4 ON THE MARKET

seafront properties

Murreagh House, Durrus, Co Cork €445k CHARLES MCCARTHY, (0288) 21533

MURREAGH House is one of three properties along a 900-metre lane that stops at the sea, and it’s on two acres so you feel you’ve got the whole place to yourself. It overlooks Dunmanus Bay, with the Sheep’s Head peninsula to the north and the Mizen peninsula to the south. The two acres offer splendid views of their own too, as the gardens are beautifully kept. As to the house, it’s 2,000 sq ft all on one storey. That includes four bedrooms (two en-suite) as well as a kitchen and utility and a long, dual-aspect living room with a fireplace and French doors. There’s an adjoining garage and office too with separate access.

Armadale, Skerries, Co Dublin €750k WYSE ESTATE AGENTS, (01) 568 8900

BUILT in the early 20th century, Armadale is one of a pair of semidetached red-brick houses on South Strand staring fixedly eastward at the Irish Sea. You’ve only to cross the street and you can be striding along the beach in minutes. There are some very good period features inside, including high ceilings with coving, original fireplaces and an open-string staircase. It’s been extended to 2,260 sq ft with five bedrooms (one en-suite) upstairs, one with a back balcony. The ground floor has two linked reception rooms at the front, and a kitchen and lounge at the back giving onto the paved back garden.

Letterard, Cashel, Co Galway €359k SHERRY FITZGERALD MANGAN, (095) 21888

THIS detached dormer bungalow is perched almost perilously on the edge of Bertraghboy Bay, which begins on the other side of the garden wall. Needless to say this gives the place spectacular views across the water to the Connemara mountains. From inside, the best of these views can had from the eat-in kitchen at the back of the house. There’s also a ground-floor living room with an open fire, and one ground-floor bedroom. The other four bedrooms are upstairs, one with an en-suite, in an overall floor area of 1,453 sq ft. It’s about an hour’s drive from here to Galway city. For local eating and drinking, Glynsk House is about a 20-minute walk away.

4 Fuaim na Farraige, Co Kerry €197,500 THE PROPERTY SHOP, (066) 947 3016

THE most famous visitor to Waterville in Co Kerry was probably Charlie Chaplin. He used to stay at the Butler Arms Hotel and there’s a bronze statue of him on the seafront. About five minutes’ walk from the statue is Fuaim na Farraige (‘Sound of the Sea’, fittingly enough, as it’s right on the water), a group of terraced townhouses on the New Line Road, with uninterrupted views of Ballinskelligs Bay. Number 4 is mid-terrace and has two bedrooms on its first floor, both en-suite and one with a balcony. Downstairs there’s an openplan sunroom and kitchen/dining room, and this also gives access to the walled back garden.