Millers Cottage has all of its original solidity and comfort with, after a refurbishment carried out with much style, the comforts and solidity of a contemporary home too.
It's something of a landmark at the edge of Ashbourne, Co Meath; there's a nostalgia-gripping loveliness to its stone walls, red-framed windows and door and – at this time of year – multihued gardens. Millers Cottage is more than 150 years old, though knowledge of its origins is scant.
Owners Tom and Barbara Mulcahy love living there. They paid €500,000 when they bought 12 years ago – and have endured no end of good-natured jokes about The Good Life since then thanks to them sharing the same names as the couple in the long-running TV comedy series.
“We’ve put a fair bit of work into it,” Tom understates, “and a fortune in money. We’ve had lovely times here but we’re retired now, want to travel and the cottage needs someone to take it to the next step. Even if there’s not much more could be done.”
The Mulcahys converted a rear lean-to/studio into a dining/sunroom with vaulted, wood-beamed ceiling and wide views of the wooded garden they also created and cultivated. The sittingroom, part of the original cottage, has a cast-iron stove in the reclaimed brick fireplace and wood-beamed ceiling. “We use the sun/diningroom in the summer,” Tom says, “and in the winter come back into the house and enjoy the sittingroom. It’s a double house in that way.”
The entrance hall has a floor of reclaimed tiles. The rear kitchen/breakfastroom extension (updated in 2014) was handcrafted locally, has worktops of oak, extensive fittings and hand-painted fireplace surround. There is a feel of the original cottage upstairs where timber floorboards, if not original, are polished and certainly venerable. The main bedroom has fitted wardrobes; all three have large velux windows. The bathroom has a slipper bath as well as separate shower and toilet.
Millers Cottage sits on a 0.33acre site, has a floor area of 165sq m (1,776sq ft), three bedrooms, three reception rooms (one of these could work as a home office), kitchen/breakfastroom, utility, family bathroom and guest toilet. Agent Sherry FitzGerald Geraghty is asking €450,000.
In an interesting twist, the selling agent Celine Geraghty's deceased father, Christy Geraghty, was born in Miller's Cottage nearly 90 years ago.
“It’s a deceptive house,” Tom says, “much bigger inside than it looks from the outside.” The gardens, on three levels, are a delight and a definite plus, with many specimen trees to the back as well as a wide range of plants and shrubs. All of this makes for a charming sight and restful oasis. “It’s a fine and big garden,” Tom says, “and we love it – but it’s one of the reasons we’re moving on. It needs more time and energy than we have at the moment.”
The Mulcahys have relished the cottage’s proximity to the golf club. Tom says that houses built to the rear of the cottage in recent years “have made it even better, providing extra security while the garden and trees still guard our privacy.” The attic is floored for storage and there is parking on a gravelled driveway.
