Tipperary homes that would catch the eye of Zuckerberg’s friends

​Have you ever thought about what homes in Tipperary might catch the eye of the rich and famous?

After the recent news that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, purchased the historic Strancally Castle estate in West Waterford, Ireland, in August of this year for an estimated €20 to €30 million euro, this newspaper did some research on where Mark Zuckerberg’s friends would come looking in Tipperary, for their next home. 

The Premier County has many gorgeous homes to offer and below is an investigation into what might catch their eye.

By the time you have enough money to buy almost anywhere in the world, the problem is no longer finding a house. It is finding somewhere that feels genuinely different, and that is where a little corner of Lough Derg starts to look rather interesting.

Imagine, just for a moment, that one of Mark Zuckerberg’s friends was looking for an Irish retreat.

Not Zuckerberg himself, necessarily. There is no suggestion that the Facebook founder is eyeing property in Tipperary. But imagine someone from that particular world, someone accustomed to California, New York and London, to private compounds and five-star resorts, asking an estate agent for something rather more unusual (and based in the Premier county for the sake of this investigation).

Privacy would presumably be high on the list for friends of Zuck. So would water, greenery, good access and, preferably, the sort of place where a weekend gathering could take place without the neighbours wondering who had arrived.

They might find themselves being shown The Lake House on Cameron Island, in Lough Derg.

It is difficult to imagine a more intriguing proposition as it is the only residence on the private island.

The property is currently being marketed at €950,000 and sits on approximately 1.7 acres on the western reaches of Cameron Island. The house itself extends to about 2,008 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

With the Lake House being the only house on Cameron Island, the remainder of the roughly 100-acre island consists of remarkable native woodland. A nice change to Silicon Valley. In other words, the real selling point is the degree of privacy that a house like this offers. Tipperary is already a relatively quiet county but looking at a home on an island like this and you have every camera-shy famous person’s dream.

There is also a private harbour at the property and a mainland quay, with the boat journey from the quay to the island taking about five minutes. It may sound annoying to you or me but this extra step to enter the island is another selling point of this property to the ultra rich and famous. 

The house looks across Lough Derg, Ireland’s largest lake, towards Oillean Mor island. Around it are mature gardens containing specimen trees including copper beech, Japanese maples, a gingko and a magnificent red oak. There is a lakeside lawn, a Victorian croquet lawn, a walled garden, lily pond and what is described as a Zen garden.

It is an unusually complete little world.

And that may be what makes it interesting in the context of today's international luxury property market.

The ultra-rich nowadays really want another house that can offer privacy. You can build another modern mansion. 

There is something particularly Tipperary about the understated nature of the property too. The property is around 84 kilometres from Shannon Airport, with Dublin approximately two hours away by road via the M7, according to the sales website.

There are, of course, plenty of other grand houses in Tipperary. The county has no shortage of historic estates, country residences and large properties surrounded by farmland and mature woodland.

And perhaps that is the lesson for Tipperary's property market. If the county ever does begin to attract more international wealth, it may not be the obvious grandeur that brings them here. It could be the things Tipperary has almost accidentally retained: space, quiet, landscape, water and privacy.

For a billionaire's friend looking for somewhere to disappear for a few days, there are many other options on the various high end property websites. 

One home described simply as a “timeless Georgian manor amidst a breath taking lakeside estate”, is on the market for €3,600,000. 

The home is situated in O’Meara’s Acres in Tipperary; the five-bed and five-bath home contains limestone facades, polished timber floors, and panelled walls. Amenities of the home include a home cinema, gym, sauna, steam room, wine cellar, and a traditional stone boat house. The grounds of this country home feature extensive walled gardens, courtyards, parkland pastures, and mature woodland.

A home like this offers a large mansion style living that friends of the rich and wealthy may be used to but it also offers the quiet country estate and natural outdoors vibe that many areas of Tipperary have to offer. 

It would be no surprise to this paper if another wealthy tech mogul snapped up any of the above properties in the coming months.