Co Carlow/€800,000: South Carlow, where it meets the Blackstairs Mountains, is one of those special places where friends travel miles to visit and the social whirl is unexpectedly hectic.

Tucked in the valley between Mount Leinster and the Blackstairs, within reach of Borris, Tullow and Bagnelstown, is Lumclone House, a glorious Georgian property on 28 acres, off the Tullow to Borris road at Fenagh, Co Carlow.

Patrick G Dawson of Tullow is guiding excess €800,000 for this 10-bedroom house prior to auction on July 15th. The house on 15 acres may be sold separately with a guide of €700,000.

Lumclone House has been owned by the same family since the early 1900s. The present owner now lives in Dublin and uses the house as a weekend retreat, so a new family is needed to take over the stewardship of Lumclone.

The house featured in Jimmy O'Toole's book The Carlow Gentry. Little work has been carried out for some time, however, and it now requires modernisation. The project would pay dividends, given the intact period features.

A magnificent front entrance with doric columns and a fanlight opens to an entrance hall with decorative plasterwork. Morningroom, diningroom and drawingroom all have cornicing, marble fireplaces and wood floors. There is also a study, television room, flagged dairy, servant's quarters with two bedrooms and a kitchen with an oil-fired Aga.

A fine mahogany staircase is lit on the half-landing by a full-length Georgian window with panelled shutters and decorative edging. Four of the eight upstairs bedrooms have marble fireplaces and the largest room includes a dressingroom. Bedroom nine and 10 in the servants area also have fireplaces. An enclosed courtyard at the back of the house leads to a larger formal courtyard with the remains of coach houses, and staff accommodation. Through a granite arch is a walled garden. The forecourt and driveway are flanked by meadows.