Though described as a farmhouse on the National Built Heritage Service site, the detached three-bay, two-storey-over-basement known as Linziestown House is about as far from a farmhouse in today’s terms as you can possibly get.
And more so if you view the 483sq m (5,198sq ft) pile from its rear elevation, which gives the whole place a more stately feel.
The Georgian pile dates from about 1801 and sits on Wexford’s historic Norman Way. When the current owners bought it in 1997, they say it was “marginally habitable” and in “a very sorry state”. Perseverance, deep pockets and a love of Georgian architecture saw the house fully restored into what is described in brochure notes as “an immaculately preserved country house in the heart of Co Wexford”.
Lying on almost 28 acres (11.22 hectares), every inch from its Georgian fanlight and coving to its grand staircase has been meticulously restored, even down to the original carriageways surrounding the property.
It’s very elegant at hall level, as you really have three hallways: an entrance hall, an interior hall with a grand staircase, and then a lovely library-style area warmed by an Adam-style fireplace and lined with bookshelves.
Beyond lie formal reception rooms; a dining and drawingroom and a large fourth bedroom, served by a good-sized bathroom.
There are three more bedrooms upstairs (with a fifth in the raised basement) while the main bedroom is to the rear, overlooking gardens and courtyard. A balcony at the gable end is also accessed from this level, giving even better views of surrounding parklands.
Downstairs is the heart of the house, with a fine kitchen – complete with an Aga and Belfast sink – opening out to a patio, while a sittingroom, study and utility lie on one side with a corridor leading to a boot room on the other.
This is where it gets rather interesting. Owners say when they purchased the estate, the stables and coach house “had to be cordoned off for safety” and the “engineers wouldn’t stand under the lintels”. What they did was take the stones from the coach house down one by one, so they were numbered and rebuilt to what it originally resembled. In doing so they connected the boot room with this restored coach house, which now has soaring vaulted ceilings offering a large livingroom and games room.
There’s also a changing rooms and showers for the 13m swimming pool out front. Though looking like it has always been a part of Linziestown House, the pool now stands on the site of an old vegetable garden. The owners heat it from June to September, as this lovely spot has been their holiday home, but it can be used all year round and has a solid automated cover for child safety.
For those with a penchant for equestrian pursuits, grounds have two paddocks, four stables and a hay barn, and there’s plenty of room for a hack on the almost 30 acres. A dedicated dog run and chicken run are already in situ, and the place is teeming with its own wildlife.
It is near Tomhaggard village, and you’ll be spoilt for choice at Mary Barry’s nearby hostelry with spanking fresh fish from local boats at Kilmore Quay.
It’s a sublime spot, and the owners are sad to part with it, as it has been a wonderful place to holiday. “We’d pack the kids and their friends in the car on a Friday from school and they’d be gone out the door as soon as we landed from Dublin. At Christmas there would be 22 of us here for the week, but now, as the children are grown up, we don’t get to use it as much.”
To this end they have placed this lovely spot (which has a Ber of D1) close to a number of beaches and golf courses, on the market through joint agents Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sherry FitzGerald Radford, seeking €1.75 million.
