The house next door to €640k Boann just broke the €1m price barrier for Midleton

REGULAR  readers of these pages may experience a sense of déjà vu in relation to the house featured here, Midleton's Boann.

Rest assured, it’s spanking new. It’s the site, not the house, that rings a bell. Barely a month has passed since its bigger, flashier neighbour, Capri Lodge, made the front page. In that short space of time, Capri Lodge went sale agreed at €1.1m, from a starting price of €950,000, fulfilling the prediction of auctioneer, James Colbert. At the time, he speculated that the 3,635 sq ft property could set a new house price record for Midleton town.

Capri Lodge’s relevance here is that the site it is on (0.7acres) was part of a bigger parcel of land (1.4acres) bought in 2019 by Ger Ring, the grandnephew of legendary hurler Christy Ring. He chose it for its proximity to water: the site borders the Owenacurra River.

However in order to fund his dream home, he ended up splitting the site in two and selling off half of it. The sold-off portion (0.7acres) is what you see here, and the house that is on it is a modern take on the 1960s bungalow that preceded it.

“I bought the site off Ger in 2020 and the house on it wasn’t in great shape,” says the owner, a local businesswoman, who is “drawn to do-er uppers”.

“I saw it for sale on the paper and I thought ‘this could be fabulous’.

Her instincts proved right. She acquired the better half of the site, even if the house she built is a lot more modest than Capri Lodge. Its position by the river is truly special and the collection of towering Scots Pine trees in her two-tier rear garden is a sight to behold. It’s all been wonderfully landscaped, with much input from friends and family, including Tommie Murphy, of Murphy Plant & Civils, who did a lot of the groundworks.

The owner’s brothers helped restore a collapsing riverside patio, now reconstructed and girded by giant limestone boulders. Framed by a glass balustrade for shelter and safety and built into a bend in the river, there is no more optimal spot in which to sit out at Boann, the house name chosen by the owner as it’s associated with water: Boann was the goddess of the River Boyne.

There’s a patio closer to the house too, off sliding doors into the stylish open-plan kitchen/dining/living room which in turn is open to a sunroom, glazed on three sides. Energy efficiency was a priority at Boann: cavity walls were pumped, the roof insulated and windows and doors replaced. Polished concrete floors and underfloor heating add a touch of luxury. The house has an excellent A2 rating, meaning buyers can qualify for more favourable green mortgage rates.

Auctioneer Ed O’Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan predicts trader-up and trader-down interest in this 121 sq m bungalow with capacity to extend into the attic and create two more bedrooms.

Those trading down, perhaps with more time on their hands, will revel in the beauty of the site, which is wired for lighting outside, by the river and up in the trees. In Carrigogna, on Upper Mill Road, just a few minutes drive from Midleton town centre, Boann is already attracting attention locally, from Cork city and from Leinster. The guide price is €640,000.