Co Galway: A modern three-bedroom home that carries the unmistakeable feel on antiquity is on the market for €600,000, reports Michael Finlan
The stylish thatched cottage called The Paddock near Kilcolgan, Co Galway was built only some 30 years ago but it carries a true feel of charming and comfortable antiquity.
The three-bedroom house, which has been completely renovated, has a guide price of €600,00 prior to auction through Cunningham Auctioneers on October 17th.
Sheltered from the bustle of modern life, it could belong to a past era when horsemen galloped over the meadows around it and oysterboats moved across the nearby estuary opening onto Galway Bay. The 19th century occupants of Kilcolgan Castle and Tyrone House, between which The Paddock is ensconced, would not look out of place in the cottage. Christopher St George owned both the castle and Tyrone House, which had intimate connections with writers Somerville and Rosse and the Galway gentry. The Paddock sits in this environment with an air of belonging and appropriateness.
The surrounding countryside provides an incomparable arena for huntsmen and ladies riding to the hounds. It's the home of the Galway Blazers and has attracted lovers of the hunt from all over the world. It was a passion for hunting as much as the beauty of Galway that prompted American industrialist Tom Moore and his wife, Marguerite, to purchase The Paddock as their Irish home some years ago.
Tom Moore rode with the blazers every season and was made master of the hunt. Now that the Moores are returning to America, they're leaving behind one of the most engaging homes imaginable. It was a lovely place when they moved in but they made it even more appealing with imaginative renovations that included a lush new head of thatch.
The Paddock is now truly a unique residence overlooking the Kilcolgan river across the water from the celebrated oyster inn, Morans of the Weir. Situated on little more than an acre of beautifully landscaped ground, it is close to Kilcolgan village and the Galway-Limerick road, 10 miles from Galway city, a 20-minute drive to the city airport and 50 minutes away from Shannon.
The curved thatch roof is made even more distinctive by 12 "eyelid" windows peeping from the thatch front and back. Inside, timber-beamed ceilings accentuate the sense of the past and all the rooms look out on unblemished surroundings of gardens, meadows and circling river. The railed gallery that looks down on the big drawingroom is actually part of the upstairs master bedroom, one of four bedrooms, each with its own pronounced individuality. A handsomely bannistered spiral stairway in the entrance hall leads to the bedrooms. The diningroom is graced with a fireplace and bay window, creating a milieu that's ideal for grand scale dinner occasions. One end of the cottage has an unusual sunroom designed in the style of a Japanese tearoom. There are two bathrooms, a cloakroom and a toilet and many other attractive features incorporated into the house and gardens.
