ARGUABLY THE COUNTRY’S best-known wedding planner, Peter Kelly AKA Franc has put the place he has called home for over twenty years on the market.
In this time, the TV personality and his wife, Éadaoin, have managed to create a welcoming and whimsical home on the edge of the Cork town of Fermoy. All the while, this innovative couple have run a successful business and raised four children.
Woodview House has a starting price of €720,000 and is sure to garner a lot of interest from people home hunting in the area. With an overall floor space of 372 m², anyone who buys this unique home will be purchasing two properties essentially. There’s a cottage on the same plot that has its own access and Eircode. In it, there’s an office, boardroom, kitchen/dining space and a bathroom.
The original farmhouse dates back to 1902 and hasn’t lost its charm thanks to the couple’s sympathetic renovations. There’s no doubt that any additions made were well-thought through – salvaged oak floors and cabinetry handcrafted by a local craftsman are just two examples.
Separate to the beautiful kitchen and dining space, there’s a large pantry/utility room – one of the two utility rooms in this house. This was the original kitchen of the old farmhouse but it now connects to the newer L-shaped cooking and dining space which was renovated in 2006.
The kitchen gives views of the garden on all sides and has a large island with a quartz countertop in the centre of the space. A single door opens into this room from the front of the house while double French doors open to the patio to the back. An exposed stone wall that features along the dining space shows off the original fabric of this Victorian farmhouse.
The ground floor is also home to a family room and a lounge as well as one of the en suite bedrooms. Of the five bedrooms in this house, three have their own bathrooms. The wooden staircase from the hallway brings you to the first floor where the remaining bedrooms and bathrooms live.
The pièce de résistance, however, is probably the laundry room on this floor. Having a well-functioning and spacious laundry room is often on must-have lists, but having it close to where the majority of washing accumulates is an even bigger plus.
In addition, Woodview House makes the most of the half acre it sits on. The garden is heaven for the green-thumbed. It’s home to well established trees, plants and flowers of all kinds to keep keen gardeners, as well as cooks, busy. To the back of the house, there’s a polytunnel for growing vegetables and herbs.
For those who love to entertain, outdoor plug sockets, recessed lighting and hot and cold running water to the patio will make hosting guests all the more enjoyable. There’s also a makeshift bar in a shack for people to enjoy a drink in.
But the kids haven’t been left out. No doubt, they’ll delight is the play house, placed high in between two trees, that can be reached up a spiral staircase.
All of this and there’s still room left for the driveway to the front for a few cars.
And, for remote workers who are tired of perching at the kitchen table or on lounging on a couch, the separate cottage surely sweetens the deal. Once the farm’s dairy parlour, the space now comprises everything needed to run a business including a place to take breaks in as well as a boardroom. It has access to two 40-foot containers, so there’s no shortage of storage either.
A striking floor to ceiling fireplace in the office space makes a real statement but it won’t distract you too much seeing as it’s smartly softened by the white tiles and floral wallpaper.
Walking distance from Fermoy town but with river and woodland close-by too, Woodview House is an exceptional family home in a great location that might be hard not to fall in love with.
Woodview House, Duntaheen Road, Fermoy, Co Cork is on the market for €720,000 through Patricia Stokes.
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