Grá mór for €495k gaeltacht home with land, outbuildings and  guest apartment

Ballingeary buy has huge appeal for remote workers, reckons selling agent Peter Skuse

Ballingeary district Carraig na Damhaire (Rock of the Ox) is guided at €495,000 by agents Cahalane Skuse

Ballingeary, Cork
€495,000
Size	276 sq m (2,980 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5 + 2
Bathrooms	3 + 1
BER	C3

THE man selling this gaeltacht area homestead has developed a grá for it.

“I feel there is something very special about this property. I don’t know if it’s the charm of being in the Gaeltacht area or the scenic road from Inchigeela to Ballingeary with Loch Allua on the left hand side, and the back drop of the mountains in the distance? However it is only an hour’s drive from Cork city, yet is very much away from the madding crowd.” 

So says auctioneer Peter Skuse of Carraig na Damhaire, a 1900s era farm-like five-bed home with two-bed self-contained annex, outbuildings and four acres, spanning both sides of a road rising into the hills three kilometres from the quietly humming village of Ballingeary: Humming? There’s even a pipe band, and local drama group.

Just shy of 3,000 sq ft, with the inclusion of options for income, guests or extended family on hand, the house package with pasture and orchard “is not isolated as there are numerous other farm holding near by,” says the Cahalane  Skuse agent. He quotes a guide price of €495,000, adding the special setting is “topical at the minute, with hybrid working arrangements: if any place would encourage somebody to work from home this property certainly will.”

With mountain walks as good as on the doorstep, this C3 Ber-rated home has quality internal hardwood joinery, five first floor bedrooms plus good living areas, and the outbuildings - described as “fairly modern” - may suit as working from home facilities, workshop, recording studio, storage etc.

Still smitten Mr Skuse adds “really, in a sense, if anyone did have the courage of their conviction of a change in lifestyle from city living, and wanted to be within an hour’s commute in a scenic and rather special place, with the benefit of over four acres in paddock, orchard and woodland, all they really need to bring is their own beehives.”

VERDICT: Go n-éirí an bóthar leat