Buyer of €1.2m Rose Lodge will inherit 'a Nangle garden' in Cork City

This Model Farm Road home was the perfect location for the owner of Nangle’s Nurseries, who could walk to work

Rose Lodge, Model Farm Road

Model Farm Road, Cork City
€1.2m
Size	251sq m (2,702 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	E1

Like a seed carried by the wind or in the plumage of a migrating bird, Dick Nangle landed in Cork city from his native Sligo in the 1930s. After initially working for McLysaght agri-business on Pembroke St, he put down roots on Model Farm Road, where he started a horticultural enterprise.

Within a few years, he was joined by his nephew Des, who also uprooted from Sligo, and as the operation blossomed, so too did its reputation as a specialist rose nursery.

Similar to any enterprise where the product never switches off, he put in long hours and the working week often extended into weekends.

The ‘on-call’ nature of the job prompted Des to seek a site nearby to build a home and he succeeded in purchasing “a good half acre” from local farmer Tom Murphy in 1966. It took about a year to build — the design wasn’t typical of its era — and he moved in with his new wife Eileen in 1967.

From a close-knit family in Cork’s Lough area, the move out west, to Carrigrohane, was a shock to the system.

“Mum was a pure city girl with half a dozen siblings who all live within a half mile radius of each other, so it was a big thing for her to move out to Model Farm Road. Her
siblings all thought she was mad, going out the country,” laughs Deirdre, the late couple’s daughter.

As befitting for a landscaper with a flair for growing roses, the pair called their new home Rose Lodge and it was a great base for Des, just 100 metres down the road from his workplace, making short work of the daily commute. In between building up the nursery business, he worked hard on the garden at Rose Lodge, where he showcased not only roses, but a host of specimen plants, trees and shrubs. 

Slotted in among the planting are various water features, of which the most eye-catching is an elegant, oval-shaped ornamental pond that borders a raised deck. A second water feature is immersed in a semicircular patio off the kitchen, where the roof rises into an impressive glass vault.

“People used to come out on a Sunday spin just to look at the house and roses and go back in the Straight (Carrigrohane) Road,” recalls Deirdre.

“We were known as the ‘Rose People’ and sometimes people would call to our door and ask ‘do you mind if we have a look?’. I remember Mum giving people lemonade now and again.”

Deirdre and her three brothers spent childhood summers bud grafting roses at Nangle’s Nurseries, after their father took over the business from Dick. Over the years, the operation expanded from rose production and wholesale nursery growing into a retail garden centre and landscaping enterprise. Visitors would come not just to buy plants, but to enjoy the whole experience, immersing themselves in this family-run business that gradually became a Cork gardening landmark.

Meanwhile, down the road at Rose Lodge, the front lawn slowly morphed into a putting green, where Des, a keen golfer who played off a five handicap, would practice his putting.

“He would sand it and roll it every year. He even had holes cut in the grass for putting. And the lawn itself was like velvet when I was growing up,” Deirdre says.

As the garden and family grew, so too did the house. Around 25 years ago, a conservatory was added — “a key piece in a house that was great for parties” says Deirdre “or for occasions like Stations of the Cross”.

A later renovation connected a separate garage back into the main house, creating a second downstairs bedroom.

Today, Rose Lodge is a generous 2,700 sq ft, sociably arranged so that key spaces like kitchen, dining, and conservatory are interlinked. Double doors open from the hallway into a fine-sized living room and there’s a playroom at the far end of the house — part of the garage renovation — beside an en suite bedroom. Two overhead bedrooms are also en suite, each with a walk-in wardrobe.

Selling agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald describes Rose Lodge as “bright and well-proportioned”.

“It’s a beautifully presented home on half an acre of stunning greenery,” she adds.

As both Des — who played senior football for Cork — and his beloved wife Eileen have passed on, the home and gardens they cultivated with such care are now destined for new owners. The original Nangle’s Nurseries has moved on too, from Model Farm Road out to Aherla, where Deirdre’s brother Ronan runs a much larger operation, Nangle & Niesen Tree Nursery, supplying trees and horticultural stock all over Ireland. The land the original nursery was on — in a high demand commuter belt — was sold on for residential development as the city expanded westward and land values increased. Today the three-acre site is home to Rosefield, a niche development of 19 homes where the top sale price so far is almost €900,000.

Rosefield homes were snapped up when launched in 2018: buyers liked the quality and the location, close to third level colleges and hospitals, 15 minutes by car from the city, near public transport routes, schools and retail.

Ms Healy says Rose Lodge will appeal for all the same reasons, but with the added attraction of inheriting 'a Nangle garden', designed and landscaped by the great man himself.

“It’s a unique property, one that people remember passing, and stopping to admire. And it’s in a prime residential location. It’s a superb opportunity for families who want comfort and space. Then there’s the garden, a standout feature of the property, with designated outdoor entertainment areas and great privacy. Families trading up are going to love it,” the agent says. 

She brings Rose Lodge to market with a guide price of €1.2m.

VERDICT: The Nangle legacy at Rose Lodge is a top-class garden shaped by a man for whom growing things was more vocation than profession. You’d pay a small fortune to replicate it today. The bonus is that it’s on Model Farm Road — and it comes with a house!