City to Country: Space and tranquility in Galway Bay or life of luxury in €575k Victorian redbrick in Waterford city

Try a village life or rustic retreat, writes Trish Dromey

Thu, 06 Jun, 2024 - 09:31

Trish Dromey

Castleconnell, Co Limerick
€550,000
Size	197sq m (2,120sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	5
BER	C3

Village life with space and a touch of luxury is on offer at this detached four-bed property at 18 Rathlinn, Castleconnell in Limerick.

New to the market with a guide of €550,000, it’s part of a development of 19 detached houses which, when being built in the early 2000s, were fitted out in collaboration with fashion designer Louise Kennedy.

Paul O’Brien of Margaret Ryan Auctioneers believes it would make an idyllic family home for a trade up buyer. “A three-storey house with 197sq m of living space — it’s in a quiet enclave of detached houses located within strolling distance of Castleconnell and a 12-minute drive from Castletroy Town Centre,” he says adding that it’s just 14km from Limerick city centre.

The ground level has an extra spacious modern kitchen/diner with granite-topped units and a set of double doors which connects it to a long carpeted front living room with a fireplace.

Off the kitchen there’s a utility room and, off the hallway, a guest WC while the upper floor has a bathroom and four bedrooms, three en suite. The entire top floor is taken up by an especially spacious en suite bedroom with sloping ceiling.

Outside there’s a long tree-sheltered private back garden with a slate roofed purpose-built home office at the bottom.

House sales in Rathlinn are relatively rare. The only sale in 2023 was No 1 — a larger 280sq m house which sold for €747,000.

VERDICT: Offers space and comfort within an easy commute of the city.

South Parade, Waterford City
€575,000
Size	232sq m (2,500sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	Exempt

AT 25 South Parade, the owners have hung chandeliers and decorated with gilt mirrors and period furniture to restore to their Victorian redbrick home the glamour it was meant to have.

The four-bed semi-detached property, recent to the market with a guide of €575,000, is being sold by REA O’Shea O’Toole who say it’s been tastefully and sympathetically restored by the current owners who bought it six years ago.

“To equip it for modern living they put in a new kitchen and bathroom and redecorated,” reveals auctioneer Barry McDonald, adding that they also restored some original features.

Dating from 1870, the spacious 232sq m house has the coving, the high ceilings, and the ornate fireplaces you would expect from a property of its era. Its two reception rooms include a drawing room with a bay window at the front and a dining room.

It also has a fully upgraded kitchen with white marble topped units as well as a modern wetroom and a utility.

A timber staircase leads to the first floor which has a shower room and four bedrooms including two with cast iron fireplaces. The property has a small garden at the front and a longer one at the rear with a gravelled patio, off street parking, and a garage.

“The location, overlooking the People Park and within a short walk from the city centre and nearby schools is very sought after,” says Mr McDonald.

VERDICT: Glamorously Victorian.

Aughinish, Clare/Galway
€595,000
Size	250sq m (2,690sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	3
BER	Pending

You could describe this spacious, distinctive five-bed home on the Aughinish peninsula in Galway Bay as being a scenic home in a geographically interesting spot.

Originally connected to Clare, Aughinish became an island due to erosion in the mid-1750s, but became a peninsula again in 1811 with the building of a causeway connecting it to Galway.

This seems to have led to a little confusion over whether the properties on the 3km long peninsula belong to either Clare or Galway.

Covering both possibilities, DNG Brian MacMahon has brochures which locate the early 2000s built, steeply roofed blue dormer home in Galway and others which locate it in Clare.

Guiding at €595,000, it’s a modern 250sq m property on a three-acre site which almost reaches the estuary shoreline.

It also includes a detached guest studio, which has been used as an Airbnb holiday rental.

At the centre of the property has a high-ceiling, modern living room with a stove, large roof lights, and a gallery landing overhead.

This room is open plan with a well-equipped kitchen with pale blue units and patio doors.

There’s also a utility area, a sitting room, a bathroom, and three ground-floor bedrooms while the upstairs has a mezzanine space and two large en suite bedrooms.

The property which has a Clare Eircode, is located 11km from the Galway village of Kinvara and 40km from Galway City.

VERDICT: Whether in Clare or Galway, it has all the space, comfort, and sea views a trading up family could wish for.

Dundrum, Co Tipperary
€550,000
Size	281sq m (3,024sq ft)
Bedrooms	6
Bathrooms	2
BER	Exempt

IT’S doubtful that many who visited the barracks in Dundrum village in Tipperary when it was still being used by the RIC or later the gardaí, stopped to appreciate the attractiveness of its Tudor revival architectural style, or to admire the hexagonal entrance tower.

This striking and imposing sandstone building with its decorative bargeboards, chimney stacks, and limestone window surrounds is, according to John Gleeson of Sherry FitzGerald Gleeson, an architectural gem.

Listing the 1860s-built former barracks with a guide of €550,000, he says that it has been attracting a lot of attention, including some from overseas, because of its appearance.

After being sold by the OPW over a decade ago the 281sq m property was turned into two semi-detached three-bed houses used as rentals. The interior has been modernised and has few original features except for windows. “One section at the rear has a narrow slit window and was once used as a jail,” notes Mr Gleeson, adding that it is historic as well as architecturally interesting.

On sale with a 2.5-acre (mostly wooded) site, it has a courtyard with outbuildings including a detached laundry room. Mr Gleeson believes there is potential to redevelop it as a commercial enterprise. “It would make a fine spacious family home but also has the potential to be turned into a boutique hotel.”