Pool at €975k Lodge in Blackrock a Coole option for hotter summers

Blackrock four-bed has a pool, says Tommy Barker

9 Barnstead Drive, Ballinlough, Co. Cork

Sun, 04 Oct, 2026 - 06:00

Tommy Barker

Blackrock, Cork City
€975,000
Size	231 sq m (2,475 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	5
BER	D

The sale of no 9 Barnstead Drive in Cork’s southern suburbs should go swimmingly, and not just because it has an outdoor pool, though the site is so large you can’t see it from the house.

There hasn’t been a €1m+ sale in Cork’s Barnstead Drive according to the Price Register (though some might have sold for that at the height of the ‘boom’), and, right now, the top result is the €907,500 paid for No 8 in 2024, a gable-fronted, 140sq m, four-bed detached.

In contrast, the latest arrival, no 9, is more substantial, at 231sq m (2,475 sq ft) and it, too, is a four-bed detached, on a large, L-shaped site with the swimming pool at the garden’s far end, It is covered with timber decking, and looks like it’s set up for a platform dance or perhaps a bit of line dancing, given it’s Barnstead.

Coole Lodge’s selling agent, Sam J Kingston, of Casey & Kingston, prices his probate sale listing at €975,000 and, when asked if it should tip the €1m mark, says “the expectation is that it will perform well. It’s getting good early interest.”

Selling points are that no 9 is just off Church Rd in Blackrock/Ballintemple, and Barnstead Drive is in a top location in terms of services, schools, and amenities.

Add in a very private site of 0.25 of an acre with good rear aspect, with mature screening, and that’s another box ticked.

No 9 is also in very good condition for a 1960s build. The vendors bought it in the 1980s - the pool hasn’t been used since - and did upgrades, and it has also received a ground-floor extension.

Windows (lots of them) are quality pvc, external doors were updated, internal doors are oak, and floors in the main are hardwood at ground level.

The spacious kitchen has black granite tops and lots of white-painted hardwood units, with back-up utility/laundry, cloakroom, and a dining room connecting to both the kitchen and the living room family room. There’s a wood-burning stove in a very attractive, period-style, white-marble chimneypiece.

In addition, there’s an L-shaped family room, with garden access.

Coole Lodge has four bedrooms, three of which are en-suite, plus main family bathroom, and there’s pull-down stair access to a floored attic with Velux.

Original builders of Barnstead Drive’s mix of detacheds and semi-ds were O’Connor Brothers, with design by Denis Higgins — an influential Cork architect in the 1960s, having spent time in the US. In Cork, Higgins also designed Janeville in Blackrock, and Beverly, Woburn, and the open-plan Melbourn Avenue/Estate in Bishopstown and the western suburbs.

No 2 Barnstead Drive, a 170sq m, four-bed E-rated semi went to market in spring for €695,000, and is now ‘sale agreed’ in the high €700ks.