Wexford Living: Woodland manor on 154 acres for €3.75m

The owners of Borleagh Manor, a Georgian country house on a 154-acre estate in Inch, near Gorey in north Wexford, have cut €1 million off the asking price. On the market since last year at €4.75 million, it has just been reduced to €3.75 million.

The property, which is in pristine condition inside and out, is just over an hour from south Dublin and is surrounded by woodlands.

It comprises not just the main house but a courtyard plus separate guesthouse and staff cottage.

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The main house, which has just over 3,000sq m (9,850 sq ft) of space, has four reception rooms, four large bedrooms, a good-sized kitchen and family room, a wine cellar, a games and billiard room and an office. The thatched guesthouse extends to 518sq m (1,700sq ft) and the staff cottage to 243sq m (800sq ft).

Summer home

Built in 1750, it was bought by the then president of the Royal College of Physicians, Henry Quin, as a summer home. It was remodelled into its current form in 1840.

It remained in the Quin family until 1963 when it was bought by English matinee idol Richard Greene.

If you haven't heard of him, you will have heard of some of his house guests who, according to this newspaper, included Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor.

Greene himself went on to be master of the Wicklow Hunt and a successful racehorse breeder.

To complete the “huntin’, shootin’, fishin’” theme, there’s a well-stocked trout lake on the property with a little log cabin and a sign on the shore featuring a fisherman’s prayer: “God give me the grace to catch a fish so large that even I, when speaking of it afterwards, may never need to lie.”

An equestrian paradise – the courtyard centres on a fountain made up of winged horses – there are 4km of bridle paths through the property. Some 60 acres are in post and railed paddocks, with 80 acres of woodland and the remainder made up of the house and landscaped gardens.

Borleagh Manor, which is 85km from Dublin city centre and 75km from the ferry at Rosslare, is for sale through Colliers International Dublin.