€395,000 family home in Ballineen with therapeutic ‘sea view’

HOW do you tap into that mental exhale that comes from being by the sea if you live inland?

Artist and psychotherapist Deirdre Whyte did it by recreating the Fastnet Rock in her back garden in the form of a striking mural.

“It was during covid. I went to my local beach in Clonakilty, because I wanted to walk by the ocean, but two gardaí asked me to turn back and go home.

“I thought, ‘If I can’t go to the sea, I’ll bring it to me’. And so I took out all of my paintbrushes and some of the neighbours came in and we all did it together,” she says.

Colourful boat mural at Ard na Carraige

It’s a dramatic seascape, recreated from a photograph taken by Deirdre during a boat trip. The famous Fastnet Lighthouse stands out like a beacon of hope. It’s been therapeutic for clients of Deirdre, a psychotherapist who runs her counselling practice from her Ballineen home. It can be a tool for regulation, reflection, and creativity, which helps in the therapy room, Deirdre says.

Her artistic eye was also useful when her home at No 4 Ard Na Carraige, Derrigra, Ballineen was being built 22 years ago.

 Having looked at the plans, she asked the builder to add a conservatory off the open-plan kitchen/dining room and to raise the roof above the kitchen sink, where a large velux was installed, adding both light and volume.

“The conservatory became a lovely part of the house and has been great for delivering therapy sessions as well as creating artwork,” Deirdre says.

It overlooks the rear garden, where a beautiful oak tree is the centrepiece.

Beautiful oak tree is the garden backdrop

 It’s the only oak tree in the estate, and beyond it is countryside. The sense is more rural idyll than housing scheme.

Deirdre says No 4 has been a terrific family home and ideal for her counselling practice. The decision to sell up is fueled by a desire to move closer to the sea.

Daniel Lehane, of Lehanes & Associates, is handling the sale of end-of-terrace No 4 and he says it’s a turnkey property.

“It has been decorated and modernised to a very high standard,” the agent says, adding that there’s off-street parking and an enclosed garden to the side and rear, with a suntrap patio area.

While the 131 sq m house is a four-bed, there’s scope to make it five, because a generous attic — already floored —could be converted. It could also be used for extra living space, although existing accommodation is probably enough for most families (there’s a separate living room, in addition to the sunroom and open-plan kitchen/dining room).

Mr Lehane says the property is centrally located between the twin villages of Ballineen and Enniskeane, and that it’s within walking distance of the local bus stop, shops, schools church, “with easy access to nearby amenities, such as a playground, pitch-and-putt course, tennis court, GAA pitches, all-weather, community centre and river walk”.

The winter sun rises behind the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Ballineen and Enniskean, Cork. Picture Chani Anderson

 The coastal town of Clonakilty is a 20-minute drive west, while Cork city is 45 minutes in the opposite direction.

The agent brings No 4 to market with an AMV of €395,000 and early interest is from first-time buyers, as well as people trading up from three-bedroom homes to four.

VERDICT: Well-maintained, roomy family home with plenty to savour in the garden.