2867 sq ft (main house) + 1,043 sq ft (cottage)

C2 (main house) D2 (cottage)

IT will surprise no one that Peter “Franc” Kelly, a non-stop machine of creativity, has a garden that is kinda like a stage production, with an exciting series of scene changes, depending on which part you are in.

It’s deliciously whimsical, but what less would you expect from a man hard-wired for out-of-the-box thinking, a gift successfully monetised with his Weddings by Franc business, showcased over the years in TV progammes such as Brides of Franc, Franc’s DIY Brides, and Say Yes to the Dress.

But while the TV shows portrayed him as the Wedding Wizard, who excelled in exceeding the happy couple’s often madcap expectations, in real life he’s more MacGyver; the guy who can turn a garden into paradise, by building king-size treehouses for his kids which connect, via zip wire, to a fire pit. 

Then there’s the rum shack, whipped up over lockdown from all sorts of odds and ends, including a salvaged bar door, so that his daughter would have somewhere to celebrate her 18th birthday.

 And the fig-tree seating area, which is what it says on the tin – seating, under a huge fig tree, so that you can reach up from those comfy seats and load up on figs.

Or there’s the morning coffee spot, or the hammock between two pear trees in memory of time in the Caymen Islands, or the official patio, or the bow of a rowing boat, planted upright in the garden, his dad’s skiff, which he associates with happy memories of mackerel fishing, and where he sometimes catches the last bit of evening sun, near two rose varieties, planted at opposite sides of a pergola, in the hope, he laughs naughtily, that they would one day meet.

“Those varieties are Rambling Rector and Virgin White, given to me by my grandfather, who thought it might be funny if they ever did meet up,” he says.

His grandfather was Charles Henderson, erstwhile Chelsea Flower Show judge and presenter on BCC favourite, Gardeners’ World in the 1970s. With that kind of green-figured pedigree, Peter’s own garden was never going to be just lawn and they brought in Town and County Gardens to help with the design. Peter is married to Éadaoin Morrish, whose late mother Máirín, a former member of the academic teaching staff at University College Cork’s botany department, was tasked with cataloguing the Fota House Arboretum, after the university bought the estate in the mid-1970s, and so their garden has also benefitted from slips/seedlings/cuttings of plants that originated in Fota, with some varieties even making their way to the Kelly-Morrish’s latest venture – transformation of the former Mercy Convent in Rosscarbery, on c 7.7 acres, which the couple bought two years ago.

The purchase of the convent is the reason they are selling Woodview House and Cottage, on Duntahane Road, Fermoy, where they have lived since 2000. 

They moved there after a brief period of commuting from their first home in Courtmacsherry, to offices in Thompson House, Cork City.

“After our [eldest] son was born, we realised that arrangement was not going to work. So I literally put a compass on a map of Cork and looked for somewhere that was about a 20-minute commute. And so, after looking at many homes, we moved to Fermoy,” Peter says.

The shift from West to North Cork meant leaving behind The Tree House, their gorgeous Courtmacsherry home, so-called to mark their love of treehouses, which featured strongly in both of their childhoods. Keen for his kids to experience the same lofty thrills, Peter set about building treehouses on the 0.5 acres of gardens in Fermoy.

“I just decided one year that I wasn’t going on holidays; that I was going to spend two weeks building treehouses,” he says.

Never one to do things by halves, (or even ones) he built two, with upstairs and downstairs quarters, one with a trapdoor (for the boys) the other with a kitchen window (for the girls), reached via spiral staircase, and exited by slide or zipline, straight to the firepit. Éadaoin recalls their son steaming a lemon cake over it (not as random as it sounds, his parents are chefs, it’s how the couple met, on the same course at Cork Institute of Technology, now Munster Technological University).

“When we built the treehouses and the fire pit, the plan really was to keep the kids here, to keep them entertained and occupied and it was the best thing we ever did.

“There were times when I almost regretted it, when I spent nights sleeping out in the treehouse and looking over at my beautiful home,” he laughs.

Their home was not quite so beautiful when they bought it and they have pictures to prove it. It was a 100-year-old traditional Victorian farmhouse, designed for functionality and practicality, its lovely stonework covered with pebbledash, and with no real garden to speak of.

“It was known as Baylor’s Old Farm and it was famous for cures, for things like ringworm and eczema,” Peter says.

They carefully restored the house and landscaped the gardens and did it all again five or six years later when they essentially built on two new wings, taking the roof off, and building around the original structure.

The original farmhouse kitchen is now a pantry, with an open arch into the kitchen/diner extension, a charming room with more than a fair share of windows to enjoy the lush gardens and double doors to a patio at the rear. 

You can enter the kitchen (handmade, in oak, by local craftsman Eamon Ahern) from another door towards the front of the house.

It's a separate entrance to the formal front door, which is a thing of beauty, salvaged from a period home in Montenotte, along with its fanlight, and installed by a chap who also made the beautifully carved barge board.

Inside the front door is a tiled hallway (original tiles restored) with a reception room either side, one of which has two internal windows overlooking the hallway and original recessed shelving, and both of which have expertly-restored fireplaces.

Towards the back of the hallway, down a step or two, is the pantry, and at the opposite side is a beautiful downstairs ensuite guest bedroom, with exposed brickwork and patio doors. It is part of one of the two new wings.

There are four bedrooms upstairs, but before you reach them, there’s a corridor past the stair return with what looks like a large closet, but is actually home to an industrial-size dryer, and a pull-out ironing board. Directly opposite is the washroom which also has a double shower. Nearby, a spiral staircase leads to The Cubby (a small overhead den) with a velux and telescope for stargazing.

The main L-shaped bedroom is at the end of this corridor, above the kitchen extension, and it’s a terrifically big room, with circa half a dozen veluxes and clever under-the-eaves wardrobes, exposed brickwork, a calming mural and another great ensuite with “his and her” sinks and roll top bath.

Off the main stairs, is the main bathroom with jacuzzi bath and three more double bedrooms (one ensuite).

Woodview is a hell of a home, all gracious elegance and occasional playfulness indoors, with full-on whimsy outdoors, whether it be the giant primeval Jurassic Park-style leaves (Gunnera) in one corner of the garden, or the fully stocked rum shack (it used to be the chicken shack), or the polytunnel with its 22-year-old grapevine (dripping with grapes this year, and used to make wine and syrup for pancakes), not to mention the many fruit trees, the Walnut tree, the David Austin roses, the wisteria, the rare Mung Bean tree, the London Plane, the endless herbs for cooking and cocktails.

Amid all this hard-won playfulness, there’s a strong work ethic, which is why “Franc”, with Éadaoin’s formidable creative input, has become such a successful international brand. The hub of their business is right next to where they live, in an 1,043 sq ft cottage, formerly a dairy parlour, which was a ruin when they moved there, but is now beautifully restored, with a rear entrance from the internal courtyard of Woodview, and also a separate front door from Duntahane Road for clients.

 Inside is a large open-plan studio, a boardroom with striking mural, a bathroom, fully floored attic, a staff kitchen, and beyond it, two doors, one of which opens into a converted 40’ container (a second office), while the other opens into a yet-to-be-converted container. Neither container is apparent from the courtyard, thanks to clever planting.

Trish Stokes of Stokes Auctioneers, who is handling the sale of 2,867 sq ft Woodview, at the edge of Fermoy town, close to Glenabo Woods and the Blackwater River walk, says a new owner might opt to reinstate the cottage as a second dwelling as it has residential status. Both properties are included in the sale, with a guide price of €720,000.

“The restoration of the house and cottage has been a labour of love for this creative couple for over two decades,” Ms Stokes says, adding that “the gardens were designed to create little pockets of space for cooking, for parties and for breakfast... making this property feel like its own little oasis of calm on the edge of town”.

Peter and Éadaoin are meanwhile looking forward to a new commercial venture in Rosscarbery, starting by renaming the convent Convent Garden. The long-term plan is to restore half a dozen cottages to the rear, with a view to renting them out for residential weekends, where visitors will have a choice of courses such as cookery or art, with other courses added over time. They will be run from classrooms in the former convent school, while Peter and Éadaoin will live in the former Curate’s House.

For now though, the convent is contracted out to the State to house Ukrainian refugees.

“We wanted to do something to help so we have put our plans on hold for the next six months and we have 39 refugees staying there,” Peter says, adding that they have the rest of their lives for renovating.

The plan is for a multipurpose venue, with no decision yet on whether it will be used to host weddings, as the couple is anxious to avoid it being pigeon-holed. So far, there’s no danger of that. A former chapel has already been used to screen the Eurovision, where Ukrainians were given one small reason to celebrate, by producing the winning entry.

VERDICT: There’s a strong chance of a happy ever after for the lucky buyer of this home. Ideal for anyone wedded to the notion of working from home. A marriage made in heaven for the kids.

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