{"id":484076,"date":"2026-06-05T06:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/484076\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:43:19","slug":"horses-and-angling-were-the-bread-and-butter-at-e1-25m-lovely-loughcarrig-house-near-east-ferry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/484076\/","title":{"rendered":"Horses and angling were the bread and butter at \u20ac1.25m lovely Loughcarrig House near East Ferry"},"content":{"rendered":"

THERE was no standing on ceremony at Loughcarrig House, a handsome Georgian home in Ballinacurra, outsideMidleton, where easy-going B&B hosts Brian and Cherry Byrne formed lifelong friendships with many of their guests.<\/p>\n

Among them was the late broadcaster Derek Davis, a passionate angler, whose visit to the waterfront property in the 1980s helped set in motion what would become a successful angling business.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe late Derek Davis was a regular visitor to Loughcarrig House where he enjoyed going out fishing with skipper Brian Byrne Picture: Billy Higgins<\/p>\n

Brian says: \u201cAt the time, I had an egg business that wasn\u2019t working out. Derek came down to visit with his best friend, Dick Collins, who was also in the poultry trade in Midleton. Derek said \u2018This is the ideal location for anglers\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian knew his way around a boat, \u201cbut not a whole lot about fishing\u201d, so he went to Dartmouth, in Devon, where he mastered the art of anchoring offshore wrecks, a boat-handling skill where the vessel is positioned precisely over the wreck, allowing anglers to fish down into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA wreck is the equivalent of an oasis in the desert for fish. It\u2019s like a coral reef and you get big fish out there, but you\u2019ve got to get it right, in terms of wind and tide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian had a knack for it, because the business took off and, for the next two decades, he and Cherry ran Loughcarrig as a guesthouse for anglers, hosting groups of up to nine at a time, mainly from Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Derek Davis, who had been instrumental in encouraging the venture, it remained a favourite destination, and Brian and Cherry got regular on-air mentions during his Live at 3 RT\u00c9 afternoon TV show with Thelma Mansfield in the 1980s and 1990s. Says Brian:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n If I caught a big fish, I\u2019d send him a photograph and Derek would get it in the newspaper. He gave us great publicity and became a lifelong friend\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Brian, a self-confessed adrenaline junkie \u2014 in his earlier career, as an amateur jockey, he rode over the banks in Punchestown \u2014 pioneered modern wreck fishing off the south coast, aboard his boat Lagosta 11. He credits much of the operation\u2019s success to good service for visiting anglers, who fished wrecks sometimes detected by magnetometer (a marine metal detector).<\/p>\n

DRINKING IN THE VIEW FROM LOUGHCARRIG HOUSE<\/p>\n

Before the anglers set out for the day, Cherry would serve breakfast in the elegant dining room, where tall sash windows look out over the estuary towards Rathcoursey, East Ferry, Cobh, and the wider sweep of Cork Harbour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DiningDining room\"ElegantElegant drawing room with French doors to walkway<\/p>\n

In the evenings, guests could enjoy the same view from the elegant drawing room, where French doors open out to the landscaped grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WalkwayWalkway at sunset<\/p>\n

These were reached via a small walkway above the basement level, where the couple lived.<\/p>\n

Brian bought Loughcarrig House in the 1970s with the help of his mother, Daphne Newsom, of Newsom & Sons tea-and-coffee merchants, a notable Cork family with roots in Tellengana House on Cork City\u2019s Blackrock Rd. By coincidence, Cherry also grew up on Blackrock Rd, but moved to East Ferry, aged about 12.<\/p>\n

\n We got it for \u20ac4,300 and you couldn\u2019t even get down the laneway to it, it was so overgrown\n <\/p>\n

Nowadays, the approach to Loughcarrig is via a well-tended driveway, where trees form a natural canopy.<\/p>\n

\"DappledDappled driveway<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s at its finest when the Irish Examiner visits, on a sun-drenched day in May. At the top of the dappled drive, the estate grounds widen out and the full beauty of Loughcarrig is revealed: Against a calm backdrop of glinting water stands a graceful period home, as comfortable in the landscape as Mystic Maisie, the mare that grazes the 10-acre waterfront property, which includes four stables and two ancient, walled gardens.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"MysticMystic Maisie<\/p>\n

Those outbuildings and the land around them \u2014 including a sheltered glade behind the stable yard complex \u2014 look ripe for re-purposing, perhaps as additional AirBnB accommodation, or as part of a glamping campsite with waterside activities, as the estate includes about half a kilometre of coastline.<\/p>\n

\"StableStable complex\"LoughcarrigLoughcarrig is right on the water<\/p>\n

\u00a0It could be a niche entertainment setting, too: The Dubliners came to play in a marquee set up in the grounds in the 1970s and singer Jim McCann became a lifelong friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Joe Mac (of Joe Mac & The Dixies) was a regular visitor, too: \u201cHe\u2019d come down with his grandchildren,\u201d Cherry says. American oceanographer Robert Ballard \u2014 credited with discovering the wreck of the Titanic \u2014 met with Brian to quiz him on his knowledge of wrecks.<\/p>\n

After almost 50 years at Loughcarrig House, the warm, down-to-earth couple are ready to downsize and have handed the task of selling their inviting, four- to six-bed home (four en-suites in the main house, potential for two in the basement) to Lawrence Sweeney, of Savills.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a massive response,\u201d he says, with four enquiries from the US alone \u2014 via Savills US offices \u2014 in the first few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing local interest, too, including from businesspeople looking for property with land and flexibility.\u201d There\u2019s potential for a hobby farm; for rewilding; for equestrian use; for converting the outbuildings (eg to artists\u2019 studios), subject to planning consent.<\/p>\n

\"AnglingAngling was a favourite pastime for guests of Loughcarrig House\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people have seen this house from across the water in East Ferry and have wondered who lives there or even how to get to it. Actually, it\u2019s less than 4km from Midleton town, out the Whitegate Rd, and the new cycleway will be accessible pretty close by in Ballincacurra, and from there you can cycle to the train station, or link to the greenway to Youghal,\u201d Mr Sweeney says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He describes the property \u2014 which dates to the early 1800s and had a kitchen\/sunroom added during the Byrnes\u2019 time \u2014 as \u201celegant and versatile\u201d, while the basement \u201coffers excellent potential for additional self-contained accommodation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The price for this unique property, 23 km from Cork city, is \u20ac1.25m.<\/p>\n

\n VERDICT: Historically associated with horse training and angling, the estate retains its appeal for either activity and much more besides. A compelling lifestyle property in a remarkable waterfront setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THERE was no standing on ceremony at Loughcarrig House, a handsome Georgian home in Ballinacurra, outsideMidleton, where easy-going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[626,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-484076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-house-prices-mortgages-estate-agents-cork-munster","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484076","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=484076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}