'Insider trading' in a good way - when hands-on house owner is in the trades: check out work on €675k Cork home

Flooring shop owner Belfast-born Peter Walsh who trained as a joiner put his skill-set to work at Frankfield's 3 West Avenue

All his own work: owner of 3 West Avenue Frankfield built his own kitchen when extending. Agent Jeremy Murphy guides four-bed pristine Parkgate buy at €675,000. Pictures: Ryan Lynch

Frankfield, Douglas, Cork
€675,000
Size	171 sq m (1,840 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B2

WHOEVER buys the extended and upgraded 3 West Avenue in Cork’s suburban Frankfield could expect to get 10, or even 20 years living here — the detached family home seem to move in decade-long cycles.

Exterior of 1990s 3 West Avenue

No 3 in the entry/West Avenue section of Parkgate was built in 1994. It sold to its current owners a decade later, in 2004, and then they took it firmly in hand again 10 years on, and extended it out to the back and upgraded its internal finishes in 2014.

And, now having just missed the 10th anniversary of that extension phase which rolled past in 2024, the family are on a sort of semi-downsize/lifestyle move, and have started the decant phase toward the coastal edge of a West Cork town.

Bright and airy

No 3 West Avenue has been home for just over 20 years to the Walsh family, who clearly know the business of home making.

Belfast-born Peter Walsh had trained initially as a cabinet maker, and about 15 years ago he set up his own flooring business, Select Floors and Tiles on Cork’s Tramore Rd.

That business setting took on a slight extra resonance a few years ago when Cork City Council opened Tramore Valley Park in 2019, a year before the pandemic, and its 170+ acres, sports and leisure activities (BMX track etc) and 2.5km loop is a boon for families across a wide city swathe.

A bridge to Tramore Valley Park not  far away

Then, in 2023, access to the Tramore Valley Park took a quantum leap up when a new bridge from Grange/Frankfield over the N40 ring road was completed.

The Frankfield/Grange access point to the pedestrian/cycle path “is a minute from our home, and we can now walk to the city centre a lot of the way off the roads, and past Christ the King Church in Turners Cross in about 40 minutes,” says Peter.

Now leaving suburban city life for a more rural and coastal life chapter, the family’s well-tended No 3 West Avenue Parkgate is a pre-Christmas launch with estate agent Jeremy Murphy, who guides from €675,000: scarce supply in the back half of 2025 alone should ensure good viewings, and the quality of the home itself will then start to make an impression.

Handy too is the fact the rear outdoor space is almost weather proofed, at least in terms of having no lawns, instead it has all-weather composite decking, outdoor seating area and feature stone finishes on the boundary block walls, plus there’s a Steeltech shed for storage.

Notably, the works done in 2014 both out the back outside and with the single story extension to the kitchen/dining/living area give it the modern feel and helped secure the B2 BER. With double insulation on the add-on’s walls (130mm inside), other cavity walls were pumped with insulating beads and attic insulation was improved, too.

The front sitting room has a gas fireplace in a large wooden surround and the rear’s more den-like lounge has a low-slung, contemporary Jotun wood-burning stove with tiled back wall, with heating emanating out into the open plan kitchen/living/dining area.

This flat, membrane roof extension has three Velux windows canted at an angle, and the floor’s done in wide plank smoked oak boards from Peter’s “Select” supply.

Oak features extensively elsewhere too, in the bespoke kitchen units, dresser and free-standing island made by Peter himself, in the doors and architraves etc, and windows across the front of the now 30+years old home were replaced, along with a new Palladio style secure and efficient front door.

Internally, finishes include a well-kitted out study/home office with desk, display/shelving and storage, off the porcelain modular/irregular pattern tiled hall, oak floors, ceiling cornicing, alarm, four-zone heating, plus there’s a seven-stage integrated sound system in the open plan area, fed by the owners’ LP collection among other inputs.

The ground floor has a fully-retiled guest WC, next to the stairs, and above are four wood-floored bedrooms, all with built-ins, and one’s en suite with an electric shower, while the main wash room has a bath with electric shower above.

Study

Auctioneer Jeremy Murphy says the level of finishes and fittings is well above standard and very well executed by its “in the trades” overseeing and hands-on owner. He expects a swift sale in this well-located family home, near a national school, an Aldi and SuperValu, and on a regular bus route, on the fringes of well-served Douglas village, with novel new access to a major civic amenity park at Tramore Valley.

VERDICT: Just six of the 60 or so Parkgate resales in this well-matured O’Flynn outer Douglas development have so far topped €500,000 (most are semis), while the record is held by 1 The Village Parkgate at €825,000 back in 2023. No 3’s going to go well …