Thanks to having remained in the hands of the same family responsible for its construction, Hamwood House in Dunboyne, Co Meath, is a property full of delights. The original four-bay house of three storeys over basement was built in 1779 by Charles Hamilton at a cost of £2,500, and it was one of the first houses to be roofed with dry slating. Hamilton was originally a wine merchant who lived at Mount Venus in the Dublin Mountains. In the drawingroom of Hamwood is an ivory gavel which he owned and which, according to family legend, he used when acting as toastmaster for the Hell Fire Club.

This first Charles Hamilton subsequently acted as land agent for the Duke of Leinster, a position held by successive generations until recently. Evidence of the association with the Leinsters can still be seen around Hamwood. In the middle of the last century, the then-duke presented the Hamiltons with two pairs of granite steps, which remain in situ in front of the octagonal pavilions. The pavilions, together with the curved passages connecting them to the main house, were added within 10 years of the original building programme. It seems the main reason for these pavilions - their roofs are topped with stone pineapple finials - was to exclude draughts from the principal rooms. The original door appears to be at the back of the house and has a handsome and sturdy stone porch; in the last century, a short wing was added onto the house here.

Accordingly, the main entrance to Hamwood is now in the left pavilion, which, like its adjacent corridor, is lined in tongue-and-groove pine with a 19th century floor of coloured tiles. The other pavilion has traditionally been used by the Hamiltons as a school room. The passage leading from the octagonal entrance hall to the drawingroom has two substantial late 18th century mahogany chests on claw feet, the first of many examples of Irish furniture in Hamwood. Also here is a a stained glass panel by Evie Hone showing the evangelist St John accompanied by an eagle. Hamwood has a number of strong artistic associations, not least because it was the home of painters Letitia and Eva Hamilton, aunts of the present owner, Major Charles Hamilton. The house, therefore, has a large number of pictures by the two women, as well as work by other artists from similar backgrounds such as Rose Barton and Mildred Anne Butler. The double drawingroom appears to have been created when the pavilions were added. Earlier this year, Major Hamilton and his wife, Ann, had these rooms re-papered in a soft moss-green design by David Skinner but otherwise there has been very little alteration to the arrangement of furniture here. Although no documentation survives to provide confirmation, many of the pieces seem to have been acquired when the house was first decorated, such as the marvellous rococo gilt mirrors, girandoles and wall ornaments showing musical instruments.

A glass-fronted bureau with swan-neck pediment stands between the larger drawingroom's two windows, while around the walls are a number of half-moon, inlaid, satinwood tables. On one of these stands a white and gilt vase given to the family by Lady Pamela Fitzgerald, wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Also here is a fine inlaid Georgian double-sided desk, the sides of which carry delicate engravings by Caroline Hamilton of her family, the Tighes, who lived at Rossana in Co Wicklow. Caroline was a talented artist and the Hamiltons retain a generous selection of her work, which gives an excellent idea of life in the late 18th and early 19th century. One picture, called Society 1801, depicts the torpor into which the Irish gentry sank after the previous year's Act of Union, while another shows the Tighe family nervously awaiting a raid during the 1798 uprisings.

Above the marble mantelpiece are tiny oval portraits of Sir William Fownes and his wife, Lady Betty, grandparents of Caroline Tighe. Sir William was guardian of Sarah Ponsonby, one of the famous Ladies of Llangollen, and there are a number of other souvenirs of both her and her companion, Eleanor Butler. Major Hamilton has donated all papers relating to this curious pair to the Museum of Wales. The smaller drawingroom has delightful painted bookcases and a portrait of Letitia Hamilton by Eva showing her sitting in the same room. Also here is a portrait of Caroline Tighe and her siblings in the ornate panelled room of Rossana, which was shipped to the United States earlier this century. In addition, there is a portrait of the romantic writer Mary Tighe, famous in the early 19th century for her poem Psyche.

In the hallway are many more pictures by the Hamilton sisters, while the furniture here includes a fine Irish mahogany longcase clock with broken pediment by Thomas Martin of Dublin and an Irish Georgian mahogany foldover table with central shell motif and typically large claw feet. These feet turn up again in the dining room on a large mahogany sidetable, its front elaborately carved with birds and garlands of fruit. There is a very substantial Regency sideboard in this room and a set of 14 mahogany chairs, including two carvers. The dining table itself is something of a curiosity, being made from two smaller tables, each with its own base; these were the painting tables for Letitia and Eva Hamilton. Other Irish furniture here includes plate and turf buckets and a wine cooler. The red marble fireplace has a central black Wedgewood plaque showing the death of Achilles. Pictures include still more family portraits, such as that of Alexander Hamilton, father of the house's builder, and a oil by Orpen - who taught Eva and Letitia - of Major Hamilton's grandmother; she and her husband were also painted by Eva and these pictures are in the diningroom, too.

Finally, the small study next door is halfpanelled and holds a series of exquisite glassfronted painted bookcases with swan-neck pediments, which appear to have been specially made for this room in the early 19th century. In one of them is a china tea service which used to belong to the Ladies of Llangollen, as did the set of pen and wash views of Wales and Somerset painted by William Payne. Above a lacquer Chinoiserie desk hangs an oil by Jack B. Yeats called The Silver Strand.

Hamwood House, Dunboyne, Co Meath (tel. 01-8255210) is open at the following times: Monday to Friday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (May 1st to August 31st); Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (February 1st-March 31st); and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the third Sunday of every month. There is a also a fine garden (includ- ing a 19th century walled garden) in which a performance of Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters is being given next Tuesday, August 26th, at 7.30 p.m.