Get the gift of The Gables at Blarney's €975,000 Stoneview

“IF we could pick up the house and move it across the city, “ we would.

So say the young family who’ve made huge creature comforts for their smallies at The Gables, a period-era home that’s over a century of age, set just outside of world-renowned Blarney at a spot called Stoneview.

It has one foot in the past, as an elegant, early 1900s home, country-style meets Edwardian, and another in the future, given its proximity to the Cork-Dublin rail line and the mothballed Blarney rail station.

And, it’s just a few minutes too from the N20 Cork-Limerick road, and the consistently expanding Blarney Business Park; it has Apple HQ almost in its sights, the CUH is timed to 23 minutes while Blarney Pitch and Putt is within a golf club’s wood drive to the south.

So, the location, now sort of edge of city, is pretty bang on for a wide buyer catchment… just not for the couple here, Scott and Mary.

Scott spent his formative, pre-family years here after his parents bought The Gables in the mid-2000s; before their time it was an upmarket B&B serving Blarney and able to trade on its lineage, separating it out from the more standard B&B rivals of the day in the honeyed tourist spot and famed 15th century castle, viewed by upwards of 400,000 visitors a year.

However, while his roots are local, the duo need to up sticks and move to the not-so-distant southside for work: he has a substantial farm just outside Douglas, while Mary has a successful dentistry practice in ‘old’ Douglas.

Combine those pretty immovable jobs (work from home isn’t an option for either!) with cross-city commutes at the busiest times, with three youngsters under the age of five, and short of a north ring road being magicked up overnight, something has to give...

In this case, it’s The Gables: the couple have made the reluctant decision to sell so that they can compete in a busy buyers’ market southside.

They’ve given the sale of their home to estate agent Trevor O’Sullivan of Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty (SIR) who guides it just under the €1 million mark, at €975,000.

He’s going to see some familiar faces straight off the bat here at this fresh listing, as in the wider Blarney hinterland (albeit on the western side of Blarney) he has already sold the immaculate Brookfield House at Kielys Lane, Tower, for €975,000 (it had carried an AMV of €775,000) and Bracken Lodge at Carrigrohane and which had a €975,000 asking price, and which made a bit shy of it, to sell for €950,000.

At Bracken Lodge, Mr O’Sullivan reckons he had 20 medics come to view, and he expects a good percentage of these to also check out walk-in order The Gables given the same price bracket.

Might it go over the €1m mark? It’s likely that it will and and the vendor’s family would hope it does, the older generation possibly spent all that and more on it back in the mid-2000s, before more recently decided to trade down themselves in the Blarney area, and letting young blood back in.

Both generations have done substantial work in their times here, with high-end materials gone in, from stone flooring and fireplaces to an expansive, terracotta-tiled, solid wood kitchen with costly curved cabinetry, likely to have been done by master joinery firm Linehans in the city centre, garnished with a cream Aga, with back up Miele oven and appliances.

 That large room opens to a dining room on one side, with original exposed stone wall, and to a garden-facing sunroom on the other.

There’s also a breakfast nook, two double aspect reception rooms, laundry, utility, store, guest WC and bright, welcoming hall high ceilings feature throughout, and windows have been upgraded to sliding double glazed sashes.

A stairs in pitch pine goes from the dado-decorated long hall to the next level, splitting to front and back sections of the deep house, with five first floor bedrooms, most of them with upgraded en suites (there’s no other trace at all of B&B days) and the main family bathroom is a sanctuary, with stand-alone oval bath, plus garden views.

But, good and all as the garden views from the house are, they need to be walked around to appreciate, with screened walks, sunny patios, very mature trees, and lots of acers, plus some mature Scots Pines on a back boundary with farmland.

There’s 1.65 acres in all, and unusually it’s pretty dead flat level with a vast space able and willing to serve as a tennis court, grass if it has to be, or a hard surface would be an easy court too to install.

The entire is surrounded by very secure fencing, perfect for those looking to keep safe children, dogs or other pets. Ponies? Go rent some extra land if you need, there’s room here for stables and garages to supplement the main house and grounds.

Already, there’s a long, stone-built and slate roofed gym/games/exercise room/home cinema with pitched roof just a stone’s throw across a side patio from this Stoneview home, in very smart order, and with an antique stove already fitted: you won’t need gym weights to break a sweat if you fire it up.

Safety and security have been delivered on already, with a set-back electrically controlled access gate (plus alarm,) ringed by newly-done high stone walls, fencing and hedging: it all adds kerb appeal as well as peace of mind, says Lisney SIR’s Mr O’Sullivan.

As well as all of that, The Gables is marked out by a sort of look-out eyrie, a novel, glazed small sun room on a first floor landing put in place by previous owners, and enjoyed ever since as a place to sit in sun-warmed space, sip a cuppa, and to read.
VERDICT: Parting is such sweet sorrow, admit the reluctantly relocating vendors, knowing they’ll get half the property for nearly twice the price when they find their own landing pad across the city: and that’s no Blarney.