since 2007, when the Supples still owned the resort.

“I was looking for a holiday home that I could get income from,” he says. “What attracted me to the Golf Lodge in Castlemartyr was the prospect of good rental income and good personal usage.”

The end-of-terrace corner lodge, No 13, (lucky for someone) is in the original walled gardens of the estate in what selling agent Adrianna Hegarty describes as “a quiet and idyllic setting”.

It’s a three-bed (most of them are two-bed) and that extra bedroom is extra big, with an ensuite, on the ground floor, which also has an open-plan kitchen/dining/living area. Two overhead bedrooms also have ensuites, and there’s a guest WC downstairs and a utility room. The overall impression is of a luxury hotel suite, filled with natural light thanks to lots of glazing in the roof. Mr Fagan says it’s reminiscent of Scandinavian architecture.

The living area opens onto a large deck, which overlooks the communal walled garden.

The 1,500 sq ft property has been maintained to a very high standard — Mr Fagan says this is required by Trident Holiday Homes, who let the property on his behalf and look after the changeover clean-up between customers. Mr Fagan says a new owner might expect to earn €15,000 a year in rental and that it’s been “a very good investment property”. The annual fee to Castlemartyr management company — for grass cutting etc — is €400.

Ms Hegarty says the sale “truly is a unique opportunity to purchase a golf lodge within the exclusive five-star Castlemartyr Resort”, with a hotel, spa, and golf course on your doorstep.

The resort is set within 220 acres of East Cork woodlands and is just a short stroll to the village of Castlemartyr. Midleton, where Irish Distillers have just announced plans to invest €250,000 in a new distillery, creating 800 jobs over three years, is 10 minutes by car.

Beaches abound in the area: Garryvoe, Ardnahinch and Ring Strand. The Cork-Waterford N25 is nearby and Cork Airport is a c30 minute drive.

VERDICT: While it seems likely that the hotel will buy the lodge, it will also appeal to someone looking for a holiday home and/or an investment property. It could also attract retiring downsizers who enjoy golf.