{"id":344329,"date":"2026-03-13T14:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/344329\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:28:15","slug":"three-times-lucky-with-this-self-built-country-house-on-generous-grounds-in-kerry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/344329\/","title":{"rendered":"Three times lucky with this self-built country house on generous grounds in Kerry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pete O\u2019Connor self-built two of his family\u2019s homes before perfecting his craft with Glasmor Country House\n<\/p>\n

Asking price: \u20ac695,000<\/p>\n

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean (066) 718 0822<\/p>\n

On a clear day, the outline of the MacGillycuddy Reeks looms on the horizon from Pete and Joan O\u2019Connor\u2019s sitting room, the light shifting across the slopes as the afternoon wears on. It is a view that was considered long before a block was laid on this elevated site near Firies, between Tralee and Killarney.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The elaborate bifurcated staircase at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built our house in 2003,\u201d Pete O\u2019Connor says, \u201cand moved in in 2004. We had previously lived in two other houses prior to that. This one, we put a lot of effort into. It was kind of an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said opportunity was partly financial and partly experiential. By the early 2000s, O\u2019Connor and his brother were building houses, and he had already completed two of his own. The third build, on the farm near where he grew up, came with fewer constraints: \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the financial restraints that we had in the other previous houses that we built. It allowed a bit of flexibility to put into it what we wanted and what we liked.\u201d<\/p>\n

That freedom translated into a collaborative project \u2013 one that drew on O\u2019Connor\u2019s practical experience and wife Joan\u2019s instinct for interiors. \u201cJoan would have been into the interior design and the finishes and the layout as well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A reception room at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

Joan\u2019s contribution is visible from the moment you step inside. There is colour, but it is measured rather than loud. Timber floors run through the main rooms, and tiling is used carefully, not simply as a surface but as part of the overall arrangement. Joan credits magazines for much of her early inspiration and says she could sell \u201cbucket loads of them\u201d at this point. Unlike some self-builders who begin with a rigid vision, Joan\u2019s approach was more incremental.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The kitchen comes with an AGA stove at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

The house that emerged has the proportions of a traditional country home. O\u2019Connor was clear from the outset about the direction he wanted to take. \u201cWe were always into the traditional country look,\u201d he says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to build anything that wouldn\u2019t look right in the area.\u201d The form mimics the Irish farmhouse \u2018cluster\u2019 vernacular, even though it has a very modern look, thanks to part-rendered, part-exposed stone walls.<\/p>\n

The two-storey, five-bedroom detached house is positioned centrally on its site, and has a large detached garage to one side. From a distance, it has the settled appearance of a building that has been in place longer than two decades. That was deliberate, O\u2019Connor says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A seating area at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

The accommodation includes five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The bedrooms are arranged to suit family life, which was the brief from the beginning. \u201cIt was a family home,\u201d O\u2019Connor says. \u201cWe have three children.\u201d All are now grown up and \u201cdoing their own thing\u201d, but the house was planned around the practicalities of raising them.<\/p>\n

One of their children, Fion\u00e1n, still lives locally, runs his own precision engineering business in Cork, and has fond memories of growing up in Glasmor, where he was heavily involved with local GAA club Milltown. \u201cI have great memories of the area,\u201d Fion\u00e1n says. \u201cThe kids at school were all lovely people. I haven\u2019t moved that far, just a few miles down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fion\u00e1n<\/p>\n

Fion\u00e1n and Pete O’Connor pictured at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

Downstairs, there are two main reception rooms. Both have natural light and open views across the surrounding countryside. The kitchen functions as the centre of the house, anchored by an Aga stove that O\u2019Connor describes as one of the items previously out of reach. \u201cThe Aga was something that we couldn\u2019t afford before, and we were able to put it into this house,\u201d he says. It is positioned not as a showpiece but as a working element in a room designed for daily use.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The upstairs landing at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

There is detailed joinery and panelling throughout the house \u2013 the product, the O\u2019Connors say, of careful selection rather than impulse. Lessons learned from earlier builds informed practical decisions about storage, circulation and room size. \u201cDefinitely, we would have learned,\u201d O\u2019Connor says of the previous houses. \u201cWe would have seen a lot of houses and designs and mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of the bedrooms at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

If O\u2019Connor\u2019s focus was on structure and layout, Joan\u2019s attention settled on how rooms would feel. The sitting room is her favourite space. Originally, it had a single window where double doors now open onto a decking area. When it was done initially, there was only a window where the double doors are. It was Joan who convinced him to go back and knock out that window and install glazed double doors to optimise the views.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/p>\n

Another one of the bedrooms at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

The change altered not just the elevation, but the way the room is used. The doors draw the eye outward to the garden and beyond, creating a direct relationship with the landscape and the mountains in the distance, while the decking provides an \u2018intermediate\u2019 space.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The master bedroom at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

The grounds themselves are straightforward, with a large garden with lots of room for children to play, or for gardening. At just under 0.85 acres, it could be described as manageable without being insignificant.<\/p>\n

Firies is a small rural community, but it sits within practical reach of larger centres such as Tralee, which is approximately 10km away. Killarney is about 20km, meanwhile, and Kerry Airport around 12km away.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The main bathroom at Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry<\/p>\n

For O\u2019Connor, there is a personal resonance of building on family land. \u201cI would be originally from the area,\u201d he says. Now, more than 20 years after moving in, he and Joan have decided to sell. The decision has not been abrupt. They first considered it in 2018 and 2019. \u201cWe were going for sale then,\u201d O\u2019Connor recalls. \u201cBut my son actually said, \u2018why don\u2019t you rent it for a while and see how you feel about being below in the other place?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view of Glasmor Country House, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Co Kerry. The house sits on a 0.84 acre site<\/p>\n

They chose to hold on to it, letting it until the end of last year: \u201cWe all kind of hoped that maybe one of our own would like to live there but that didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are not moving far. O\u2019Connor had purchased another property nearby in 2006, closer to the farm, and the couple intend to settle there. Asked whether they would consider building again, O\u2019Connor is unambiguous. \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d Three self-builds are likely sufficient for one lifetime.<\/p>\n

Meantime, agents Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean seek \u20ac695,000 on their behalf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pete O\u2019Connor self-built two of his family\u2019s homes before perfecting his craft with Glasmor Country House Asking price:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60,898],"class_list":["post-344329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news-ticker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}