Views fit for royals at Highgrove, a €595,000 Glounthaune home

Kids will have a half acre to play on in the grounds of this spacious home

Highgrove, Lower Annmount, Glounthaune

Glounthaune, Cork
€595,000
Size	227 sq m (2443)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	C3

IF you want to create a certain je ne sais quoi around a new housing development, a good word to use is “niche”. It’s touted liberally these days, but it’s often more aspirational than actual. Where it does stand up is at Annmount in Glounthaune, a woodland-set development in the vanguard of what it truly means to be “niche”.

Anyone driving up the hill from Glounthaune village under the dry bridge will pass what looks like an entrance to a grand demesne. The word Annmount is displayed on an entrance pillar at the bottom of a tree-lined drive. In fact it once was a demesne, the estate of the “big house”, home to local landowners the Falkiner family who planned and laid out Glounthaune village (they could never have foreseen the new greenway). Their own fine home, which had commanding views of Cork Harbour, was destroyed by fire in 1948. The grounds the “big house” was on are now home to about two dozen properties of varying vintage, no two the same, all with a wide berth between them, all with the benefit of that lovely entrance drive, generous plots and mighty harbour views.

Highgrove is one such home. Built in the 1980s to a split-level American design, it makes the most of its elevated, sloping site.

 Most of the daytime accommodation is, sensibly, on the upper floor, where the harbour panorama is visible from the kitchen sink.

 The dining/living room is also on the first floor, along with two bedrooms, one to the front.

The remaining three bedrooms (home office/playroom options?) are at the lower level. 

Here you will also find a sitting room with double doors to a fine terrace that runs the width of the house. 

This side not only has the views – it also faces south. 

A garage, incorporated into the house at the lower level, is laid out as a gym.

Its current owners, a family, have only been there five years, having bought during covid for €500,000.

“The pandemic meant the housing market wasn’t as frenetic as it is now, so they were lucky not to experience the bun fight you might expect for a house like this,” says selling agent Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing.

She says the generous 227 sq m property is in very good condition and has an improved energy rating – from D2 to C3 – as the current owners improved the attic and wall insulation.

The half acre setting, Ms Tyrrell says, is “absolutely gorgeous”.

“The gardens are laid out to maximise the use of the site to include mature shrubs and a generous grass area for swing sets, kickabouts and meandering, while enjoying the views,” the agent says.

Enquiries are flying in. “I’m inundated with enquiries from people looking for their forever home. This kind of house in this kind of setting is always attractive to young families,” Ms Tyrrell says.

Highgrove comes to market with an AMV of €595,000. It’s set below a road called The Terrace, which leads east to Johnstown Close and on to the commuter rail link at Glounthaune Junction, from where regular trains serve Cork city, Cobh and Midleton. Travelling in the other direction, the N25 will get you quickly to the Dunkettle interchange or to Little Island, a hub for pharma, tech and finance. 

VERDICT: Could be your very own royal residence at Highgrove. Smashing family home.