Teacher’s pet project in Ovens where school principal put his woodwork expertise to good use
Dún Ard
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Ovens, Co Cork |
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€845,000 |
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Size |
265 sq m (2852 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5 |
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Bathrooms |
4 |
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BER |
B2 |
AROUND about the time feasibility studies were examining how tricky it might be to expand a well-known Cork city centre school, the man who would later become its school principal was navigating the challenges of building his own home.
Unlike the multimillion euro school project which took years to get off the ground, Pat Curran went from permission to build Dún Ard to moving in, in the space of a year.
“We started work on the house in December 1999 and by doing the blockwork in January and February, it gave me a chance to get all of the woodwork done over the summer,” Pat says.
Having three months off to get stuck in was a huge boon to the Ovens self-build, as was Pat’s own skillset. As a woodwork teacher he had the nous to do the bulk of the timber work: flooring, Honduras pitch pine cut string staircase, skirting boards, architraves, fitted furniture.
The kitchen was built and fitted by him too, with a layout based on the “golden triangle” design concept ie sink, cooker and refrigerator positioned to make life easy and produce good food outcomes.
“There was a lot of cooking and baking went on in that kitchen and I made every effort to create a well-functioning space. It was a labour of love,” Pat says.
The walk-in Instagrammable pantry, as ordered as a pharmacist’s cabinet, is another example of his woodwork.
He did rope in extra help for some of the bigger timber jobs, including the roof. The vaulted ceiling in the sunroom involved specialist input. Assembled in such a way that no nails were used, it is, as Pat says, “a very unique feature”.
He was fortunate that hiring tradesmen to do the bits he couldn’t do wasn’t as problematic 25 years ago as it is now. Siblings with qualifications in the trades helped out too, as did friends. And there was no pressure to have Dún Ard looking like a showhouse before they moved in.
“Back then, all you needed was the kitchen, a bedroom, living area and a bathroom. So we moved in in December 2000,” Pat says.
Dún Ard, in Ballygroman Lower, Ovens, is built beside a Fairy Fort (Dún in Irish means Fort, and Dún Ard means High Fort) at the end of a row of detached homes. Just beyond it, the land switches to tillage. To the rear, there’s are acres of tillage too.
“At the time we were looking, it was hard to get sites. We were lucky that ours is south-facing to the rear and we put a huge emphasis into capturing the afternoon sun,” Pat says.
They did so by building a wraparound patio that wraps right around the sunroom, from front to rear. As well as its winning aspect, it’s tucked away from prying eyes, behind 9’ high laurel hedging.
“It’s a really nice, secluded spot, there’s complete privacy to the rear because there’s nothing behind us except farmland,” Pat says.
The winding drive was designed to enhance privacy too. The house is set deep into the site, beyond landscaped gardens dotted with paper birch, purple sycamore, silver birch and blood maple.
“They were planted as mature trees, about 12’ high so they had an immediate impact on privacy,” says the owner.
The rear garden is a more compact space, where railway sleepers form borders around vegetable, flower and herb beds.
“We liked to grow some of our own such as rhubarb, potatoes, green beans. And two apple trees planted in 2006 are still going strong, supplying us with both cooking and eating apples,” says Pat.
Dún Ard is as fresh looking as the herbs in its garden thanks to conscientious owners who strove for quality first day, from the solid American walnut flooring in the stylish living room, which Pat imported directly from the US, before machining and laying it himself, to the solid spalted beech wood flooring in the much-loved sunroom, kept cosy out of season by a wood-burning stove, or thrown open to the garden via patio doors in the warmer months.
The sunroom itself is octagonal, with corner blocks hand cast by Pat and his helpers, and stonework by John O’Connor of Kealkil.
“We used Ballydesmond stone on the conservatory and the porch and it’s stunning,” Pat says.
Dún Ard is a big, energy-efficient house, (265 sq m/BER B2), but the decision to build it as a dormer and a half rather than a classic bungalow keeps it looking deceptively neat. It has a good run of rooms, from a large home office to the front of the house (could also be a fifth bedroom or a playroom) to two reception rooms, a generous kitchen/dining room, a pantry/utility, a guest WC and a downstairs study (another home office?) to four overhead bedrooms and a main bathroom.
The main bedroom has both an en suite and walk-in wardrobe and two of the bedrooms share a Jack and Gill bathroom. There’s a double garage too, fully-floored, with the upstairs used by Pat as a gym. A curved wall links it to the main house, ensuring privacy in all directions.
“It’s a multipurpose area really, it’s plumbed and wired, and insulated and could be a granny flat,” Pat says, adding that they added solar panels to the rear which heat the water from April to September.
Dún Ard is “a superbly presented home”, says selling agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald.
Moreover, it’s just a five minute drive to Ballincollig and about 15 minutes to Wilton/CUH/UCC/MTU/Bon Secours.
Pat says Ovens has “a great community, welcoming to anyone coming into the area”. There’s a national school nearby and a creche “literally, across the road” from Dún Ard, he says.
Ms Healy, who is guiding at €845,000, says Dún Ard is a “very family friendly house” and she expects both traders-up and relocators to feature among potential buyers.
Expect bidding from families looking to trade up to a quality home as well as re-locators familiar with the area.
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