Co Carlow: €850,000: Any notion that the entire province of Leinster has been turned into a commuter dormitory town serving the country's capital is firmly disproved by the Old Rectory at Fenagh, Co Carlow.
Although it's within easy distance of Dublin, and barely eight miles from Carlow town, the house and its surrounding 27 acres suggest that the rampant development of recent years might never have taken place.
From a set of fine granite entrance steps, there are magnificent - and seemingly unspoilt - views for miles and miles; as far away as the Wicklow Mountains on one side and towards Mount Leinster on the other.
Between these two sets of peaks, nothing intrudes but the occasional old-fashioned farmhouse, giving the observer an impression of time standing. That idea is further enhanced by a stroll through the Old Rectory's own grounds. Here is a delightful Victorian-style greenhouse (recently assembled, the present owner whispers in confession, from the contents of various well-filled skips), there an old-fashioned fruit and vegetable garden centred around a pergola drenched in climbing roses. Fields and lawns host a wealth of flowers that elsewhere have been driven away by chemical sprays, while a small area on the periphery of the property is covered in natural woodland.
The Old Rectory itself reflects this special environment, retaining almost all of the decorative features it was given when first constructed some time in the 1830s. Running over three floors to some 4,000 square feet, the house still has all of its broad pine floorboards on the two upper levels while the lower floor is flagged in handsome limestone. The solid panelled doors and their brass handles remain in place, as do the deep-set windowframes and shutters, together with the fine enamelled baths and solid sinks. It looks as though nothing other than the furniture has been altered over the past two centuries.
Of course, this is not actually the case because a number of changes have been made to the building. Since buying the Old Rectory six years ago, its owner has undertaken various improvements, such as dropping the level of lawns around the house. This meant additional windows could be inserted into the former basement level where today much more light pervades than was ever previously the case. Now the kitchen, with its perennially comforting Aga, runs through to a family room and thence out into a newly created, west-facing courtyard that's perfect for pre-dinner evening drinks (possibly a concept unfamiliar to the Old Rectory's original inhabitants). Elsewhere on this level, there is also a conveniently located diningroom, a pantry and laundry.
Immediately above this lies the entrance hall, a spacious bow-windowed drawing room, a fine dining room, library and study while the upper floor holds five large bedrooms and three bathrooms.
In the adjoining courtyard stand a stone coach house, stables and further store rooms. These all share the same privilege of emerging unscathed from our recent and rampant development. Fenagh's Old Rectory and its grounds are being sold by joint agents Jackson Stops and Donohoe Properties with a guide price of €850,000.
