Pets, pool sharks, games room, mini-bar: Supersize €795,000 Dublin Pike home embraced them all 

POOL sharks and pets were well catered for at Dursey, a voluminous Dublin Pike home on Ballincollie Road, named in honour of the West Cork homeplace of maternal grandparents.

Built for comfort a dozen years ago, it’s been home to a family and two of their pooches – who have their own living accommodation in tiled kennels to the rear.

Dursey comes with lots of extras, which were easy to accommodate, as the house is more than 4,000 sq ft. A games room, furnished with a pool table and mini bar, helped keep everyone sane during covid. 

So too did the 0.4 acres of outdoor space, which faces south east to the rear, while a large side patio faces west, so that all bases are covered in the event of sunlight.

 Above the rear garden, a very generous balcony stretches out from the kitchen over the basement games room and adjoining trio of storage rooms. 

The balcony can be accessed via a sliding door from one of two sitting rooms as well as from the kitchen, or from external steps from the garden. 

Right now, balcony views are of rolling countryside, but this could change if a proposal for 166 homes, shot down in September by Cork City Council, is successfully appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Viewed from the roadside, Dursey is a two storey home, although it looks more like a three storey to the rear. Ground floor level includes two sitting rooms, a utility and a downstairs loo/wetroom, as well as the centrepiece: a roomy, open-plan kitchen/dining /relaxation combination, with feature wood-burning stove. 

Throw in the large balcony, and you’ve a premium space for entertaining.

Dursey was preceded by a far more modest bungalow, which the owners knocked, replacing it with a house where en suites are a bedroom accessory, while two of the four bedrooms also have walk-in wardrobes. Skylights are in good supply upstairs and Dursey is a bright and airy home, with some high quality finishes, including the bespoke wooden staircase by Brian Corcoran and engineered oak flooring and polished marble tiles in downstairs rooms.

Outdoors is low maintenance despite the size: a mixture of hard landscaping and lawn, with trees along the back boundary. Parking is plentiful out front and a detached garage doubles as a gym.

Selling his bounteous home is Johnny O’Connor of Barry Auctioneers and he says it’s a “superb” house, with a commendable B3 energy rating, which will allow buyers apply for cheaper green mortgage rates. Solar panels and a heat recovery system have been helpful in this respect.

Mr O’Connor expects re-locators from Dublin and abroad to be among those showing interest in the house. It could also appeal to medics working in Mallow Hospital, a 30-minute drive away.

Cork city is much nearer, about 12 minutes by car, and there’s a good few schools closeby, including Scoil Oilibhéir, a large co-ed primary school in Ballyvolane and St Aidan’s Community College on Dublin Hill.

The guide price for Dursey is €795,000.

VERDICT: Some nice touches at this super-size family home. Ideal trade-up on decent site. Good choice of outdoor areas.