Perched on the river Maigue, the pretty heritage village of Adare was, in the middle ages, a settlement with three monasteries and a castle. Developed in medieval times by the Geraldines of Kildare, its present structure and layout is largely due to the Dunraven family, whose former home Adare Manor is today a five-star hotel owned by businessman J P McManus. It now has a world-class golf course, where recent Pro-Am tournaments read like a who’s who in the world of golf with the likes of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy playing to help raise millions for charity in the Limerick village. The 2010 gig attracted 40,000 visitors alone, raising in excess of €43 million, and the club will host the Ryder Cup in 2027.
While many of the chocolate box cottages that line Adare’s main street today are some of the most photographed in the country, back in the 1800s a local cottage about 10 minutes from the village known as Purtill’s was purportedly the site of the last landlord eviction in Munster.
“But it had a good ending,” explains its current owner. “He was a horrible landlord and the bailiffs were boycotted everywhere they went as the whole village rallied to help the family – and eventually rethatched the roof for them. As none of the family married, it was left to a local farmer, who we bought it from.”
Today the cottage, which dates from the 1600s, generates an income as a holiday home rental and is also used as lodgings for guests for its rather grander counterpart Curraghmore House, which shares the 27 acres of privacy just outside the village.
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Despite having the look of a period house, Curraghmore dates from 2005. The family who purchased the cottage and lands engaged architect Seamus Carr to design their home: “We wanted something with classical proportions but with modern conveniences,” say the owners, who are downsizing locally.
No expense was spared on the project, with reclaimed parquet in the formal hallway – quite big and utilised for parties over the years – that originally came from Guy’s Hospital in London. Two fireplaces in the dining and drawingrooms are reclaimed from old houses – while a new, grander offering acts as a focal point in the front hall.
Retired local joiner Joe Delaney crafted solid doors – the weight of which requires two men to lift – that have knobs instead of handles to keep with the period feel. The bespoke kitchen was tasked to Jim Browne: “We got three quotes for everything in the house except the kitchen as we knew of Jim’s work,” says the owner of the solid timber kitchen with not a bit of chipboard in sight. Centred by an Aga, it lies adjacent to an informal dining area and living space that opens out to a west-facing patio.
There’s lots of room in its 511sq m (5,500sq ft) of turnkey space and six fine bedrooms lie upstairs. But besides the main house and historic cottage, the gardens are a real selling point. Four stables, a horse walker, barn and all-weather arena enhanced by a cross-country course provide not only room for ponies but training for the local hunter trials, and Clonshire Equestrian Centre is just down the road.
Gardens with orchards and vegetable plots have been designed by renowned landscaper Arthur Shackleton, who is responsible for many of the nation’s gems, such as Ashford, Dromoland and Glin castles as well as Airfield in Dundrum and Butler House in Kilkenny.
With 27 acres of gardens, paddocks and woodlands – where 3,000 new trees are now mature – there’s also a private lake where a marquee was once erected for a family wedding that hosted 99 guests.
One of the requirements of the design was that it needed to be somewhat low maintenance: “We needed it to be manageable and we have two ride-on lawnmowers so the whole lawn can be cut in an hour,” the owner says.
It’s an impressive spot and the Ber of B3 in the main house is good given its size, ceiling heights and number of open fireplaces. Curraghmore House is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald seeking €1.7 million.
