{"id":644094,"date":"2026-10-04T01:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644094\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T01:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:00:21","slug":"200-year-old-gem-with-generous-grounds-on-blackrock-road-for-e650k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644094\/","title":{"rendered":"200-year-old gem with generous grounds on Blackrock Road for \u20ac650k"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s better than a Blackrock Road four-bed family home? Maybe one sitting on quarter of an acre of leafy gardens with lots of mature trees?<\/p>\n

Oakville, near Ballintemple village, had been since 1920 part of a set, along with adjoining Laurelville and nearby Ivyville. The Kavanagh family moved into what had been their grandfather\u2019s end-of-terrace home, with a south-facing back garden, in 1971.<\/p>\n

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The family of seven \u2014 Marise and Noel Kavanagh and their five children \u2014 made some changes to the property, which had been built in 1808. \u201cThe house had steps up to it from the road and my dad, with help from all of us, created off-street parking for a couple of cars, which was a game-changer,\u201d says one son.<\/p>\n

The family made excellent use of the extensive back garden, which widens out behind neighbouring gardens to create a more \u2018secret\u2019 hangout space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had non-stop buddies in the house or out the back, playing football, building camps, or fixing up motorbikes. My mother was very, very patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marise and Noel are now sadly deceased, but three of their adult children \u2014 as well as grandchildren \u2014 still live in the area, with siblings in Naples and LA. The house is now on the market for \u20ac650k.<\/p>\n

There are memories of many birthdays and family gatherings and games nights: \u201cMy parents loved playing cards, and the house was full of laughter and slagging on those nights. There would be a big fire in the front room, with seats built in on either side of it. We would sit on those until we got too hot on one side and had to swap with the person opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Plenty of vintage or original features are still visible in the house, including cornicing, fireplaces, attractive Victorian encaustic geometric tilework, tile wall murals, wooden shutters, and an original stone wall (now sheltered inside a sun room).<\/p>\n

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Of course, there were numerous pets here, too \u2014 including Skippy the donkey who lived in the back garden in late 1970s\/early 80s and even, sometimes, took a little wander along the Blackrock Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mother was involved in absolutely everything, from Meals on Wheels, to line dancing, yoga, or bridge \u2014 she loved having people over and often hosted garden events for charity.\u201d The large garden was also the go-to spot for occasions such as a grandchild\u2019s christening party with a marquee and at least 100 guests.<\/p>\n

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The location, near the entrances to the more modern Janeville and Lindville estates, means it\u2019s on the 202 bus route and is also handy for local schools, including Crab Lane, Beaumont, Blackrock, Douglas, and the city centre.<\/p>\n

Oakville\u2019s convenient location and generous grounds come in for praise from agent Timothy Sullivan, of Timothy Sullivan & Associates: \u201cOakville has an attractive facade, but what makes it unique is the most unexpected and exceptionally spacious, private, south-facing gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many other original homes on the Blackrock Road, the house itself (with an F energy rating), even pre-dates the Marina.<\/p>\n

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The dredging and planting work, which helped create the current Marina and Atlantic Pond, was continuing right into the mid-1800s.<\/p>\n

Now the Marina Park and Promenade is a 1.8km long, hugely popular amenity space with gardens, pathways, wildflowers, fountains, and picnic tables.<\/p>\n

And design teams are due to be appointed to look at extending the riverside Marina walk to Kennedy Quay, so this whole area is more than thriving.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, you\u2019ve got a grocery store, two bars, a pharmacy and a cafe\/deli all within about 200 metres, with further gastropubs and shops on the way to Blackrock village itself.<\/p>\n

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\n VERDICT: There are good bones here and a super garden to work with, so factor a decent architect into your budget and you could have a very desirable Blackrock Road base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s better than a Blackrock Road four-bed family home? Maybe one sitting on quarter of an acre of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,25976,61,60],"class_list":["post-644094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cork-property","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644094","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=644094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}