Oysterhaven gem Bridge Point comes to market at €850,000

House hunters with a passion for watersports and the outdoors will love this elegant family home

Fri, 20 Sep, 2024 - 12:00

Catherine Shanahan Pictures: H-pix

Oysterhaven, Co Cork
€850,000
Size	214 (2307 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	C3

WHEN viewed through the lens of history, 2020 will be tagged as the year when covid had its global moment.

It’s also the year that Bridge Point truly came into its own. While the family that enjoyed it for more than three decades never took it for granted, successive lockdowns solidified their gratitude. For them, the pandemic had an upside.

“Covid did us many favours. Our dad was housebound anyway and because we could work from home, my sister and I partnered in looking after him and he was able to stay at home,” says Jillian Coffey.

Jillian, who is based in Philadelphia, relocated to Bridge Point with her two kids during the pandemic, when online schooling made location irrelevant. Her sister, Susan Prendergast, a Roscommon-based secondary school Art teacher, spent time there too, as did her kids, both of whom were studying for exams.

“Covid allowed us to see how flexible the house was. We could spread out and not be on top of each other,” Jillian says.

Her parents built 214 sq ft Bridge Point 32 years ago as their retirement home and it was a magnet for their own kids and their grandkids.

“All of the grandkids were born while my parents were living there, so that house has been enjoyed by three generations of our family,” says Jillian.

While the siblings scattered – Jillian to Philly, brother David to Japan, Susan to Roscommon – Bridge Point has always been a focal point. During covid, it became what health geographers might call a therapeutic landscape. Not only is there tremendous green space (the 1.1 acre garden is an idylll), there’s also blue space (water) and the health benefits of both are well documented.

A stream runs down one side of the garden into the tidal Oysterhaven inlet directly across the road from Bridge Point. There’s plenty of run-off in the garden, so no danger of flooding. Proximity to the inlet has been ideal for launching canoes. In fact the Coffey parents had the prescience to buy an additional patch of land (0.4 acres) across the road from their home, on the inlet’s bank, securing their own bit of waterfrontage, while also securing the view.

“It was a protective move really, to stop someone maybe turning it into a parkin space and/or spoiling the view. I’m glad my parents had the foresight to do that,” says Jillian.

Her parents had the foresight too to orientate the house to maximise the south-facing front aspect. The front door was put to the rear, while key living spaces overlook the lawn and out towards the inlet.

The main living room has sliding doors to a light-filled conservatory.

The kitchen/dining room has garden views too, as has a second reception room and the formal dining room, where there are more French doors.

The only downstairs bedroom/home office is to the rear, as are utility, cloakroom and guest WC. Overhead, two of three bedrooms have en suites and the third has Jack and Jill bathroom access.

There’s an old-world elegance to Bridgepoint and it’s been well cared for, albeit new owners will probably carry out some upgrades. The garden though is good to go, a ready-made natural haven thanks to the Coffey parents, fully matured, with a south-facing sitting-out area. A curving gravel drive leads up to the house, where parking is in good supply. You can fit a yacht in too, as the Coffeys did.

“My dad was a very keen sailor and had a yacht and a little tugboat. He was one of the first to set up a mooring in The Cush (Oysterhaven beach),” says Jillian. She and her siblings experienced the thrills and spills of water activities at nearby Oysterhaven Activity Centre and her own kids have done likewise during their summer holidays. They settle in quickly when visiting, having built up good relations with the neighbours.The siblings are loathe to sell the house – Jillian jokes that her kids are trying to ambush the sale - but having waited more than a year to make a decision “we can see it’s just not practical to keep it, when we’re all so far flung”, she says.

Karl O’Reilly of Savills is the selling agent and he’s expecting interest from a variety of buyers.

“It’s a captivating four-bed, detached home, set in an idyllic and unique location in Oysterhaven, and comes to the market for the first time in over 30 years. It’s sure to attract interest from trading up families, those seeking to relocate and buyers looking for a holiday home in one of Ireland’s premier destinations,” the agent says.