Picture a Sunday morning in late September. The kitchen window is open, and the smell of damp grass and woodsmoke drifts in from the garden. The trees at the back boundary — beech, oak, whatever the previous owners planted decades ago — have gone full amber. The kettle is on. Nobody on the road outside. This is what Cloncarhee feels like on an ordinary weekend, and it's far from ordinary.
Set on a genuinely private half-acre site in Clonlara, a quiet village in east County Clare, this five-bedroom detached red brick house sits at that rare intersection of total calm and genuine convenience. You're less than ten minutes from Corbally and the northern edge of Limerick City, yet standing in the back garden with the patio doors wide open, you wouldn't believe it. The mature planting — built up over years of careful gardening — wraps the property in a kind of natural insulation from the outside world. Hedgerows, shrubs, flowering trees. The kind of garden that took time to grow and would cost a fortune to recreate from scratch.
At 193 square metres across two floors, the house has the proportions of a proper family home — one that actually works for how people live now. The entrance hallway makes a solid first impression, with solid wood parquet underfoot that sets the tone before you've even looked left or right. The living room, to the left, is anchored by an open fireplace with a marble surround. On a January evening when the rain is hammering the windows, this is where everyone ends up. The dual-aspect windows pull in light from two directions, and French doors through to the dining room mean the ground floor has a flow to it that feels considered rather than accidental.
The kitchen and dining area runs the full width of the rear of the house — a proper cook's space with fitted units on multiple walls, generous worktop runs and tiled floors that handle the chaos of family mealtimes without complaint. Windows front and rear mean it never feels dim, even on overcast Clare afternoons. Right beside it, a snug with double patio doors opens directly onto the outdoor seating area — the kind of room that becomes the unofficial heart of the house during the summer months, when the garden chairs come out and long evenings stretch past nine o'clock.
The ground floor also includes a utility room and a double bedroom with ensuite — a detail that gives the house real versatility. As a guest suite it works perfectly, but the layout also lends itself to a self-contained annex for an elderly parent, a returning adult child, or simply a more independent guest setup. It's the kind of quiet flexibility that adds genuine long-term value to a family home.
Upstairs, four more bedrooms each sit at a corner of the house, which is a smarter arrangement than it sounds — it maximises wall space, it keeps sound from travelling between rooms, and it gives each bedroom a sense of its own territory. All are carpeted, all have built-in wardrobes. The principal bedroom has a fully tiled ensuite shower room. The main family bathroom is finished with contemporary sanitary ware, a separate bath and an overhead shower — well-maintained and clean, needing nothing immediately. Stira attic access from the landing gives you overhead storage that most suburban houses would envy.
Outside, a gated entrance with a tarmacadam driveway leads to the house and to a large detached double garage — one of those genuinely useful outbuildings that could serve equally well as a workshop, a home gym, hobby space, or secure storage for kayaks and bikes. In a region where outdoor life is lived year-round, that kind of covered space has real practical value.
The Clonlara area itself rewards the curious. The Shannon is close — local paddlers and open water swimmers make regular use of the river at Parteen Weir and along the stretch toward Killaloe, a heritage town fifteen minutes by car where the boats moor up and the pubs fill with weekend walkers from the East Clare Way. The Lough Derg Blueway, one of Ireland's most scenic water trails, starts practically on your doorstep if you're coming from this direction. Cyclists are well catered for — the University of Limerick Arena, with its world-class sports facilities, pool and running tracks, is reachable in around ten minutes on a bicycle along quiet country roads.
Limerick City is close enough to matter. The Milk Market on a Saturday morning — the best farmers' market in the midwest, with sourdough from Bread Basket, Clare lamb, raw milk cheese and the best flat white in the city from the corner stall — is twenty minutes by car. King John's Castle, the Hunt Museum, the Lime Tree Theatre in Castletroy, matches at Thomond Park: the city punches well above its size for culture, food and sport, and the commute from Clonlara keeps it all within easy reach without surrendering the breathing room of a rural address.
Shannon Airport is forty minutes west, with direct routes to London Heathrow, Manchester, Amsterdam, Paris and a growing number of European hubs. For buyers coming from the UK, mainland Europe or further afield, that connectivity changes the calculation considerably — this is a property you could actually use regularly, not just a summer visit if you happen to be passing.
For international buyers, Ireland's property purchase process is relatively clear. Solicitors handle conveyancing, and the legal framework is English-language and accessible. Stamp duty is standard at one percent on the first million euros for residential purchases. With oil-fired central heating, mains water and a septic tank, the services are typical for a rural Clare property of this age and type. The house is in good condition and move-in ready — no remediation project, no drastic renovation budget to factor in.
As a second home, the property holds obvious appeal: five bedrooms means you can bring the extended family and still have a room for guests. As a primary residence or a relocation base for those moving to the Limerick-Clare area, the credentials are equally strong — Parteen National School minutes away, UL on the bike, Limerick city on the doorstep.
Key features at a glance:
- Five-bedroom detached red brick house, 193 sq m / 2,077 sq ft
- Half-acre mature private site with landscaped gardens and gated entrance
- Solid wood parquet entrance hall, open marble fireplace in living room
- Kitchen/dining spanning the full rear width with front and rear windows
- Snug with double patio doors opening to the garden patio
- Ground floor bedroom with ensuite — ideal as guest suite or granny flat
- Principal bedroom with fully tiled ensuite shower room
- Contemporary main family bathroom with bath and overhead shower
- Large detached double garage with workshop or storage potential
- Stira attic access with significant overhead storage
- Utility room plumbed for washing machine and dryer
- Oil-fired central heating, mains water, septic tank
- Ten minutes from Corbally and Limerick City by car
- Cycling distance to University of Limerick Arena
- Forty minutes from Shannon Airport with direct European routes
Properties like this — the right size, the right site, the right location — rarely sit on the market long in east Clare. The combination of mature grounds, flexible accommodation and proximity to Limerick makes it appealing to a wide range of buyers, which means demand is real and competition tends to move quickly.
Get in touch through Homestra today to arrange a private viewing. See the garden in its autumn colour, walk the rooms at your own pace, and judge for yourself what Sunday mornings in Clonlara feel like. Some houses make sense immediately. This is one of them.
