26-04-2025
Hospitality at core of Kinsale's €875k Harbour Heights family home
EXCEPT that this is Kinsale we are talking about, it would be quite a novel thing to say that 'secluded, private detached family homes for less than €1m here are rare right now.'
Yet, that's the observation of the vendor of 2 Harbour Heights, a spotless home with hospitality in its bones — its owners are in the restaurant/hotel/dining business sectors, and they have cut their property chops with a growing hospitality collection under their belt, in Kinsale, in Cork city and in West Cork.
No 2 Harbour Heights is set — as the name suggests — on a height above the buzzing harbour town of Kinsale at Cappagh, and is on a site of one third of an acre, walled on three sides, with a south-facing patio: it got a very substantial overhaul back in 2014, helping to explain its fresh demeanour.
'We have been there over 10 years, with fantastic happy memories and the family before us were here for over 20 years, so this property has changed hands only twice in the last over 30 years,' says the busy hospitality business MD of the more domestic scaled No 2, adding 'it's been an amazing family home.' It's moving on time now and No 2 which is on the outside/approach to Harbour Heights is pitched at family buyers and, as it's a bungalow it's also pitched at downsizers and relocators by its selling agent Sinead Sinnott of Sheehy Brothers auctioneers.
Ship ahoy
Set off the Bandon Road, above the new homes scheme Belvedere, Harbour Heights has a mix of c 15 various-sized detached bungalows, on large and mature sites, and 10 semi-ds deeper inside, with one semi, No 21 fetching €655,000 when resold last year. A larger, detached in Harbour Heights reportedly went sale agreed also in 2024 at €1.1m, but local reports say the owners subsequently took it off the market. Another detached inside in Harbour Heights meanwhile has gone sale agreed for around its €750,000 guide, needing updating.
Sheehy Brothers' Ms Sinnott predicts strong viewing and bidding interest in No 2, saying bungalows are rare in any case in and around Kinsale, especially those on good, private grounds within a safe walk of the town.
There'll be an appeal to older buyers and downsizers from near and far as it's all on the one level, but families are also expected as the site of 0.3 of an acre allows for future expansion, as families grow.
No 2 Harbour Heights 'is presented in immaculate condition,' Ms Sinnott adds, and is bright, with a good southerly aspect , while decor 'is light and neutral.' There are water and harbour views, out towards the Bulman in Summercove, spanning Charles and James Forts and up the Bandon River.
Rooms include a lounge/dining room with open fire and patio access, kitchen and large utility, and three bedrooms, one of them en suite as well as a main family bathroom, whilst outside a new patio and fencing was put in, inside the block wall boundary, with electric access gates, with parking for several cars (currently a Dragon yacht — a popular Kinsale sailing class — graces the drive.) Upgrades in 2014 included a new kitchen, bathrooms, new plumbing and wiring, new gas boiler and tank, as well as wall, floor, and attic insulation upgrades.
South aspected rear of 2 Harbour Heights
VERDICT: Privacy, space and comfort, and all in great nick thanks to owners who know the hospitality business well.
