Vast Clare estate or a Dublin one-bed - both for €400,000

Town and Country: This week’s properties offer a stark contrast

Country

Address: Cahercon House, Kildysart, Co Clare
Agent: REA Paddy Browne

Cahercon House, on the shore of the Shannon Estuary, was built in the late 1790s. It has a mixed history, and was most recently a convent, boarding school and college.

The main, original part of the building has three floors over a basement, and retains period features such as decorative plasterwork, sash windows and fireplaces.

There’s a large banqueting hall with stained-glass window, a billiard room, four reception rooms, a ballroom, and a conservatory. The house includes about 40 bedrooms, although 16 are in the basement.

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Separate buildings include an accommodation block, classrooms, a dining hall and a gate lodge.

It comes with 10.6 acres of land (4.3 hectares). It needs work. BER: F

Plus: Substantial estate on the waterfront

Minus: The mish-mash of newer buildings detracts from the main house

Town

Address: 25 Dodderbank, Milltown, Dublin 6
Agent: Bergins Property Consultants

There are views of the Dodder river from the kitchen of this one-bedroom, 54.6sq m (588sq ft) apartment in Milltown.

The repainted home has a living room with a bay window and a balcony reached through floor-to-ceiling windows. There is also a stone fireplace, framing a gas fire. There’s a bath in the part-tiled bathroom. BER: C3

Plus: Good materials, including stone countertops, in the kitchen and bathroom, and solid wooden floors

Minus: Another window or two in the living room, on the fireplace wall, would enable more views of the river

Emma Cullinan

Emma Cullinan

Emma Cullinan, a contributor to The Irish Times, specialises in architecture, design and property