IN 1997, WHEN Anne and Paul Raimondi first saw the Co Louth home in which they would invest hopes and dreams – along with hard work, money and a large chunk of their lives – it was ivy smothered and derelict.
“It hadn’t been lived in for 20 years,” Paul says. “We bought because we had vision and rose-tinted spectacles!”
Fourteen years and an imaginative rebuilding of the original 1786 stone cottage later they are putting Marlay Farm, Grangebellew, Co Louth on the market.
Surrounded by gardens and an orchard with plum, apple and even quince trees, Marlay Farm has three bedrooms, a drawingroom, library and kitchen/family room in about 279sq m (3,000sq ft) of living space.
Colliers, which is looking after the private treaty sale, is asking €550,000 for the house and 2.5 acres (to include orchard and gardens). The purchase of up to 17.5 acres of additional land is negotiable.
Architect Francis Johnston designed Marlay Farm in 1786. Johnston, whose acknowledged masterpiece is nearby Townley Hall, was the architect of the GPO in O’Connell Street.
Much more than a labour of love, the Raimondi’s restoration of Marlay Farm gives meaning to the term “painstaking detail”. Ignoring county council advice to knock the house and build a bungalow, Paul gave up his financial services job as they went to work using conservation methods that would allow the building to breathe as intended.
In a house of remarkable spaces and style, the kitchen/family room and main bedroom are strikingly individual. The main bedroom has a wood-burning fireplace and is designed for easy conversion to two bedrooms.
The kitchen/family room (once a cowshed) has original beams, an open ceiling with four skylights and an Aga cooker. Both the drawingroom and library overlook the garden and have timber floors and wood burning stoves. There is underfloor heating throughout.
The garden has peach and apricot trees, and large flowerbeds growing peonies. To the rear is a cobbled yard and outbuildings. Drogheda is some 15 miles away.
Marlay Farm, Grangebellew, Co Louth
Painstakingly restored 18th-century house and gardens, designed by GPO architect Francis Johnston
Agent: Colliers
