Fountainstown holiday home from the 80s is now twice the size - but the smashing views haven't changed
Walsh family home in Fountainstown looks down from Coast Road towards the back strand at Ringabella
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Fountainstown, Cork |
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€795,000 |
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Size |
184 sq m (1980 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
4 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
C2 |
IN the 1980s, when staycationing was all the rage although someone had yet to coin the phrase, half of Cork City upped sticks and headed to the nearest seaside for the summer months. It was a blissful time of cloudless skies, baby oil and tinfoil and endless swims. The Walsh family from Douglas was among the summertime migrants and in 1985, they did what many from the southside neighbourhood had done, they bought a little holiday home in Fountainstown. Sheena Crean nee Walsh was aged nine at the time, and she recalls that there were “15 or 20 families, all from the Douglas/ Rochestown area, that decamped to Fountainstown, Crosshaven and Myrtleville for June, July and August”.
“It felt like the sun always shone and we had the best of times,” she says.
Fountainstown was especially dear to her parents, Dermot and Jean, and in 2006, they decided they would like to relocate fulltime to the seaside for their retirement. They set about turning the modest three-bed bungalow into a substantial home, doubling it in size, adding a second storey, and opening up some of the downstairs living space.
What you have now is a four-bed, two-storey, detached home, with two living rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs.
The upstairs living room was favoured by Dermot occasionally “when he needed to escape the grandkids”, Sheena laughs, and the balcony off it was the perfect spot for a gin and tonic while watching liners cruise buy.
The main ensuite bedroom was upstairs too and together with the living form, formed sort of an independent suite.
Downstairs was all about family life: open plan kitchen diner with separate living room, all foward-facing, to enjoy the sea views.
The house, where the Coast Road levels out, midway between Fountainstown and Myrtleville, looks down towards the beach, up the creek and over to the back strand at Ringabella, where the sun sets in the evening. In the opposite direction is Myrtleville.
The Walshs had plenty of BBQs as the sun went down, enjoyed on an expansive raised, south-facing patio (c€30,000 worth of concrete, Sheena says), above a sloping lawn.
“The idea was to create two separate areas for the adults and the kids. The adults had the patio and the kids played below on the lawn”.
Closer to the house, a cobble-lock drive provides parking. Steps link the separate levels.
There's garden to the rear too.
Unfortunately for Sheena’s parents, they didn’t get to enjoy the revamped house for as long as they might have hoped, as Dermot passed away last near. It’s too big for Jean and as Sheena is Dublin-based, it can’t be her permanent home. It makes little practical sense to retain it as a summer house, given its size, she says.
“It’s a head over heart decision to sell, but it’s a house that should be lived in fulltime,” Sheena says.
While travelling to Fountainstown was considered a bit of trek when she was a kid, no-one thinks twice about a 25-minute commute to Cork City now. Carrigaline town is only 10 minutes away.
As for her moving on? She says the band of families that were with them at the seaside in the '80s have moved further west now.
“They go to Barleycove and Crookhaven and Goleen and Fountainstown has become a fulltime residential area.” Selling agent Gretchen Kelleher of Barry Auctioneers agrees, adding that remote working makes easy commutes like Fountainstown very attractive.
She predicts interest from families, including those looking for a permanent home but also possibly a summer home. The guide price is €795,000.
Properties on the Coast Road, where the views are superb, have been rising steadily in price in recent years as people look to put down permanent roots.
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