Homes on the edge of the championship Mount Wolseley golf course at Tullow, Co Carlow, go on sale this weekend priced from £99,000. The three-bedroom and four-bedroom houses and apartments should interest golfers everywhere, although keen prices and innovative design will ensure interest in the Carlow area and further afield. Joint agents Hooke & MacDonald and Patrick G Dawson & Sons are expecting a good response to Wolseley Village from a mix of owner-occupiers and investors. The scheme is designed to match the undulations on the Christy O'Connor Jnr-designed course. Interiors, innovative yet comfortable, also follow a circular theme, with central winding staircases and curved inner walls.
Tullow is a small country town with coloured shopfronts and narrow streets, 10 miles from Carlow town and 40 from Dublin. The Mount Wolseley estate was the ancestral home of Frederick York Wolseley, who co-produced the famous Wolseley motor-car.
Donal Morrissey bought the house and lands from the Patrician Brothers in 1994 and developed the championship course. His company, Lismard Enterprises, is carrying out the scheme. Course designer Christy O'Connor Jnr is buying one of the larger houses at Wolseley Village, which will be completed in under two years.
As well as the golf course, there is a clubhouse, a 40-bedroom hotel and a state-of-the-art leisure centre with gymnasium, plunge pool and sauna. An indoor swimming-pool is planned. Purchasers will be offered a 50 per cent reduction on the club entrance fee, subject to certain conditions.
There are 10 three-bedroom houses of 1,345 sq ft, three 1,800 sq ft four-bedroom houses and a total of six three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments. Apartments vary in size from 910 sq ft to 1,235 sq ft. All the units have panoramic views of the golf course and Mount Leinster.
The standard of finish is extremely high with good solid fittings and sanitary-ware, Italian wall tiles and coving specially made to fit the curved walls.
The three-bedroom houses cost from £125,000 and will be ready for occupation from January. They are large at 1,245 sq ft and the centrally located stairs adds to the feeling of spaciousness. There is a sittingroom with one curved wall facing the window and a carved pine fireplace.
The kitchen/diningroom has plenty of room for entertaining. It has a curved pine breakfast bar and a separate dining area beside a patio window. The three bedrooms are all doubles with the main room en suite. A very large family bathroom has both a corner bath and separate power shower. The four-bedroom houses, from £230,000, have the living area upstairs to make the most of the views. Apart from the winding central staircase and trademark curved walls, features of this 1,800 sq ft house include a bay-windowed dining area and a balcony overlooking the fairways.
The apartments, each with its own entrance from outside, are in blocks of three and are priced from £99,000. These have a kitchen/livingroom and three or four bedrooms, with the main room en suite. Two of the apartments are situated over the arched entrance gate to the village.
Developer Donal Morrissey has extensively planted the course with all-year-round colour and swans have set up home on some of the lakes. Dense planting by the houses will act as a wind barrier and there will be walkways along the borders of the course. Good-sized back gardens will be lawned and fenced.
