Passionate collectors' €375k bungalow has  no sign of a place called !Stop!

German owners didn't Yield to urge to collect Irish memorabilia

All the signs of a collector's passion: Windermere is chock-full of collectables, outside and inside. Agent Roy Dennehy guides at €375,000 for Germany-based vendors

The Rock, Carrigaline, Cork
€375,000
Size	101 sq m (1,070 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2/3
Bathrooms	2
BER	F

 

IN what must be the property description understatement of the year, auctioneer Roy Dennehy says there’s “a touch of whimsy” at this new bungalow property listing in Carrigaline, called Windermere.

Windermere, at The Rock, Carrigaline, has just over 1,050 sq ft within and was 'system-built' in the 1970s

A touch? Its internal 1,070 sq ft is packed with knick-kacks, antiques and curios, up the walls and across the floors of the two-bed 1970 one-off.

The German owners planted this impressive Monkey Puzzle tree when they bought in the 1980s: their collection of antiques, artefacts and Irish-themed j knickknacks has grown along with it

And, its valuable 0.3 of an acre of grounds are similarly embellished and decorated with urns, an early 1900s red British ‘GR’ post box dating to the reign of King George, a cast iron fountain, mosaics, seating bowers, a dizzying collection of old road signs, old gates, cobblestone paths and enough cast iron old tractor and farm machinery seats to accommodate the attendance at a rural vintage rally.

Shed your possessions? The shed is now slate roofed. The owner Hans Jurgen was a skilled plumber with high standards and a passion for all things Irish and traditional

To say it’s eclectic is to coin an already overused property description: kindly, it is at the very end of the scale to minimalism. If there is ‘a place called stop,’ it was probably three stops back along the road, guided by any and all of the signs in the garden.

Yellow peril

The 50+ year old home, now partially clad in slate as well as with some original flat stone finish (and vintage enamel signage,) is a two/three-bed ‘system-built’ style home with an en suite, country style kitchen/diner, dining room/bed three, utility, lots of old furniture and many ‘finds,’living room and porch, plus bathroom with bath/shower with gold taps, the latter clearly continuing the theme of not leaving well enough alone, or unloved, or unadorned.

Step in....carefully

Auctioneer Roy Dennehy guides the highly individualised property at The Rock, off Church Road/Currabinny road and near schools, shops and all local services at €375,000 and says it has been well-kept and modernised, saying it was a much-loved holiday home for a German couple, Irmgard and precision plumber Hans Jurgen Weidenauer since the 1980s.

Golden taps and all

Called after a beauty spot in England’s Lake District, it’s on a 0.3acre site which also manages to fit in some large palm trees, ferns, a large myrtle, numerous happy and healthy shrubs and a tall Monkey Puzzle tree planted by the couple.

As further evidence of green fingers having been at work, the courtyard is heaving with planted up pots of various sizes and vintages with dozens of cacti, succulents and other cuttings, while a garden shed is now roofed with slate with terracotta ridge tiles.

Features added to the original bungalow include encaustic tiled floors and some oak timber sheeted ceilings, stained glass panels and granite topped kitchen units, with reclaimed pine wall in one section. There’s an integrated garage too, with oil boiler and carport, with vintage cast iron and wrought iron entrance gates and pillars.

Seated bowers, cobble stone paths and stone motifs abound

As it comes to market, for vendor Irmgard, now living abroad, there’s going to be interest in Windermere because of its setting primarily and the site size and mature gardens, but in its next set of hands it’s likely to be quite the different looking property.

Living room is almost restrained...

Where might the buyer come from, indeed? Among the various locations listed on one directional signpost, in old miles distances and in old black and white heavy pointers as well as some in blue and others in ‘tourist attraction’ brown, are Killorglin, Cloyne, Coast Road, Five Mile Bridge, Tourist Office, and the Ailwee Caves. A dizzying mix, indeed.

Looking ahead, Dennehy Properties say the sale of Windermere includes carpets, curtains, blinds, light fittings, oven, hob, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, fridge, freezer, microwave and wooden garden shed.

If they did a fuller inventory of all of the contents and provenance (likely to be sold too), well, they just might break the internet?

VERDICT: Curiously, for all of the salvage old road signs, there actually doesn’t seem to be any saying ‘Stop,’ or ‘Yield’……..