Happy hunting at Georgian country home

CO MEATH: €825,000 A GEORGIAN country house in Co Meath going on the market today has been priced on the low side to ensure that a buyer can be found quickly.

Savills HOK is quoting €825,000 for Kentstown House at Kentstown, Navan, in an executor sale that is likely to interest families involved in hunting or show jumping.

Kentstown, a small village between Navan and the N2 Dublin-Slane road, is slap bang in the middle of hunting country assigned to no less than three packs, the Tara Harriers, Meath Hunt and the Ward Union.

Although the grounds do not come with stables, they extend to almost 2.5 acres and include two handy paddocks for grazing.

The property stands on an elevated site beside the formidable entrance gates to Somerville Estate and overlooks a quiet valley with the River Nanny as the centrepiece.

The two-storey house dates from the 1800s and was added to an earlier dwelling on the site.

It retains all of its original Georgian features including tall ceilings, timber sash windows and shutters, marble fireplaces and arched alcoves. Like most period houses of its era, it has fine reception rooms on opposite sides of the entrance hall and a kitchen and other ancillary accommodation at the rear. The main staircase leads up to four bedrooms - three of them looking out to the front - and two bathrooms.

There are also two further bedrooms in the older section to the rear which can be reached either from the main stair return or by a rear stairs.

Robert Hoban of Savills HOK says that while the house has been carefully maintained over the years, it needs to be modernised and a central heating system installed. Near its entrance gates there is a particularly well known natural water spring complete with stone fountain. It is a popular stop-off point for locals.