A Georgian house in Co Carlow with 13 acres of grounds that include a two-bedroom cottage, two apartments and a stable yard, is on the market at £975,000. Rathwade House, outside the village of Nurney, is owned by Judge Fidelma Macken, now serving in the European Court in Luxembourg. It is being offered by private treaty through Hamilton Osborne King, where Jonathan Price is handling the sale.
Just three miles from Bagenalstown, Rathwade House was built for a member of the Bagenal family of nearby Dunleckey Manor Estate. It has an impressive Gothic-style exterior with rendered elevations and cut-granite reveals and quoins. The main house, which extends to 6,000 sq ft, has six bedrooms, three reception rooms and four bathrooms, and domestic offices. All windows are shuttered and have moulded sashes.
A long avenue leads from the road to a gravelled forecourt. The house is entered through a large flag-floored outer hall with double timber doors opening through inner doors into the hall. It has a stone flagged floor and a four-centred arch to a staircase hall, where a Gothic-style timber staircase has ornately carved newels and balusters.
Off the hall is the drawingroom with a white marble mantelpiece with a cast-iron grate, along with a moulded cornice and a French door to the garden. The library has an Italian mantel with a wood-burning stove and full-height teak bookshelves to three sides. The diningroom has a pink marble mantel with decorative cast-iron inserts and windows facing south and south-west. A study has a fitted cupboard.
To the rear is a kitchen with a Belfast sink and a range of fitted units with a teak worktop. A breakfastroom has a granite-arched fireplace with an Aga and French windows to a garden. Nearby is a cold store, a boot room and a further store room.
Upstairs, three good-sized double bedrooms have en suites. Two of the other three bedrooms are doubles and the sixth is a large single. All bedrooms have original working shutters and there is a family bathroom. Also on this floor is a games room. A spiral staircase leads to a turret room with views over the front drive.
An apartment adjoining the house has a livingroom, kitchenette and bedroom. It is accessed by an external staircase.
The guest annex is entered from an inner courtyard. It could be reconnected with the house by reopening a blocked door. This annex has one double and one single bedroom, as well as an en suite bathroom and en suite shower room. A cottage is entered from the courtyard and has a livingroom, kitchen and bathroom, with two double bedrooms, one of which has an en suite.
The main garden is an example of early Victorian garden design with a collection of shrubs and mature trees. A recently constructed water garden in a woodland setting includes a lake.
