{"id":432576,"date":"2026-05-05T00:28:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/432576\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T00:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:28:21","slug":"great-house-glorious-garden-at-this-e695k-cork-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/432576\/","title":{"rendered":"Great house, glorious garden at this \u20ac695K Cork home"},"content":{"rendered":"

You would never guess from the artistry of the garden in this Upper Cloghroe home that the only thing in it when the current owners bought it was the stony leftovers of builders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really just a field with three big boulders,\u201d says Kate McNamara, whose green-fingered wizardry has since transformed a soulless plot into a vibrant, biodiverse haven.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t happen overnight \u2014 for more than four decades, she\u2019s been cultivating, layering, adding, and remodelling at Rockwood, guided by a desire for a naturalistic look, \u201cnot something trimmed to within an inch of its life\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along the way, she hired a local builder to lay a south-west-facing rear patio with incorporated pond, from which water flows down through rocks (those boulders came in handy) to a second feeder pond. There are three ponds in all and frogs are regular visitors.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of people said at the time that I should flatten the garden but I liked the gradient,\u201d Kate says. A dab hand at planting she enlivened the half acre, creating several zones to sit out in: An egg-chair relaxation area, a secluded bench at the bottom of the garden, a raised patio off the main bedroom, and a dining circle, with in-built stone bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cI designed the garden with kids in mind \u2014 my youngest daughter was born in the house \u2014 and in the hope of having grandchildren to enjoy it too, and they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate and her husband John bought Rockwood (previously called Woodside) 42 years ago when it was just a few years old. The original bungalow was much smaller than the 3,000sq ft house that you see now.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe lived in it for 10 years before we did anything,\u201d Kate says.<\/p>\n

Cumnor Construction built the first extension in 1996 and it \u201ctook the bungalow upstairs\u201d.<\/p>\n

It created a great big kitchen\/dining area as well as a sunroom and utility at ground level, while two bedrooms and a shower room were added overhead. There are also three attic spaces.<\/p>\n

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In 2005, the local builder who had laid the patio returned and added a new main bedroom \u2014 more suite than bedroom in reality, with walk-in wardrobe and en suite \u2014 which, like the sunroom and kitchen, opens to the patio and rear garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really special space, one of the nicest features of the house,\u201d says selling agent Dawn Holton, of Holton Homes and Properties.<\/p>\n

The agent says Rockwood is \u201ca real family home, with warmth, character, and generous accommodation, not to mention the extraordinary gardens\u201d.<\/p>\n

She believes families living in housing estates who value outdoor space, privacy, and security (there are electric gates) will feature strongly among those viewing.<\/p>\n

Rockwood, which is guiding at \u20ac695,000, is five to 10 minutes from Blarney village and about 20 minutes from Cork City. Nearby primary schools include Berring NS and Cloghroe NS, while there\u2019s also a secondary school in Blarney, as well as options in Ballincollig.<\/p>\n

\n VERDICT: Rockwood has a hell of a lot going for it \u2014 great light and space, wonderful south-west-facing back garden, a self-contained upstairs area with rental or inter-generational potential. It\u2019s proven itself as a family home and, as it\u2019s owners prepare to downsize, it\u2019s ready to do it all again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You would never guess from the artistry of the garden in this Upper Cloghroe home that the only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,4257,61,60],"class_list":["post-432576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cork-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432576","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=432576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}