Inside Estuary Ridge, Kinsale's new €950k luxury homes overlooking the estuary

Park Developments makes its Cork debut with nine premium A-rated homes overlooking Kinsale harbour, marinas and the Bandon estuary

Estuary Ridge, Kinsale, Cork

Kinsale, Co Cork
€950k- €1.275m
Size	129sqm - 205sqm
Bedrooms	3 - 4
Bathrooms	2 - 4
BER	A

With more than 60 years in the business, Park Developments pride themselves on staying one step ahead: they were the first developer to include carpets in house sales at one of their early Dublin schemes; the first to dazzle house hunters with a colour telly in a showhouse; the first to offer kitchen appliances as part of the sales package in the 1970s.

As buyers’ expectations grew, the developer upped the ante: a Tudor-style estate in Dublin broke ground as the first homes in Ireland to include conservatories and painted kitchens in a new home sale. Cue queues of motivated home buyers and tyre kickers to view the show homes.

In the noughties, a Diarmuid Gavin Chelsea Flower Show silver medal winning garden was transported back to Hanover Quay in Dublin 2 and installed as a landscaped courtyard.

All of these touches are indicative of a developer skilled in marketing strategies and with an instinct for what home buyers like, which bodes well for Park Developments very first scheme in Cork, Estuary Ridge, where they’re already on a winner with the Kinsale coastal location.

A swish-looking nine-house development that does what it says on the tin: on a ridge, overlooking the Bandon river estuary, but with views extending in all directions to Kinsale town and its glittering marinas and across towards Compass Hill, it has the stamp of the kind of high-end product Kinsale is known for. It embraces the town’s nautical traditions too, giving the homes names familiar to sailors: The Mooring, The Halyard, The Buoy, The Bowline. Two detached bungalows in the scheme are the well-heeled downsizer’s dream: low maintenance, landscaped gardens, great views, within walking distance of the town and its quality hospitality offerings.

Families keen for the outdoorsy lifestyle Kinsale can ably cater for — especially members of the sailing fraternity — will have a short stroll to the marina from one of the detached, four-bed, two-storey homes, of which the largest is 205 sq m.

If the showhouse doesn’t convince you, nothing will. Tipperary-based Savvy Kitchens — who’ve featured in TV shows — have worked their magic in units with colours reflective of ocean and driftwood. They’ve also taken care of the bathrooms — think coral pinks and blues — and the wardrobes in all of the A-rated homes. Ash Wilson Design added deluxe finishing touches in these O’Mahony Pike-designed properties with extra wide drives, terraced gardens and stretches of lawn.

“There’s a very high PC package going with Estuary Ridge so the only thing the buyers will need to do is the flooring,” say joint agents Elizabeth Hegarty of Savills and Patricia O’Regan of Sheehy Bros.

Ms O’Regan adds that the aspect is fabulous, with south-west facing gardens and upstairs views of the open sea.

While lots of developers sell off-plan, Ms Hegarty says Park Developments chose to hold private viewings, to showcase their work.

“They wanted to build and demonstrate the quality of the product before selling,” she says.

The agents say they already have “strong local interest” but that “overseas enquiries won’t be a surprise” such is Kinsale’s reputation, where millionaires and billionaires are known to sail in and snap up expensive properties.

With prices starting at €950k and rising to almost €1.3m, Estuary Ridge isn’t cheap, but the trade-off is a quality home in one of Ireland’s most desirable coastal enclaves.

VERDICT: It’s Kinsale. What’s not to like?