TALKING PROPERTY:AT POWERSCOURT gardens over the weekend, enthralled by the beauty of the long, tree-lined avenue overlooking the lush green valley, I let my imagination run riot.
I saw myself, (well, let’s be honest, I saw a young, waif-like, charming and of course very beautiful version of myself), wearing a fashionable Regency empire-line dress and co-ordinating bonnet, returning to my country residence, Powerscourt House, in a magnificent horse-drawn carriage.
Greeted by a line-up of my household staff (all 60 of them), I was then ushered into my stately drawing room (overlooking the magnificent Italianate gardens), where, over afternoon tea, I recovered from a long and arduous day’s journey from my town residence in Merrion Square.
Dream over. I parked my old banger, joined the hoards of tourists and day-trippers, strolled around the formal Powerscourt gardens, demolished an ice-cream cone and spent a bomb on things I didn’t need but couldn’t resist in Avoca.
However, on my return home that evening, I revisited my daydream of owning a magnificent country estate and searched the internet for a suitable country pile.
Some might dream of hunting, shooting, fishing, horse-riding and self- sufficiency but my dream is of more ladylike rural pursuits, such as cutting summer blooms in my walled garden, collecting warm, freshly laid eggs and painting a delicate watercolour of the surrounding landscape.
With the beauty and convenience of the Powerscourt Demesne in mind, I confined my virtual search to the Garden of Ireland. So, my brief was to find a Georgian gem with room for a pony (as Hyacinth Bucket would say) and of course, neither BER Certificates nor budgets would be a consideration.
Traditionally, early summer is the time when large country estates come onto the market and this year is no exception.
Knockrobin House, which is known to many, as it used to be run as a small country house hotel, is on the market with Colliers International for €1,975,000 but open to offers. Although, as a Victorian property (built in 1846), it doesn’t quite fit the brief, it is, nonetheless, a gracious period home on approximately 10 acres and situated 31 miles from Dublin city centre via the N11. New owners might however, want to upgrade the décor, which looks stuck in a late-1980s time-warp.
Further inland, Colliers and Knight Frank are joint agents for Hollywood House Estate, Glenealy, which is conveniently located within five miles of the N11 Rathnew exit, a distance of 30 miles from Dublin city.
A classical Georgian five-bay house, originally dating from about 1760 although remodelled in 1892 after a fire, Hollywood’s Georgian architecture is more suitable as a backdrop to my daydream of the dashing Mr Darcy coming to call.
With a courtyard, stables, guesthouse and pretty, gothic- style gate lodge, Hollywood House comes with approximately 50 acres of land. It was once on the market for €9 million but is now reduced to €5 million.
At €2.2 million, slightly less than half the price of Hollywood House, but on considerably less land, (only five acres), Knight Frank also lists East Hall, just off the N11 in Delgany, approximately 26 miles from Dublin. Although built around 1830 and somewhat less imposing than Hollywood House, East Hall has a certain simple, elegant charm and is just the sort of property that might have been home to Mrs Bennet and her five daughters.
East Hall includes a paddock, six stables within an enclosed yard, a gate lodge and a vegetable garden with a greenhouse, which is quite the thing nowadays, since it’s become so fashionable to grow one’s own organic fruit and vegetables.
Both Marcus Magnier of Colliers and Robert Ganly of Knight Frank report an increase in enquiries and viewings this year, particularly of properties priced between one and three million euro, although properties valued at over that figure are still more difficult to sell.
Knight Frank have noted the return of a few UK buyers who, up to recently, had not been seen since the pre-boom years, before prices rocketed. Some are escaping the UK tax regime while others just enjoy the relaxed Irish way of life.
Magnier agrees: “Prices have dropped by 50% if not more, so it’s now down to consumer confidence. Not everybody is drowning and some still have the money, as proven by a few good results recently, but they just need the confidence to spend. Although, country estate buyers, like everyone else, are fussy and are looking for value.”
The nearest I’m likely to get to feeling like the lady of the manor is at one of the private viewings. I’m sure the estate agents will understand if I turn up dressed like one of the Misses Bennet, driven by a coach and four.
