Super extension was a good house call for €495,000 former doctors' house
Light-filled rear extension at Glaramara, Suncourt, Midleton
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Midleton, East Cork |
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€495,0000 |
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Size |
232 sq m (2497 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
C2 |
GLARAMARA is unequivocally real, unlike the similar-sounding, made-up, hokey Irish village Fred Astaire sang about in his last major musical, Finian’s Rainbow.
While Glocca Morra was dreamed up for stage and screen, Glaramara is part of the topography of a fell in England’s Lake District, the evocatively-named high point of a long ridge that extends across 6km in Cumbria.
It’s also the name of a home in Midleton which the owner says translates, with far less economy, as “Hill with the mountain hut by a chasm”. There’s nothing however about the Midleton house that says “mountain hut”, which potential buyers will be relieved to hear.
When the doctor later sold his 1970s residence to another GP in his practice, the name stayed. That second doctor subsequently moved too, to a home with land, enough to keep horses for his horsey-mad children. A third set of owners arrived in 1996, to a location they say is just about perfect for anyone with kids of school-going age, as it’s so close to schools and sporting activities.
Glaramara is the quintessential family home and it was made all the more so by the current owners who did the sensible thing of living in it for a good number of years before instigating any major change. When they did finally take the plunge, they knew exactly what was needed for a large family (five children) and the inevitable large family/friend gatherings.
Already extended to the rear by previous owners, the current owners set about re-working what was by then a dated add-on, converting it into a big, light-filled, modern, open-plan space with great connectivity at ground floor level.
For instance a sitting room at the front of the house opens via double doors into a lounge fitted with a multi-fuel stove, which is in turn open-plan to a large triple-aspect living/dining area.
This heavily glazed area has two sets of French doors and a velux and is awash with natural light and as the doors open onto a large patio, the sum of the parts has been “the perfect set-up for many lively parties - both for children and (slightly more sophisticated) gatherings for adults,” the owner says.
As the large patio dominates the outdoor space, it’s very easy to maintain. It has room enough too to accommodate a wooden chalet and a block-built gardening shed.
The owner says the wooden chalet was great when the kids were teenagers and that it could “tell many a story that would no doubt horrify the parents of the boys’ childhood friends: it was almost a dormitory in bygone summers”.
With the kids grown up and moved on now, it’s been used more recently as a gym and storage facility.
The low maintenance outdoor approach means there isn’t much lawn, but for those who like growing things, there are two large, raised beds, which the owner says have provided salads “for months on end”, including asparagus with “production on the up”.
Any salads are easily prepared in the thoroughly modern, ultra-sleek kitchen, through an arch from the dining area.
And still the roll-call of rooms goes on in this ample c2,500 sq ft home. There are two interlinked rooms at the front of the property which currently function as another sitting room/playroom and a home office but as they have their own entry point from the outdoors, through French doors, a new owner might choose to close off this section from the main accommodation and use it as a granny flat, or au pair’s rooms or to conduct a business from home.
It’s the kind of home that comes with options.
Upstairs is fine and roomy too – five bedrooms (one ensuite) and a separate shower room.
There’s a third toilet, a guest WC, downstairs. There’s also a utility room. All of the bathrooms were upgraded and hot water is instant thanks to a combi boiler.
The current owner says it’s been the “perfect home” in which to raise their three boys and two girls. “They rarely came home without a friend or two in tow. All social and sporting activities were within walking distance: hockey, rugby, girls’ brigade, scouts….two of the boys still play rugby. Indeed one of them is currently captain of Midleton senior team,” she says.
When they moved in in 1996, their eldest son had just started at St John the Baptist national school, reached via a footpath from the side of the house directly to the school.
The current owner says her children are grown up now and it’s time to downsize. “The house is ready to be filled with fun and laughter once again,” she says.
Adrianna Hegarty of Hegarty Properties, who is handling the sale of Glaramara, says there’s been immediate interest in the house which is guiding at €495,000.
“The location is superb, homes like that, so private, yet so close to the town, do not come up. We’ve had enquiries from families living outside of Midleton looking to move into the town. The kids can walk everywhere,” she adds.
Nothing of the mountain hut about this Glaramara. Terrific family living where space is at a premium. Centrally located.
