BIRDIE-chasers and hole-in-one hounds might like the sound of Fairview, an impressive West Cork home that overlooks the 16th fairway at Bantry Bay Golf Club. It’s already attracting international attention, and doubtless there’s a few golfers among them. Others will be drawn by the West Cork location, close to the shores of Bantry Bay.
Fairview is an impressive family home
Then there’s the house itself, an impressively generous home, where living accommodation has been flipped for maximum daytime enjoyment of the green golfers’ paradise it overlooks. When trees are bare in winter, you can see right down to Bantry Bay, from Fairview’s upper floor.
Bridget and Joseph “Buddy” McCarthy bought the site 21 years ago.
“A digger came in on Feb 2004 and we were in by November,” Bridget says.
The work, direct labour, with Buddy’s brother John installing the electrics, was overseen by Ted Daly of Daly, Barry & Associates, “and he was meticulous”, Bridget says.
“We knew with Ted Daly in charge, there’d be no cutting corners.”
As Buddy and herself had by then half a dozen kids, they made it plenty big (2,660sq ft). Accommodation is over three levels: a trio of bedrooms and bathrooms on the lower floor; one bedroom in use as a study and another with an en suite on the middle floor, where the key feature is a beautiful sunroom, with a tall apex window that rises into the vaulted ceiling.
Sunroom opens onto a timber deck
Double doors open to a timber deck which catches morning light and setting sun. During the day, the sun is “right across the front of the house, which faces south”, says Bridget.
The best views are up top, where a suntrap balcony can be accessed off both the kitchen/dining room and the sitting room.
Suntrap balcony on the upper floor at Fairview
Fairview’s long lawn stretches out before you, landscaped on day one by Tom Hanrahan, who’s returned every year since to keep the acre trim. Well matured shrubs minimise the upkeep.
Fine stretch of lawn at Fairview
Bridget and Buddy (of Buddy Cabs) are only selling because the kids have fled the nest. “It was always a great house for a gathering. We could have 18 here at Christmas no bother. I come from a family of nine, and we just wanted plenty of room and we got it at Fairview.
Upstairs living quarters at Fairview
Top floor kitchen at Fairview
“I never thought I’d admit that it was too big, but it is now. I’d love to see another family enjoy it,” Bridget says.
The house was constantly updated and selling agent Denis Harrington of Harrington Estates says its quality, and value-for-money guide price of €795,000, has resulted in international interest.
“Enquiries are coming in from Europe and North America,” he says, as well as from professional couples relocating.
Fairview, a three-minute walk from the golf course and five minutes from the shore, is “a magnificent spot”, he says.
Landscaped gardens at Fairview
“If you want to be in the environs of Bantry town, without actually being in it, this is the spot.”
VERDICT: A family home par excellence with a special attraction for golfers
