Horse dealer's Georgian is 'a damn fine house'

Co Waterford: €2m"Gee, what a cute little house you have there," remarked an American tourist on horseback to Gillie Connors who was painting the porch of her Co Waterford home on a summer afternoon back in 1967.

"It's big enough for me," she replied gamely.

Pallas, a 557sq m (6,000sq ft) Georgian country house, could only be considered "cute" or "little" by someone used to living in terribly grand surroundings.

But then Jacqueline Kennedy had spent three years in the White House.

The former first lady of the United States had been holidaying in the area when she "dropped by".

The house is now too big for the widowed Mrs Connors whose seven children have grown up and moved on, four of them to live in the United States.

The Irish equestrian world lost a well-known figure last January with the death of her husband, Mick Connors, one of the country's best-known horse dealers.

Over four decades, he had sourced some of Ireland's most famous international show jumpers, including Carrolls Spotlight and Diamond Seeker, as well as providing horses for ceremonial military duties to the cavalry regiments of the British Army.

Mr Connors supplied Sefton, a horse which survived the July 1982 IRA bombing of the Household Cavalry in Hyde Park while en route from Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace. Sefton underwent surgery, survived, received extensive media attention and became a household name in Britain.

More recently, Mr Connors had furnished three of the horses which drew the gun carriage bearing the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales through the streets of London.

Now Mrs Connors has decided to sell up and move on. As a result, Pallas House on 32 acres (12.95 hectares) will be sold at auction at the Woodlands Hotel, Waterford on October 12th. The agent is Michael H Daniels & Co of Mallow and the AMV is €2 million.

The six-bedroom house, approached by a tree-lined drive, is laid out on three floors and retains original full-length sash windows.

If you are reading this having just viewed a Jimmy shoebox-sized apartment costing the guts of €500,000, consider this: the asking price of €2 million for Pallas includes a 557sq m (6,000sq ft) house; 32 acres of land close to the country's fifth largest city; a farmyard; stabling for 50 horses, indoor and outdoor showjumping arenas; oh, and a two-bedroom gate-lodge.

The property is just minutes from Waterford city and airport, and is close to one of the finest beaches in the south-east (Woodstown); deep-sea fishing and sailing (Dunmore East); racing (Tramore); and hunting (Woodstown Harriers and The Waterford).

So what's the catch? The price reflects the need for "modernisation" of the house. That doesn't just mean a lick of paint.

Pallas requires considerable sprucing-up, not to mention replumbing, rewiring, installing central heating, and a look at the roof.

Doing so would create what a more down-to-earth American tourist might call "a damn fine house".