The man that commissioned RTÉ's Cheap Irish Homes is selling his own version
Lissarda Farm
taking a punt on a Cheap Irish Home? Bag a bargain and renovate later? That’s the advice of , co-presenter of the popular property show Cheap Irish Homes, which, coincidentally, was commissioned by the owner of Lissarda Farm, featured here, with its own potential cheap Irish home.
That RTÉ commissioning editor in question is , who grew up in Lissarda, a tiny village on the road out of Cork to Macroom, and he’s poised to sell land that his late father farmed. On the land are a couple of derelict structures, that could arguably feature in a programme of their own (Cheap Irish Ruins?) as they’re on land with a rich history. It was once part of the nearby greater Lissardagh House Estate owned by Elizabethan settlers, the Baldwins, whose land changed hands after the Great Famine, which bankrupted many large landowners.
A book by entitled "Lissardagh House through time 1860-2010" notes that built the Georgian country manor in 1860, and that it was the third house on the estate. The original manor still exists, having been in the ownership of the Murphy family until 1959, and more recently, the Mahony family, before being sold again three years ago.
Whether the other two houses on the estate relate to the two derelict structures featured here is not clear, but Ray believes the cottage may have been a gate lodge to Lissardagh House, as it is close to the road, while the second, larger structure may, he thinks, have been a summer house.
Whatever purpose it served, the stonework used to build it is admirable, as is the skill that went into creating the large walled garden, where the impressive walls – with some arresting curves and a stone structure that may have been a form of veranda– have endured. Ray reckons the veranda was a sitting out area, to look out over the walled garden, which faces south west, and on down the leafy valley, as the road slopes down towards the main road.
Ray is familiar since childhood with the intriguing remains of the large estate, as his father, the late , had cattle there.
“My dad used to be the creamery manager in Lissarda, and he farmed that land.
“As kids, we were always running around there, hunting and testing cattle,” Ray says.
There was a time when he had thoughts himself of doing up the bigger house and restoring the walled garden.
“I thought it would make a fantastic house and I do a lot of hunting and I was going to keep horses. But I never really got the opportunity and as I’m based in Dublin, it’s not going to happen now,” he says.
As a result, he’s decided to sell the whole kit and caboodle, which includes the two derelict houses and 21 acres of land.
of Sherry is handling the sale of 21-acre Lissarda Farm and she says the entire setting is “quite magical”. She thinks it’s likely to sell as three separate lots: the derelict cottage on one acre which has a guide price of €100,000; a yard with yard stand on one acre, near the main road, also with a guide price of É100,000, or the entire property (which includes the 21 acres, derelict houses, walled garden and a large hay shed), which has a guide price of €495,000.
There’s a good chance a local farmer will buy it to expand his own farm; less likely, but more exciting, is that a buyer like will come along – after all she bought a once-derelict farmhouse in Co Tipperary 20 or so years ago, and she’s tipped away at it since.
Ray appreciates the irony in selling a cottage that could arguably feature in Cheap Irish Homes, as people are no longer ruling out derelict houses. Who knows – maybe the buyer will make him a pitch? In the meantime, the programmes he’s already commissioned continue to entertain, from Cheap European Homes (Maggie abroad) to Keys to My Life, to travel show High Road, Low Road, to Supergarden.
Someone with vision and the finance to back it could do something really special at Lissarda Farm. Great House Revival? Or Cheap Irish Home?
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