Say yes to Ballynoe as chic country home gets second outing

Rural idyll-set country house and courtyard cluster unexpectedly up for sale once more

Land to roam, a fine home and buildings aplenty at Killasseragh,  Ballynoe near Dungourney. Agent Patricia Stokes guides at €750,000 for vendors who only bought in the past 18 months but who now seek to relocate

Ballynoe, Midleton, Cork
€750,000
Size	348 sq m (3,750 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	C1

DOUBLE checking the Price Register for value comparisons for the Cork townland of Killasseragh, Ballynoe, north of Midleton, brings up a very precise match for this luxury home offer, with its early summer €750,000 AMV.

More than the sum of its various parts

One sold just last year with the same Killasseragh address, for €725,000 so is there a precedent?

Well, yes, it’s an exact match, one and the same property, unexpectedly back on the market, after a very recent change of ownership, as its buyers have had a change of circumstances and have to relocate.

Horses for courses: Interior grandeur mixes with at-home charm

That’s coming hot on the heels of the thrill of a purchase, and the chance to put their own mark on this hideaway homestead, almost equidistant from Fermoy, Watergrasshill and Midleton, in rich rolling countryside, with five private acres for horses or hobbies, guest cottage, outhouses and beautiful, re-roofed old stone sheds in a courtyard cluster.

Courtyard cluster with guest cottage-in-waiting

It’s quite the country living idyll, and that’s what won and wooed the current owners who fell for it after its August 2022 market outing, when it carried a €695,000 asking price, and they had to bid €30,000 in excess of that price tag to secure it.

One of the two staircases, in the lofty hall in this case

It featured in these pages 20 months ago, and also back in 2003 when it was very different, less comfortable home with obvious potential for more.

Its buyers of 20 years ago, an Irish/British couple back from Australia, did huge work, to what was essentially a ‘blended’ home, originally in two sections and with some dating to the 1840s, getting bigger and better over the century that followed.

There was a sort of international background to the more recent owners, judging by the art and furniture collection they’ve decorated here with, with an exotic, strong Far East flavour to some of the main rooms and the stand-out lofty, double height entry hall which sets this home apart from the herd.

Saddle up

They’ve clearly li

ved overseas and collected, and it appears they may be off again to far-flung fields. Selling agent Patricia Stokes says they are private people, but admits “they are sorry to be leaving it”.

What sort of stamp gets put on it next is an open question, but the likelihood is that the purchasers coming here for a longer haul will also value their privacy, quiet country setting and near and distant views of the Galtees, Knockmealdowns and Comeraghs.

Six acres in all

Killasseragh is within a short drive or a long hack of all those, and Cork City is about 40 minutes away, reached via Conna, Rathcormac and the M8 most easily, whilst the immediate hinterland is pastoral, full of old stone barns, boreens and back roads and some but not too many modern homes.

It’s in very good condition, the larger section to the front is the grander, with bull-nosed brick under the eaves above rendered walls and under a slate roof, while the rear section under a mid 1900s tiled roof has older, quainter rooms, redolent of its 19th century cottage days, with hefty exposed beams in upstairs bedrooms.

Happy landings

It’s surprisingly large, at c 3,700 sq ft, with old and new character in a mix (agent Ms Stokes describes it as a blended property) and two staircases to match, has a C1 BER, some open fires and stoves plus central heating, high décor standards, with an Aga in the triple aspect kitchen, and several formal rooms to boot.

As special is the cluster of buildings on c one acre of the five acres in all, on either side of the stepped houses, redolent of antiquity in the low stone ones, and there’s a lofted separate building by the western courtyard ready for final finishes as a guest cottage, plus sun-trap seating areas, clay pizza oven, and gardens.

The balance is a four-acre paddock in front, ready for grazing, planting, or projects.

VERDICT: The same, only different, from its 2022 outing. Might an underbidder come back for a second bite, or will a bidder come — once more — from farther away?