Balance both town and country in this €795,000 former-farmland home

This semi-rural setting, down a secluded laneway also has pretty convenient access to Cork city and there’s a good handful of primary and secondary schools within about 2.5km

Praslin, Maglin, Co Cork

Ballincollig, Co Cork
€795,000
Size	275 sq m (2960 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	B3

Pizza parties, games of pool and playstation marathons — all part of the lively goings on at this good-sized Ballincollig house.

Praslin in Maglin, near the Ballincollig bypass has housed a family of five for the past quarter century since it was built on former farmland in 2000.

Current owners, Ken and Carmel Sheehan are downsizing now their three sons have homes of their own: “It’s been a fantastic home and we’ve had great times here with the lads’ schoolfriends over for games of football out back and then bbqs and pizzas from the Ooni oven — in fact our eldest is now 33 and we’ve had a request for one last bbq before we move out.”

As the dad of the house is from the Bishopstown area, was returning from the UK to work in IT consultancy, and it was land from his grandmother’s farm they were able to get permission to build. “When the builders were at work they said there were cars stopping nearly every 10 minutes asking if there were any other adjacent sites available,” says Ken.

The family were able to make some changes to plans before the build properly started: “We extended the living room from 20 to 26 feet and we got planning to add on a playroom and utility room.”

That playroom is hailed as being the busiest room in the house: “It’s seen generations of Playstations from the PS2 onwards and had a pool table and table tennis there too. It’s the only room that was carpeted as they all seemed to end up sitting on cushions on the floor. But it’s at the opposite end of the house from the living room so we weren’t bothered by noise at all.”

Other build and layout requests included a good sized utility room with a ceiling-mounted drying rack and a walk-in pantry.

A sunroom at the back brings that outdoors feel even if it’s too breezy to be in the open air in the 0.54 acres. It’s great that this side of the Link Road is ‘green belted’ so it won’t be over-developed,” adds Ken.

There’s a solid fuel stove in the living room which has a large bay window to the front of the house, and a detached garage.

“Praslin has great balance of town and country living — it’s just three minutes to Ballincollig town centre but it has a peaceful feel. You’ve got direct acccess to Bishopstown, Wilton and on to the Airport Business Park,” notes Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald.

And the name? ‘Praslin’ is named for a honeymoon stay on the Seychelles island of that name — it holds the ‘Valée de Mai Nature Reserve which was hailed by some in the 1800s as the true Garden of Eden.

VERDICT: If nominative determinism suggests that a name can shape a person's character or destiny, then this house’s name has fulfilled its purpose beautifully with a store of gold-tinged happy memories and surely a bright future as a busy family home again.