A sweet slice of country heaven in Cork's Ballymakeera for €335,000

Looking a little like a 19th Century American Midwest homestead, this Ballymakeera property has two cottages, two distinctive timber barns, a large plot of land, riverfrontage and the shelter of some exceedingly tall trees.

It’s home to a Cypriot-Irish couple who settled there eight years ago, drawn by the need to escape the city and find green space and cleaner air.

But although the lifestyle appealed, the cottage itself needed a huge amount of work before it became the pretty, traditional property that viewers can now come and see.

Believed to date from the 1900s, it was, the owners have been told, originally the home of two brothers who were carpenters while the stone cottage behind it, which has been partially renovated, is even older.

“We bought it from an English man who had owned it for 20 years and it needed a lot of work,’’ reveals the owner.

Part of the attraction of the property for the owners was the collection of outbuildings and the two distinctive timber barns at the rear. One, built by the last owner, is detached, open at the front and has red roof tiles. The other, attached to the stone cottage, is older and was renovated by him. It too has red roof tiles but its double door and large number of windows makes it look a little like a Swedish cabin or possibly a French one.

The current owners saw an opportunity to upgrade the second cottage to provide accommodation for their family and to use the barns as workshops. They loved the tranquil woodland setting at Rath, 4km outside Ballymakeera village, and, over the last eight years, enjoyed taking walks in the countryside and climbing gently sloping hills in the vicinity.

When they renovated, they kept everything very traditional and when they had finished put up a name plaque which simply says, ‘The Cottage’.

“We couldn’t repair the old single-glazed windows so we put in double-glazed sash ones, dug up the floor, insulated it and put down concrete and then put down timber flooring,” says the owner.

Keeping the traditional features, they repaired and painted the timber-beamed ceilings, bringing in local tradesmen to do the work.

“A local carpenter made the kitchen, cutting the timber to measure in the workshop at the back,’’ says the owner, explaining that they kept the countertops of the old kitchen, painted the new units off-white and bought a small island unit in a second-hand shop in West Cork.

When it came to upgrading the central heating, they also decided to keep it local and bought a Firebird boiler manufactured in nearby Ballyvourney and also fitted one of their two fireplaces with a Firebird stove. Improvements to heating and windows brought the BER rating up from an E2 to a D1.

The interior of The Cottage is charming and old world. The front door opens into a timber floored living room with a painted beamed ceiling and a timber fireplace with a stove and a redbrick surround.

There’s a second, smaller living room with white, timber-panelled ceiling, a redbrick fireplace with a stove and antique-style ornaments and light fittings. The kitchen-diner at the rear looks exactly as a country kitchen should with its white-beamed ceiling, pottery filled dresser, hanging ornaments and brick-effect splashback tiles.

A staircase in the main living room leads to the upstairs which has a bathroom and two timber-floored bedrooms with latched doors and white timber-panelled ceilings. Inspiration struck the owners when it came to the unused space on the long landing between two bedrooms.

“ We put in a wardrobe with open shelving which works very well,’’ says the owner.

At the front, they added a pretty gate and a cottage garden.

“We don’t have flowers now in October but in the spring we will have daffodils and in summer we have many wild daisies and foxgloves,’’

As well as the flower gardens, there are gravelled areas, lawns and trees.

“We have a small wood with around 100 trees,’’ says the owner, explaining that the 1.6 acre site is divided in two.

Around an acre of it surrounds the cottage and its collection of outbuildings while the remainder is located across the road where there are two small fields by the river.

In the last year, the owners began renovating the old stone cottage behind the main one with a view to turning it into accommodation for their family.

But now, feeling the need to move to a smaller property with less grass to cut, the owners have put ‘The Cottage’ on the market with DNG Timothy O’Sullivan.

“The property oozes charm and character and the location is picturesque and tranquil “ says auctioneer Tadhg O’Sullivan quoting a guide of €335,000. He says the numerous outbuildings and workshops could be used for a variety of purposes while the second cottage would make an ideal guest property or home office.

Mr O’Sullivan has been surprised by the high level of interest he’s been getting from both Cork city buyers and overseas ones.

“We have booked viewings with UK buyers, some Germans and quite a lot of Swiss ones.”

VERDICT: A Little House on the Prairie-style property blending modern creature comforts with rustic charm