If Paradise was half as nice: Head turner on Cork's Blackrock Road for €1.1m
![If Paradise was half as nice: Head turner on Cork's Blackrock Road for €1.1m If Paradise was half as nice: Head turner on Cork's Blackrock Road for €1.1m](/cms_media/module_img/7260/3630484_13_articlesmall_06.03_20Jesmond_2c_20Blackrock_20-_20Stokes-07_PRINT.jpg)
Jesmond, on Cork's Blackrock Road. Pictures: H-Pix
Blackrock Road, Cork |
|
---|---|
€1.1m |
|
Size |
186 sq m (2,000 sq ft) |
Bedrooms |
4 |
Bathrooms |
3+1 |
BER |
C1 |
JESMOND, a bit of a head turner, could have ended up as a standard dormer, but didn’t, because its owners are possessed of a prodigious amount of creative flair.
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She understood that it would be madness to hack out the Arts-and-Crafts-style original windows, with their tiny leaded squares on the upper panes.
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![Home office with one of Miriam's artworks The Graces Home office with one of Miriam's artworks The Graces](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7262/3631030_3_articleinline_06.03_20Jesmond_2c_20Blackrock_20-_20Stokes-19_PRINT.jpg)
Creativity is not exclusive to Miriam at Jesmond. The garden is Michael’s handiwork and it’s as vivid and textured as anything you will see in a gallery. A cherry blossom tree at the bottom of the exceptionally long garden (270 ft all told, from front to rear wall) may be the biggest cherry blossom tree you will ever see.
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A nearby oak was self-sown, Michael reckons. He’s taken to rewilding parts of the garden in recent years and that’s produced some beauties too, like lilies and ferns and foxgloves, from seeds he reckons were dropped by birds.
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Apart from mowing a path through some of the high grass, he’s left the bottom of the garden largely to its own devices. A standout feature here is his own work of art, a hand-built tower made of cobble stones, that once formed the floor of a coach house and stables of a farm they lived in in Co Louth, and which he kept in storage, before transporting them years later to Cork.
![Cobble Tower Cobble Tower](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7262/3631036_3_articleinline_FullSizeRender_20_3_.jpg)
The tower is topped off by a quern stone, used for grinding corn, and passed down through the family.
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One of those old features is a stunning period fireplace set against redbrick in the lounge area of the open plan space. There’s a second period fireplace in the dining space.
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Adding to that sense is a pretty little chalet, a free-standing, octagonal garden room, with cosy electric fireplace and two-piece bathroom suite that has functioned variously as a home office and an art studio and a den for young guests, thrilled with indoor/outdoor sleepovers.
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It’s a gorgeous room with deep set original bay window and original wooden floor.
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A walk-in wardrobe is cleverly concealed behind slide robes. The ensuite has both bath and standalone shower cubicle and a vibrant colour palette.
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