Room to roam and a bonus two-bed apartment at Mill House

Mill House, beyond Cork city’s western suburbs, provides plenty of space for families writes Tommy Barker

Mill House, Corran, Waterfall, Co Cork.

Corran, Waterfall
€750,000
Size	176 sq m (1,905 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4+2
Bathrooms	4+1
BER	B

Families looking for space will find it aplenty at Mill House, a dormer home built in 2006 as a dream project, on four acres with meadows, set by woodland some 20 minutes’ drive out west of Cork City at Corran, where Waterfall meets up with Kileady, and also close to Crossbarry.

It’s trade-down/new life chapter now after 20 very happy years here, says selling agent Michael Downey of ERA Downey McCarthy who says his vendor “feels it’s time for a new family to enjoy all it has to offer.”

And, Mill House has a lot to offer, he explains.

“They sort of built it for future proofing in mind, with a two-bed apartment over a detached double garage,” Mr Downey says of the most useful extra addition to the main, c 1,900 sq ft four-bed dormer. This allows use for guests, for families, or rental income — lots of options.

The owners liked the name Mill House rather than having it built on the site of a mill, he reckons, and adds that they used the well-regarded engineer Tom O’Brien to oversee the construction of their home plus the adjacent block-built garage/apartment.

One of the four bedrooms is at ground level at a gable end with en suite and external access via a rear hallway, and also at ground are a guest WC adjacent, a large living room with stove on a raised stone hearth, with double doors to a sun terrace.

That sun terrace — done in Mediterranean-style terracotta tiles, ringed with black wrought iron railings — is also accessible from the triple aspect kitchen/dining room via a larger set of double doors with glass side panels for a super-bright space, and kitchen units and island are cream.

Flooring’s a mix of tiling and timber, and internal joinery sees a lot of oak used, in the stairs, doors, and architraves, while glazing is in Rationel-style pine.

Upstairs are two/three dormer level bedrooms, two with double aspect (inc Veluxes) en suites and the third, midships, is compact, and also useful as a home office if required.

The BER is a B, good for a home of 20-year vintage, roofs are in slate and there’s an almost Alpine feel to the vista from the sun terrace (with awning) thanks to the mature surrounding treeline and site slope, with literally, acres of possibility in the balance of the four acres, mostly left as meadow, ideal for grazing a few horses, ponies, or pet donkeys.

Location wise, it’s around 8km from popular and rapidly expanding Waterfall, about a 20-minutes spin back to Cork City’s western suburbs and 15 minutes from Ballincollig where there are major employers, whilst also close is Brinny, where pharma giant MSD has had a presence for 40 years.

VERDICT: Room to roam at this sort of a home-and-a-half, thanks to its very useful two-bed apartment and double garage.