Prospective purchasers of Yeomanstown Lodge in Co Kildare might like to know that they are effectively being offered two houses for the price of one.
Admittedly that price is expected by joint agents Jordan Town & County and Colliers Jackson-Stops to be in excess of €4 million when the lodge comes to auction on October 14th.
But since the place is set amid exceedingly pretty gardens and surrounded by 30 acres bounded along one side by a mill race and the river Liffey, lies barely a mile from the N7 and not too much further from both Naas and Newbridge, it seems a price worth paying.
As for the matter of two houses, this can be explained by the lodge's history. Originally part of a much larger estate, it stands at some distance from Yeomanstown House, home for centuries to the Mansfield family who, thanks to a judicious marriage, also came to own neighbouring Morristown Lattin.
The long narrow front block of the lodge appears to date from the mid-18th century and was perhaps built to accommodate the manager of an adjacent flourmill.
But at some point in the 19th century this house must have been found insufficiently impressive, since a large and rather grand addition was added to the rear.
And the difference between the sections is great enough to give an impression that they are actually two distinct properties. That at the front, entered through a charming fanlit doorway, holds the hallway with a breakfast room to one side and a study to the other; the latter in turn leads onto a conservatory.
All these rooms are relatively low-ceilinged and beamed and therefore quite unlike the splendid inner stairway hall, with its elaborate plasterwork and lofty height.
It dates from Yeomanstown's subsequent aggrandisement, as do the building's two principal reception rooms, both of which boast a pair of near-floorlength windows with views onto a garden designed and planted by Arthur Shackleton; the drawingroom also contains a fine Georgian marble chimneypiece.
Via the handsome broad staircase, the first floor provides a similar scenario, with the two bedrooms in the 19th century block being larger and better than the pair at the front.
Given that the present owners have lived in the lodge for more than 25 years, new owners will probably want to refresh the bathrooms, as well as the kitchen and a series of utility rooms that run off the ground floor breakfast-room.
But they won't need to touch the charming small stableyard beyond, with its 14 boxes, American barn and other equestrian amenities.
The rest of the land is currently laid out in four paddocks and by the entrance to the property stands a modern three-bedroom cottage suitable for either guests or staff.
So even if Yeomanstown Lodge, despite its different periods of construction, is just one house, the eventual purchaser will still be getting two residences.
