€600k Lissarda five-bed is a clear labour of love

Hats off to this five-bedroom, five-bath home in Mid-Cork 

Gurranreigh, Lissarda, Co. Cork.

Lissarda, Cork
€600,000
Size	331 sq m (3,550 sq ft) on 1.75 acres
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	5
BER	B

There’s not much else you’d want at this 2012-built, B-rated, expansive Gurranreigh family home in an accessible part of Mid-Cork, near schools at Kilmurry and Macroom, and c 30 minutes from Cork city: It’s clearly been a labour of love, an attempt at perfection.

So, why sell?

“To be honest, it’s out of boredom, now that it’s done,” says auctioneer John O’Mahony, of local agency OM2, who launched the expansive property and landscaped grounds — with gardens in five theme sections — in recent weeks at €600,000. Little wonder “it has taken off in bids, it’s doing very well”, says Mr O’Mahony, suggesting that it’s now at €800,000 — a just financial return for the input of its family owners.

They are clearly not afraid of graft, and the finishing flourishes show that.

Owner Jerome Cohalan is a local, with a job in Cork city, but he knows lots of local builders and he did a lot of the work here himself.

His partner, Nickie, who is also Irish and the mother of their three children, is an ex-garda and, earlier this year, she opened a shop, Juniper Lane, in a former pub at Middle Square in nearby Macroom, doing fabrics, clothing, interior items, and more.

Oh, and she’s also a milliner, and makes hats for local heads.

Hats off, and making the most of their Gurranreigh site seems to have come easily to the Cohalans.

The home they created over the past 15 years is a substantial five-bed, five-bath home with attic rooms finished, with high-end kitchen with Aga and granite tops, boot room, pantry and laundry chute, airy main reception room with study, smart colour choices (one has a 7kw stove), and an impressive B BER. Meanwhile, the grounds hold a detached garage/work room (laden with well-used tools) and, above, in a lofted space, a gym/play room with pool table, done out as a covid project.

Splayed entrance gates mark it out from the nearby quiet public road (on a school bus route) and in the enclosed grounds within are several hedged sections, including orchard and tree-lined walkways, with raised ‘tree-house’/platform play space with deck and pirates’ flag for smallies, and a couple of other small, solid, roofed buildings, one done out as a South African-style ‘braii’ grill room for feeding meat to the masses al fresco.

VERDICT: Rural, yet not remote, it’s little surprise this one-off some 30 minutes from Cork city and 50 minutes from Killarney has already been bid so strongly above the initial OM2 €600k AMV, it’s getting a just reward for its owners’ labour and choices.