By Irishexaminer.com,Tommy Barker Property Editor

Copyright irishexaminer

THERE’S been a lot of changes in the last quarter of a century since a world-travelling couple fetched up at this substantial East Cork home — the trail of time-marking changes included the use of fax machines to send house plans to a spouse in the US; furniture movers packing up a one-legged 12-seat dining table from North Carolina; subsequent cross-river Cork ferry work commutes; and a promise at the very start that if the house wasn’t nice, they’d sell up again straight away.

That was back in 1999. It all worked out, the couple with then young children stayed put, and 26 years later, it’s trade down time at Ceann Aistear — a five-bed 3,200 sq ft home on 0.65 of an acre at Ashbrook, Carrigtwohill.

The couple here had met in London in the late 1980s, as so many Irish did at the time.

Work in IT and procurement (in oil and gas) took the couple to Malaysia, Italy, the Netherlands, and the US, with children delivered in Dublin while living in Italy.

“However, our son always replies the ‘Bons’ Cork,” they say, adding that — while in North Carolina, and with their daughter’s accent — “starting to sound like sounding like Scarlett O’Hara, we knew coming home was the right move”.

A Cork friend recommended East Cork developer Séamus Geaney’s upmarket Ashbrook scheme to them, back then.

“I faxed the plans to my wife who was still in the USA with the children and her parents, organising our trip home, including a house sale there.

“Her only stipulation was that if she did not like the house, we could sell. The rest is history,” says the man of the house, adding the name, Ceann Aisteair, roughly translate as Journey’s End — “an element of wishful thinking”, which came from his fluent Irish-speaking father in law.

The family’s journey included a time renting in The Fairways, Little Island during the construction period, with work commutes to Ringaskiddy via the cross-river ferry or via the city, “as the tunnel was not in place at that time in 1999, and the Midleton rail line hadn’t been re-opened either”.

During their tenure, the Lee tunnel opened, the Dunkettle roundabout came in tandem, and the East Cork rail line serving Midleton and Carrigtwohill continues to evolve — due to run to every 10 minutes at peak times under latest plans.

Carrigtowhill’s commuter rail station is a walk from Ceann Aistear, and the line runs to the north of this property’s landscaped 0.65 acres, with feature old boundary stone surrounds.

Anchoring today is a feature stone wall seat, done by the mason who built this boundary wall, from original stone found in the overgrown ditch.

Selling on the family’s behalf is Cearbhall Behan, of Behan Irwin Gosling, who got a recorded €960,000 for a nearby Ashbrook home called Thomond last year.

Mr Behan guides this three-storey detached home — with attic office, study, and shower room, plus detached garage — at €885,000. He says it’s a great order home, in a now even more accessible location, wherever in the world home hunters are coming from.

VERDICT: Behan Iriwin Gosling can even fax out Ceann Aistear’s brochure and vital statistics to interested parties…