Ageing well in Blarney — an extended €565k home

O’Brien clan’s detached four-bed home is in an ideal location for families

Tue, 31 Mar, 2026 - 06:05

Tommy Barker

Blarney, Cork
€565,000
Size	53 sq m (1,620 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B3

It's no surprise that Blarney’s 32 Bracken Wood is ageing well — there’s a family link to Cork’s legendary community and active old age advocate, Paddy O’Brien, whose Over-60s Talent Competition had a 40-year legacy of note, from 1974... until stopping during covid.

Paddy O'Brien, advocate for the elderly. File picture (2023): Denis Minihane

Detached No 32 is the family home of city-born Brian (Bob) O’Brien, one of two sons of Paddy O’Brien, who’s still active in advocacy and entertainment for older citizens at age 88 himself, and to his wife, Louise Forrest: she’s, steeped in Blarney’s hospitality sector, having grown up in Blarney’s Castle Hotel, now in second generation Forrest family ownership.

“People here refer to me as Louise Forrest’s husband,” Brian O’Brien jokes, admitting as a younger city man he’d never have seen himself living out by a village like Blarney — “I though it was far too green” — but quickly took to it after spells living in places as diverse as the city’s Nicholas St, in Poland, and Crosshaven.

Now an ‘older’ and wiser, family man, Brian says he gets the whole Blarney picture, having fully integrated after first rocking up there 12 years ago with a son and a daughter (now, 17 and 15 years old), with dad Paddy still living in the city and with a brother Ronan living in London.

He and Louise bought the detached, four-bed home, near the end of a niche cul de sac developed by builder Colemans, on a height at Blarney’s Monacnappa 10 years ago.

The setting is perfect for families, he says, safe and quiet by the end of a 34-house scheme), by a turning circle and green, with valley views above the Waterloo walk from the front and with a perfect aspect behind for sunsets.

Cooks and readers, they extended the detached home to the back in 2022, praising Blarney Developments’ Paul Shine and architect Leonard Barrett. They blew out the back wall to create a substantial kitchen/ living/ dining area, with units and bookshelves by B&K Blarney, with a large glazed slider linking the bright internal space (there’s a roof light over the kitchen island). Brian/Bob says the indoor/outdoor connection has worked really well for them, with a large paved patio, described as “sun-drenched” by estate agent Humphrey Hogan.

The family with teenagers in tow are moving on to a project in the Blarney area. “We’re not leaving Blarney, we’re fully integrated in sports and all local activities,” Brian stresses.

Auctioneer Humphrey Hogan guides the immaculate four-bed, one en suite, No 32 at €565,000 and started first viewings this week saying home hunters should check it out sooner rather than later “before this wonderful house is snapped up, as properties in such good condition like this are very hard to find”.

At ground are a front reception with open fireplace, herringbone floor, glazed double doors, hall, guest WC, utility, a quality kitchen with sage green units, island and range cooker, with second reception area off this c 20’ wide kitchen/ diner, with feature steel support column.

Above are four bedrooms, one with an en suite, while the rear outdoors is extensively paved, with stepped or tiered garden with reused old rail sleepers, good planting plus a timber shed.