Rathmore, tucked into a tranquil corner of Kildare that borders Dublin and Wicklow, is on the doorstep of Blessington and the Wicklow mountains, yet is only a 40-minute drive into Dublin city centre.
Appletree Cottage is the first house on a terrace that was built for a community of Huguenot silk weavers in the early 18th century. Bought by an architect in the late 1970s, he renovated and expanded the 233sq m (2,508sq ft) three-bed cottage, creating an enfilade of rooms on the ground floor.
When the present owners moved in 10 years ago, they replaced the windows and doors, installed three stoves and updated the house’s decor, filling it with antiques they sourced from Reilly’s in Prosperous.
Entering from the street, the hall is now a diningroom with an oak floor, a pretty half-door and a stove inset into a corner fireplace; stairs here lead up to the first floor. The Ber-exempt property has thick walls that keep it cosy in winter.
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On the left of the diningroom is a sumptuously decorated drawingroom with a ceiling that goes right up to the roof, a high porthole window, a deep bay window with six-over-six sash windows, a handsome stone fireplace, and, overlooking everything, a mezzanine crammed with books.
There’s a sittingroom on the other side of the hall; a warm, relaxed space that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen leads on to a casual diningroom that has a tiled floor, a comprehensive series of dressers and display units painted in a soothing duck-egg blue, and a large navy Stanley stove. A sunroom opens off the kitchen, which has been re-roofed; this may be an old cottage, but in terms of decor and structure it’s right up to date.
There’s a large double bedroom beyond the kitchen with a well-lit en suite. Stepping outside through French doors into the wonderful gardens, at the end of the newer wing of the cottage is a self-contained studio with en suite and wardrobes. The owner used this as an office during the pandemic but with French doors opening on to the gravelled courtyard with abundantly pretty planting, this would make an ideal guest suite.
The upstairs is laid out as a self-contained suite; the large main bedroom has sloping eaves and low windows, and authentic toile de Jouy wallpaper. The bathroom, decorated with blue panelling, is well-lit with fresh striped wallpaper. Across the landing there’s a smart dressingroom that leads on to the book-lined mezzanine.
The gardens on just over half an acre will surely prove to be the selling point of this cottage with immaculately tended beds, rambling roses over the walls, a pond and a waterfall. There is even a potting shed, which should lure any decent gardener. Beyond the beds around the house and courtyard are steps leading up to a well-manicured croquet lawn with hedging delineating separate areas, including a set of vegetable beds, and the fabled apple trees that give the cottage its name, now gnarled and ancient.
The owners are selling to free themselves to travel more now they are in retirement, and are therefore putting this stunning property on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €750,000.
