Forget Selling Sunset when you can buy stunning Sunrise with its internal glass room

The garden at this beautiful Ballycotton home is just one of many lovely features

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Ballycotton, East Cork
€550,000
Size	121 sq m (1,302 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2
BER	A3

We've had Selling Sunset, LA’s soapy real estate “reality” TV show, populated by extras from the set of Barbie competing fiercely to sell ridiculously ritzy McMansions.

Now, though, it’s all about selling Sunrise, an actual home, in sunny East Cork, where house prices are far more realistic than anything you might find in California’s dusty hills.

At Sunrise, in lovely Ballycotton, the art of the handyman is very much in evidence, although the chap in question has far more professional training than your typical DIY guy.

As a civil engineer — where careers are built around planning, designing, supervising and maintaining major infrastructure systems — he had the nous to design his own home. Having drawn up a plan, he handed it to an architect for scrutiny, before fine-tuning it himself.

It's all about the light at Sunrise

When he bought the site in Ballycotton in 2019, it came with pre-formed plans for the type of home that could be built there. He had notions of his own, though, and went back to the drawing board. The design he came up with gave birth to Sunrise, a home built by direct labour in 2020 and finessed by the engineer himself.

A thoroughly impressive home, there’s a couple of standouts at Sunrise. While glass box extensions are 10 a penny these days, Sunrise has an internal glass room.

 By placing a glass wall between the kitchen-dining area and the living room, the engineer simultaneously kept things open-plan while creating a separate space. Pretty nifty. 

It kept the external views open between the rooms too.

The staircase is also worth mentioning. Bespoke, open-tread, with a glass balustrade, it was built by the engineer with help from a friend. Light floods in through a double-height window.

 Upstairs, both main bedroom and main bathroom have sea views.

When you’ve finished salivating over some of the indoor elements at Sunrise, head out to the back garden, where you’ll find all the signs of a professional landscaper. Not so. The handyman engineer and his partner can claim the credit once more. A highlight is the pergola seating area, laid with porcelain tiles and fitted with outdoor lights, in the midst of colourful planters.

 A gas fire pit is the centrepiece.

 As if that’s not enough, there’s a separate dining area, also set on porcelain tiles; a sitting-out area outside sliding doors to the rear, set on astroturf; and a cobble-brick area for a barbecue. 

At a higher level, up steps through a sloping lawn, is another seating area, less cultivated, but just as pretty. Beyond the boundary wall, nature takes over.

If the engineer was meticulous about the back garden, he was even more so out front, although the preoccupation this time was more with the view than the landscaping.

As the house faces seaward, he wanted to be able to see it. To ensure the view, he took the trouble to build a separate cobble-brick parking area at a lower level to the house. From a seating area on astro turf out front, he can enjoy the vista, looking down over lawn to the coast.

 There’s some tasty landscaping too in the lead-up to the front door.

A hell of a lot went into the making of Sunrise (perhaps a TV series in itself?) and selling agent Adrianna Hegarty, of Hegarty Properties, says it’s a “stunning home” built with the best of materials.

Concrete floors at ground and first-floor levels ensure the most efficient use of under-floor heating (thermal mass of the concrete retains heat longer). There are thermostats in each room; windows are triple glazed; and the heating system is a 5kw Panasonic heat pump (produces more energy than it takes in). It will surprise no one that Sunrise comes with a terrific A3 energy rating.

Ms Hegarty says initial interest in this impressive, two-storey, 121 sq m, two-bedroom home is from buyers looking for a holiday home, as well as downsizers.

“It’s perfect for those seeking a change of pace and a breath of fresh sea air,” she says, adding that the guide price is €550,000.

Other extras include an electric car charge to the side of the house and two sheds.

Across the road from Sunrise is Silver Strand, hidden from general view, while the pretty village of Ballycotton, where massive investment in recent years is all to the good, is literally a few minutes’ walk away. The glorious cliff walk is close by too, while renowned Ballymaloe House and Cookery School is a short car journey away.

VERDICT: Selling Sunrise is unlikely to be a hard sell. High-quality property in lovely coastal location.