A 50-acre estate in Glenealy, Co Wicklow, has a fine Georgian house surrounded by woodland and several pretty outbuildings including a gate lodge and ice house, writes Fiona Tyrrell
SECRET DOORS, grand reception rooms, an ice house and acres of buttercup-filled fields - Hollywood House Estate in Glenealy, Co Wicklow, would make a great setting for a romantic Merchant Ivory film.
Set on 50 acres and ringed by mature woodlands, Hollywood House is termed by those in the business as a "delightful small estate".
Standing on the elegant entrance steps to the neoclassical house with rolling meadows and woodland stretching as far as the eye can see, small is not a word that comes to mind.
The fact that the estate is ringed by mature woodlands and is beside a Coillte forest augment the lush and private feel of the estate.
Built around 1800, the Richard Morrison-designed house was remodelled in the 1880s after a fire. Hollywood has been in the same family for around 35 years and is now for sale for €9 million through joint agents Colliers Jackson-Stops and Knight Frank.
Despite its imposing exterior, inside, Hollywood House is a cheerful home with a cosy lived-in feel that belies its size - 1,115sq m (12,000sq ft).
The grand entrance hall is dominated by a fantastic lantern roof which pours light into all corners of the house.
Either side there are two elegant formal reception rooms. The livingroom has a secret door to a bright office and the beautiful bow-ended drawingroom has French doors out onto the garden.
The diningroom is a much more formidable affair with aubergine-coloured walls, Italianate plaster medallions and an enormous 16-seat dining table.
The rear of the house is a lot less formal, with a slightly higgledy-piggledy feel, featuring a cheery kitchen, complete with an Aga, and a number of smaller storage/work rooms.
At basement level there are more rooms (including a slightly terrifying safe room complete with a massive Chubb door).
Upstairs there are five large bedrooms, all with superb views over what seems like miles and miles of a green belt, and three bathrooms.
It is likely that new owners will inflict a snazzy makeover on Hollywood House, particularly at the rear, to bring it into the 21st century.
A smart open-plan kitchen will be on the cards, as will a swish main suite, and possibly a self-contained apartment at basement level.
While the house is huge, further accommodation is available in the three-bed guest house and a three-bed gate lodge.
Lands include a tennis court, a walled garden (neglected in recent years), paddocks, coachyard, all-weather arena, terraced lawns, a pet cemetery and an ice house, reported to be one of the best examples in the country. The estate is off the Glenealy/Rathdrum road, five miles from Ashford and 30 miles from Dublin.
Hollywood House Estate, Glenealy, Co Wicklow
Five-bedroom 1800s house with separate guest house and gate lodge
Agent: Colliers Jackson-Stops and Knight Frank
