Chart a course to a luxury lifestyle on Compass Hill

THE upmarket coastal town of Kinsale has been booming all summer, with its high-end eateries and colourful winding streets thronged with well-heeled visitors from Dublin and abroad.

So it’s been an opportune time for Savills to sell its most expensive scheme to date in the fashionable Co Cork town — at Árd Álainn, a development of 12 large detached houses, prices start at €1.35m. Five four-beds, each measuring a whopping 3,500 sq ft, were released off the plans last month, and one has already been sold.

Enquiries so far have come from the UK, locals, and Cork natives in the IT industry who can work remotely but want to be within a halfhour’s drive of Cork Airport for business travel.

Árd Álainn is situated on Compass Hill, and overlooks the upper stretches of Kinsale Harbour. Each house will be built on its own west-facing sloping site to lend a feeling of privacy and give residents a sense of owning a one-off home rather than being part of a development.

The first release comprises type A homes, with even larger five-bed type B homes due to come on stream at a later stage. The houses at both types were designed to command views from every main room.

At the A style, the hallway at the entrance level leads straight to a living room that’s flanked by two large corner balconies, one to the guest bedroom which comes with a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite, and one to the dining room. The kitchen, cloakroom, guest WC and boot room are also on this floor. The staircase leads down to the garden level, with a master en suite with another walk-in wardrobe, two more en suite bedrooms, a games room, storage room, utility, and a snug room in the centre of the house that opens onto the patio and garden.

The A2-rated houses will have underfloor heating on both levels. The development site is a five-minute walk from the centre of the town. Viewings of the site are by appointment only. Enquiries to Savills Cork, (021) 427 1371.