Co Kilkenny/€1.25m: A spacious home in an exclusive estate comes with many extras, including membership of Mount Juliet golf club. Jack Fagan, Property Editor, reports.
Ireland has an ever increasing number of country clubs with golf villas and on-site hotels. To many people, Mount Juliet in Kilkenny is still the most exclusive and stylish of them all, largely because of the old world ambience of the 1,500-acre estate.
While many of the new clubs are hell bent on building as many houses as possible to maximise profits, Mount Juliet's head of property, Pat Hegarty, has stuck to low density developments in the overall interest of one of the country's great estates. The strategy has worked extremely well and maintained the calmness and tranquillity of the place.
The relatively small number of homes on the estate invariably means that they seldom hit the property market. For that reason alone, Dublin agent Hooke & MacDonald is expecting strong interest in a four-bedroom home on the edge of the famous championship golf course which goes for sale this weekend.
The agency is inviting offers over €1.25 million for the two-storey home which is in a corner position between the 10th and 14th fairways. It has both a southerly and a westerly orientation and offers fine views over the course. The house is one of only 10 in a cluster known as the North Paddocks which was completed about six years ago and sold out in a record time.
The specification in the lodge is everything one would expect in this price range. It has luxuriously roomy proportions - a floor area of 232.2 sq m (2,500 sq ft) - a high standard of comfort and superb facilities for entertaining.
It has a huge open livingroom/diningroom, a room full of character and light where most family activity is centred. There are wooden floors everywhere and wooden ceilings upstairs to give the house a warm and distinctive finish. The kitchen, like the rest of the house, is particularly well finished with attractive wall and floor units and polished granite worktops. For the businessman or woman - most owners on the estate are successful business and professional people who constantly use the homes for weekends and holidays - there is a handy study at first floor level. There are also four double bedrooms, all of them with fitted wardrobes and their own en suites. Heating is provided by gas-fired radiator central heating.
For long summer evenings, there is an external patio seating area for relaxation and entertaining. The house is being offered for sale fully furnished along with two valuable golf club memberships. It can only be viewed by appointment.
Apart from its classical 18-hole course, Mount Juliet also has a range of other facilities including a fully equipped health club, tennis, croquet, clay pigeon shooting and fishing on the river Nore that runs through the estate. Mount Juliet is located beside Thomastown, a mere two-hour drive from Dublin city centre. The commuting time is due to be shortened considerably with the planned opening of the proposed N7 motorway between Dublin and Waterford with a spur road linking up with Kilkenny.
