(Written by my husband)
Cobh (and this property) was the biggest surprise of our trip, staying in four locations across the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. We had looked for a place in Cobh because my wife’s ancestors had sailed out of this port in the 1800’s, and we booked this location largely because it had already been built when those ancestors left, so the thought that they may have even seen the homes was pretty cool. That said, the town and the house exceeded all expectations, and we wished we had scheduled more than the one full day and two nights we had booked there to better explore the town.
The house (and its neighbors), is actually fairly famous, and noted as “Deck of Cards Houses” on Google Maps, and there were people at the park across the street taking pictures of the row of houses when we arrived. They were very cute and historic, but inside, everything had been updated with modern appliances and features. Out the back windows was a great view of the historic cathedral (got some awesome shots of the cathedral with the full moon rising behind it, as well as a good sunrise picture of it), and it was a very short walk to the cathedral and the harbor and the excellent Cobh Heritage Centre on the harbor, which detailed the history of the port, including the Titanic, the Lusitania, and the decades of emigration that occurred out of there. It happens to be housed in the original train station that my wife’s ancestors would have arrived in before leaving on the boats outside on the harbor. We did not do the Titanic Museum (More than fully covered within the Heritage Centre, in our opinion) or the Cobh Museum. It was also an easy drive from here to Blarney Castle.
Parking was also super easy, and surprisingly there was a space open immediately outside the house every time we needed it. Only concern I would mention was that the stairs to the main bedrooms were steep and fairly narrow, so if you have someone with limited mobility, that may be an issue. My in-laws chose to stay in the curtained bedroom on the ground floor to avoid the stairs, but were not bothered by the lack of a hard wall between them and the living room. Others may feel differently, and there were three bedrooms upstairs (and one bathroom), a huge plus for the six adults in our party.
We would definitely recommend this home and this city to friends looking to visit Ireland.