Tivoli €1.65 / Cobh €1.2:A fine 1845 country house, which overlooks the River Lee, has been refurbished with its original features intact and a pretty villa in Cobh with a sunny aspect.

BELLEVUE VILLAS was a landmark terrace when it was first built in 1845, and is arguably an even more notable landmark today.

The three elegant, tall houses, in Tivoli, Cork, are on the banks of the River Lee.

They are impossible to miss as you come into town from the Dublin direction.

The terrace would have been longer if the builder, a member of the city's Quaker community, had had his way. Plus ça change.

It's lived a life too: built as townhouses, the terrace has served its time as a school, been bequeathed to the African Missions and even been bought by an American sweepstake's winner who thought he was buying a single house.

Now the refurbished 2 Bellevue Villas, with five floors, is for sale by private treaty for €1.65 million. The selling agent is Casey Kingston.

In a 371sq m (4,000sq ft) floor area there are five/six bedrooms, four reception rooms and a kitchen.

A self-contained flat at garden level has a reception room, bedroom and kitchen/diningroom.

The vendors, selling after seven years, say they use "every inch of the five floors".

The entire terrace was in the process of being restored when they bought "a listed building, unlived in for 50 years which meant everything was intact, including six beautiful fireplaces. We restored the windows, doors, picture rails, plasterwork, everything."

The result is a home with grace, spectacular river views and a lot of creature comforts. It's convenient to more than Cork city too.

The vendor, a commuter, walks the 10 minutes to the station, travels the two hours and 40-minute train journey to Dublin and is in his office by 9.30am.

Spectacular by any standards, the ground floor dining and first floor drawingrooms also have to-die-for views of the River Lee.

The diningroom, where two windows give the views, has ornate plasterwork and a sweeping arch with double doors to the breakfastroom.

The drawingroom, truly grand in size and proportions, has three windows, similar plasterwork and a white marble fireplace.

The bedrooms are on the ground, first and second floors with two en suites.

A good-sized dressingroom could make a sixth bedroom.

The reclaimed garden has been replanted with such as camellias, magnolia, myrtle and cherry blossom.

A dramatic, 70ft high rock face gives rear shelter and privacy and front access to the house is via a gated footbridge.

2 Bellevue Terrace, Tivoli, Co Cork

A five-storey house dating from 1845 with wonderful views of River Lee

Agent:Casey Kingston

COBH VILLA

A PRETTY Georgian villa with 1.8 acres of grounds running down to the sea, outside Cobh, Co Cork is to be auctioned by Spencer Auctioneers on July 18th. The AMV is €1.2 million.

The house is one of just a few homes surrounded by woodland leading off French's Walk, an affluent neighbourhood about a mile from the town.

Cliff Cottage dates from the 1820s and is a spacious four-bedroom house with two reception rooms leading off a room-sized hallway. While the house is in need of updating, it has kept many of its original features.

Its most attractive feature is its sunny aspect and superb waterfront location with paved terraces surrounded by mature and exotic shrubs, and its private pathway leading down to a small beach called Kitchen Cove.

Cliff Cottage, French's Walk, Cobh, Co Cork

Georgian villa on 1.8 acres of seafront gardens with private path to beach

Agent:Spencer Auctioneers