Ardgarry is pretty enough to feature on a calendar or a biscuit tin filled with a 'traditional afternoon tea selection', writes Michael Parsons

A large tract of Tara Hill is up for sale. No, don't worry it's not the one in Meath - though you wouldn't put it past them - but a pleasant, elevated spot in north Co Wexford.

Because of the location and prospect - just outside Gorey, an hour from Dublin and overlooking the sea - the hill has become one of the most expensive and sought-after addresses in the model county. It's also close to the resort villages - including Courtown (which has chav-a-la-playa tendencies and more caravans than a convention of palm-readers) and, more agreeably, the upmarket little Ballymoney (with Seafield, a swish new spa hotel).

Ardgarry, a 290sq m (3,000sq ft) four-bedroom period house on 48.5 acres of agricultural land, will be auctioned on September 27th by Warren Estates. The guide price is €2 million.

A separate lot of 5.5 acres - with what the agent calls "development potential" - is to be auctioned separately, has a guide price of €500,000 and is likely to attract considerable interest given its proximity (four miles) to Gorey town centre. If the buyer is lucky there may be a few ould neolithic passage graves underground - a sure-fire way to get planning permission.

Ardgarry house was originally a traditional thatched cottage which has been considerably enlarged and converted to provide lots of space, four large bedrooms and an old-world, exposed-beams look. It could do with modernisation - or perhaps not.

If you're after marble-tiled wet rooms and a sleek Italian kitchen, this is not the house for you. But a family looking for a cosy country home and a "hobby farm" within striking distance of Dublin may find that it perfectly fits the bill.

The house is hidden from the road and offers great privacy and tranquillity at the end of an attractive beech and rhododendron-lined avenue.

On a late summer afternoon the sunlit scene looked pretty enough to feature on a calendar or a biscuit tin filled with a "traditional afternoon tea selection". You wouldn't be surprised to meet a film crew making a commercial for Werther's Originals.

The house is surrounded by wooded lawns; gardens with a natural pond fed by a stream; and a large south-facing patio. There are well-stocked fruit and vegetable gardens, various outhouses and barns.

The recent opening of a major bypass means that Gorey, one of Ireland's fastest growing towns, is slowly recovering from decades of strangulation by N11 traffic.

It is one of the more vibrant provincial towns with good shopping and a bustling atmosphere.

Dublin is about 50 miles north via the N11. To the south, also via the N11, Enniscorthy is 18 miles, Wexford, 32, and Rosslare, 40.

There's a railway station (on the Dublin to Rosslare line) with reasonably frequent but maddeningly slow services.