Marrakech honeymoon inspires garden of Tramore home in sunny south east
Tramore, Co Waterford
€415,000
Size
162 sq m
Bedrooms
4
Bathrooms
3
BER
B3
In Marrakesh, in the Kingdom of Morocco, is a fantastical botanical oasis known as the Jardin Majorelle.
Literally a work of art, its walls, fountains and villa are painted Majorelle Blue, an intensely vivid shade, trademarked by its creator, French artist Jacques Majorelle, who came up with this sublime piece of garden design and his own unique paint colour approximately one whole century ago.
Subsequently owned by the late, celebrated, French fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent, such was his passion for this magnificent, breathing masterpiece — a point of refuge and source of inspiration for him over the years — that it became his ultimate resting place, the living receptacle for his scattered ashes in 2008.
Anyone lucky enough to visit the jardin is unlikely to forget it and it certainly made its mark on the owners of No 8, Ballycarnane Drive, who paid a visit during their honeymoon, taking home not just photographs, but also a desire to replicate some of its lushness and colour in their own backyard.
It helped that one of them knew a thing or two about planting, having studied and trained in ecological conservation.
The upshot of her work is a biodiverse back garden with lots of lush vegetation, including different species of fern, cordyline ‘palm’ trees and one wall of striking blue, although not quite of the vibrancy highlighted by North African sunshine. Unlike the jardin, there are also no giant cacti.
“We had to choose plants that could cope with the climate in Tramore, where there’s a lot of salt on the wind,” the owner says.
With no climate considerations to trouble paint choices, they went, in a big way, for blue, the owner’s favourite colour, but also a nod to the nearby sea, with the beach just a two-mile drive away, well within Covid-19 travel restrictions.
That blue begins at the front door, before making its way, in a different shade, to the kitchen units and dresser, and reappearing in cobalt form in the soft furnishings, before snaking its way upstairs to the main bedroom, painted in yet another blue hue, and sliding into the tiles of the ensuite bathroom and around another two of the bedrooms, before finally giving way to taupe-grey in one bedroom, which overlooks the garden’s blue back wall.
There’s also an aquamarine theme in the south-facing rear garden, where raised beds frame one patio area. An additional patio area is accessed via French doors from the kitchen/dining room section. In fact there’s a series of seating options dotted about the garden, depending on sunshine and time of day and further splashes of blue in planters and big ceramic plant pots. There’s also a climbing wall, made by the man of the house for his teenage son who was unable to access his usual climbing venues because of lockdown. And there’s a Barna shed, fully insulated, with heating and electricity, that could be converted into an outdoor study, if more room was needed while working remotely continues.
In fact, the desire for a large, dedicated office space due to the nature of her work is one of the reasons the family has decided to leave behind their home of 14 years, the owner says.
Whoever buys the €415,000 1,750 sq ft home will not find themselves in a frustrating property chain.
“We’re not buying something else right now, we are looking to take on a development project or to buy a new property, so we will probably go into rented accommodation for now,” she says.
They do intend to stay in Tramore, as that’s where their work is. They’ve enjoyed living in their nicely-finished, well-located home, close to Holy Cross National School and Árd Scoil na Mara, as well as a retail park housing Tesco, Lidl and Tramore Medical Centre.
Selling agent Property Partners Barry Herterich says No 8, a three-bathroom home with a B3 energy rating, is part of a 12-house development, “one of the last developments of detached houses in Tramore, before everything just kinda stopped in 2008”.
He says it’s “just off the ring road”, 10 minutes from the outskirts of Waterford city and from the N25 to Cork, and 12 minutes to the M7 motorway to Dublin. The 27-hole Tramore Golf Course is less than a mile away.
No 8 is “luxuriously finished”, Mr Heterich says, with a double-height window to the front and a vaulted ceiling in the hallway. There are some neat understairs storage and a utility room next to the kitchen. Downstairs accommodation also includes a sitting room and living room, with double doors from kitchen to sitting room, and a guest WC.
Outfront, there’s more biodiversity on show in the flowerbed adjacent to the cobblelock drive, with plants carefully selected to attract the attention of butterflies and bees.
Mr Heterich is expecting keen interest, as soon as the ban on physical viewings is lifted.
He says he can’t remember any of the 12 houses in the cul de sac returning to market since they were built in 2004 and the Property Price Register shows no evidence of any second-hand sales at Ballycarnane Drive.
“They don’t come up very often, this is the first I’ve had for sale since 2004. I expect good interest. It’s an excellent family home,” Mr Heterich says.
: A touch of the exotic at this well-turned-out Co Waterford home.
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