They say that moving house is up there with death and divorce as a stressful life experience. But when the house you are leaving has been in the family for over 100 years, the stress is likely to be even more severe.

This is the situation facing brothers Paddy and Willie Smyth. Their home, Ellerslie in Rathmichael, Co Dublin, is steeped in family history. The Smyths moved to the property in 1876 and ran a successful cattle dealing business on the surrounding land for many years.

Now the land has shrunk to just five acres, the house is in need of refurbishment and the brothers feel it is time to sell. The painful business of packing up and throwing out is well under way, as the house prepares for open viewing.

Ellerslie will be auctioned by joint selling agents Lisney and Frank Gallanagh on November 14th. The guide price is £1.5 million (1.9m).

Rathmichael land is zoned for one house to the acre, and Ellerslie will be particularly attractive to developers because of its four-acre field fronting on to Ballybride Road. This could be developed with four substantial homes, leaving the original house and its outbuildings, which include a second house, Ellerslie Cottage, to be developed separately.

Originally a farmhouse, Ellerslie is a quaint four-bedroom house that now needs complete refurbishment. A listed building, it has a charming rambling layout with parts of it dating back to the 18th century. There are no less than three staircases, two of them leading to tiny attic rooms.

There are two large reception rooms with views over the front field and some nice period features such as vaulted ceilings and marble fireplaces.

A rear lobby with a pantry and study leads on to the kitchen beyond which is the original servants quarters. The house could be extended into the adjoining stable yard to create more living space.

Ellerslie Cottage, which is hidden beyond the house in its own gardens, is a two-storey house with three bedrooms.

The main house is surrounded by painted iron railings that also line the driveway. When the first Smyth moved to Ellerslie in the 1870s, he employed Dockrells to paint the house from top to bottom and install the railings around the house and paddock. The total cost was £75.

The receipt is part of the family history that was guarded by the current owners' father, Robert Smyth, a commandant of the FCAwho lectured regularly to the Rathmichael Historical Society. He died a perfect death, according to his sons, in the middle of a lecture on Ireland in the Emergency years.

His death gave Paddy and Willie the option to capitalise on the obvious development potential of the property.

"Our ancestors here looked after us very well and our father loved this house," said Paddy Smyth, "but things are changing, and it is time for us to move on. There is no use living in the 19th century. We have lived here all our lives and maybe there is a bigger world out there. This is an opportunity for us to find something else."

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