€695k Aylesbury home near Cork Con can expect a strong buyer lineout 

The Temple Hill location is a clear winner for this stylish three-bed semi-d 

61 Aylesbury, Temple Hill

Ballintemple, Cork city
€695,000
Size	140 sq m (1507 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	A2

FEW headlines have said it better than ‘Plenty of Pros and one big [Cork] Con’ when Irish Examiner Property showcased a home overlooking Cork Constitution’s rugby grounds two years ago. It related to a house in Ballinlough’s Shrewsbury Downs, where you could hop the back wall onto the playing pitches. 

Aylesbury and redbrick Shrewbury are in close proximity to Cork Constitution rugby grounds

You could recycle the headline for No 61 Aylesbury, featured here, because like Shrewsbury, all that separates it from the touchline is a garden wall.

While there’s a whiff of Monopoly about the estate names, they’re a marketeer’s dream.
Those who have played the board game know Shrewsbury and Aylesbury-with-an-i are the two most exclusive places to live, ergo, demand is high to buy in.

Cork’s Shrewsbury and Aylesbury are not at the top of the price charts, but they are in the premier league. Price growth has been robust since the 74-home Temple Hill Centurion Homes’ scheme was launched six years ago. One of a handful of detached homes in the estate sold for €675,000 as a new build in 2019 and re-sold in 2023 for €955,000.

No 61 overlooks a large green at the front and Cork Con to the rear

The omens are good, then, for No 61, a stylish, Richard Rainey-designed, energy-efficient (A2), four-bedroom, contemporary semi-d, which comes to market with a guide of €695,000. Home to a professional couple working in healthcare, with a growing family, they purchased “off plan” just as the pandemic hit. For them the buffer created by Cork Con’s rugby grounds was a definite ‘pro’.

“It feels like we’re in the countryside at times — we’re not overlooked from the rear and it’s always really peaceful, with a huge variety of bird life, from herons to buzzards on the pitch,” they say — although not on the days that prop forwards are training.

The owners of No 61 went to “considerable additional expense” to tailor their 140 sq m home to their own tastes.

Inviting entrance hall at No 61

 Bespoke tiling was laid throughout the downstairs and a bespoke Cullen View kitchen was fitted, with Silestone quartz countertops.

Open plan living

 It’s an open-plan, L-shaped, family-friendly design, catering for cooking, dining, and relaxation.

 The lounge area is surrounded by glazing, including a floor-to-ceiling sliding door to a patio and rear lawn. 

An elegant living room to the front of the house has a large box bay window overlooking a generous green for kiddies to play on. 

Elegant living room

Overhead, another box bay makes light work of the main en suite bedroom.

Selling No 61 is Lawrence Sweeney of Savills and despite the €695,000 guide price, he’s seeing interest from first-time buyers. “There seems to be a slightly older demographic of first-time buyers looking, as well as some traders up and downsizers,” says Mr Sweeney, adding that all buyer types are impressed by the quality of the scheme, which is now fully finished, as well as the location.

“It’s a really lovely neighbourhood with a great mixture of families and people who have traded down,” say No 61’s owners. “There’s a great community spirit, which we’ll miss.”

They point out too that it’s on the preferred route for Cork’s proposed light rail system. 

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Existing local amenities include rugby at Cork Con, GAA at nearby Páirc Uí Rinn and Páirc Uí Chaoimh, pitch and putt across the road, and football at a pitch in Beaumont Park. For kids attending primary school in Beaumont, there’s a handy shortcut through the park. The neighbourhood is well served by public transport and you can walk or take a bus into Cork city centre (3km away). Retail is plentiful: Douglas Village for the weekly shop, and Ballintemple or Blackrock for the necessities.VERDICT: There could be a scrum for this one.