Kinsale has a great deal going for it. By the sea, it has a reputation as the gourmet capital of Ireland. It is a postcard-pretty village in the heart of the countryside, yet it is just half an hour away from Cork Airport and Cork city. It is little surprise that people as diverse as Tori Amos and Michael Jackson have chosen to live here.
Tearmann House, the riverside property of UCC president Michael Murphy and his wife Sioban, is in Dunderrow, less than 10 minutes drive from Kinsale on the banks of the Bandon river.
On the market with Sherry FitzGerald for €1.85 million, it is a contemporary extravaganza of a pad, designed to meet the standards of the German Passivehaus Academy. With just four bedrooms in its rangy 371sq m (4,000sq ft), it is all about space and sweeping vistas. Set behind security gates, Tearmann House sits on 11 acres of woodland and has its own river and fishing access. The house has been built to take advantage of the views; the exterior is stone clad so as not to spoil them from the outside.
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The living accommodation of the kitchen, family and dining rooms is on the lower ground floor, along with a study that doubles up as the fourth bedroom.
There is a wood-burning fire in the lounge and the open- plan kitchen area is a sleek modern space with cherry wood and granite finishes and Gaggaenau appliances.
Upstairs, although actually on the entrance level (think clever use of the sloping site), are three large further bedrooms, two of these are en suite and have their own balconies.
Go up again to find a large attic space that has the potential to offer even more living, playing or sleeping room.
Inside, the idea of a holiday home – and the house has been let as a holiday rental for the past couple of years – is emphasised by one of those curving central staircases and internal balcony arrangements that anyone who has spent time in the villas of Portugal’s Quinta do Lago would recognise. It is an impression that the finishes – natural plaster, slate and polished limestone, flowing from inside to outside – only add to.
On the river side, a double-height circular atrium has French windows on to the deck and a viewing balcony on top.
Tearmann House has proved its worth as a holiday home, but as Dunderrow is also a major site for pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly, it could also make a lovely executive bolt hole.
