THERE’S a case to be made in favour of describing hairdressing as visual art, as it’s all about shape and form and expressing yourself through your work. Good hairdressers certainly display creative flair and chances are, it’s not limited to the hair salon.

The owner of 3 Delfern Grove is a case in point.

 Both he and his partner have a background in hairdressing which demands a high degree of dexterity and not a little inventiveness. The same skills stood him in good stead when he designed his own rear garden, where shape and form are very much in evidence.

“Conor had a vision for what he wanted, and it was essentially two gardens, one for sitting back and relaxing, and the other for dining and barbequing,” says his partner, Paul.

What he achieved in the modest-size garden of a three-bed semi is quite a feat. First off it was on a slope, and had to be levelled. It was then divided into a raised rear section along the back garden wall, and a lower tier, down a few steps, outside patio doors.

A selection of towering greenery climbs up along the back wall from a raised bed and in front of it is a kidney-shaped lily pond. Lights are hidden in the greenery and in the lily pond and create a lovely ambience in the evening. It’s a sun trap too as it faces south west.

“It’s just the most perfect spot for chilling and for entertaining,” says Paul, “and it’s so private here too.” 

The lower tier dining section is surrounded by a curved stone wall which screens it from the barbequing area. It’s all beautifully presented and planted and it’s visible from the sitting room at the front of the property, as the view is straight through, thanks to the open plan flow between sitting room and kitchen diner and on through to a lounge to the rear, where a giant apex window frames the leafy garden view.

The lounge is another element of No 3 that wasn’t there to begin with. When Conor bought the house 30 years ago, it came with the sitting room and a dining room and a separate small kitchen downstairs. He paid an extra €9,000 for a utility and shed. It’s changed utterly in the intervening period, as the couple carried out major renovations seven years ago, knocking a wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a more convivial space, and building on the lounge, a fine, bright room, with vaulted ceiling and velux windows in addition to the great big apex. 

French doors with glass panelling lead to the patio.

Paul says it’s their favourite room but he also loves the kitchen diner, where a hob on the breakfast counter allows plenty of interaction between whoever is doing the cooking and the guests at the dining table.

 The cooker hood over the breakfast counter is like a statement light fitting. In fact it has lights in it too and Paul went to great effort to source it. A splashback of bright yellow glass is another striking kitchen feature. The front-of-house sitting room is very stylish too, and has a multi-fuel stove in the fireplace.

Off the kitchen is what used to be the utility, but is now more of a pantry, with plenty of room for a double fridge and a door to the outside, and behind the pantry, in what was a storage shed, is now a pristine utility, with cupboards disguising the washing machine and dryer.

Out in the hallway is an under-the-stairs guest WC and there’s a nice feature recessed alcove halfway up the stairs. More renovations took place overhead, with the staircase moved to facilitate an attic conversion. It’s a fabulous space, with two velux windows and a shower room.

Back down on the first floor, the main bedroom has an ensuite, and there’s a second double bedroom and a single room, with built in bed. The main bathroom is pretty new too, with some useful tiled shelving.

No 3 Delfern Grove, in a quiet cul-de-sac off Maryborough Hill, is immaculate and it’s probably fair to say that every change that could have been made to enhance it has been made.

Having put so much into it — new heating system, rear extension, attic conversion, new kitchen, tiling, plumbing — why are Conor and Paul selling? Well, sunnier climes are calling and a permanent move to Lanzarote is on the cards. Yes, they love their garden, but as they head towards retirement, they don’t want to have an eye forever on the Irish weather forecast. Lanzarote will largely put an end to that.

“For sure we will miss this house, but we are trading it for living by the beach in Lanzarote,” Paul says.

Jeremy Murphy of Jeremy Murphy & Associates is selling No 3 and the guide price for this 145 sq m house is €389,000.

He says it’s been “superbly finished throughout” and “completely modernised”.

“It’s an ideal family home,” Mr Murphy says, adding that its location on Maryborough Hill is another bonus, close to Douglas village and with good bus routes to Cork city centre.

He says the professionally landscaped back garden and uber-stylish attic conversion, as well as the rear lounge, make this “a highly desirable property”.

The most recent recorded sale at Delfern Grove was of No 19 which sold last year for €360,000, according to the Property Price Register 

VERDICT : Beautifully sculpted back garden is the crowning glory of this quality property.

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