CO WICKLOW - €3.8m:A Georgian house and well-equipped equestrian centre with land on which to ride out make up this home near Ashford, writes Rose Doyle.
MOST OF the things that make the Garden County such a nice place to be in are encompassed in Boswell House and Boswell Equestrian, Ashford, Co Wicklow.
The lands, which amount to 14.5 hectares (36 acres) roll and undulate through woods, valley and paddocks. The equestrian side of things includes 20 stables in two yards as well as indoor and outdoor arenas, horse walker and more.
Boswell House itself is a recently renovated comfortable, light-filled Georgian family home with plenty of original features, a guest wing, a sweeping drive to the front and cut-stone yards behind.
Knight Frank is looking after the private treaty sale of house, lands, equestrian facilities, three apartments and a studio apartment. The price is €3.8 million.
Boswell Equestrian has Olympic-sized arenas and is used mainly for horse shows. The vendor says it has hosted "up to 170 shows a year, big and small and including large qualifying events. It was a stud farm before us and the equestrian thing was our choice but a new owner might choose to do something completely different."
He is particularly enthusiastic about seven acres of woodland along the entrance driveway which would, he says, "make an ideal cross-country course".
Boswell House, which was built in 1741, has three bedrooms, three reception rooms and a kitchen/breakfastroom.
A new owner might choose, as the vendors have done, to make the guest wing integral to the house, so bringing the number of bedrooms to six, adding three bathrooms and making for a total floor area of 327sq m (3,520sq ft).
Original features have been carefully retained, prime among them a unique, still functioning, 18th century security/locking system which slides from the wall inside the front door.
There are double-glazed sash windows with hand-made shutters throughout and, in the drawing and dining rooms, original plasterwork.
The country-style kitchen has an Aga and polished granite worktops. A garden room with double glass doors overlooks the cut-stone yard.
The main bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe and en suite with Jacuzzi bath.
Bedrooms apart, the guest wing has a kitchen/breakfastroom and sittingroom with wood-burning stove.
Across the yard there are three refurbished apartments with kitchen/livingroom and a bedroom in each and a one-bedroom studio. A further two-storey building could be put to use as accommodation.
All this as well as being on the edge of Ashford, one of the county's prettiest villages.
• Georgian house with guest wing, apartments, outbuildings and an equestrian centre on 36 acres of land
Agent:Knight Frank
