CO MEATH €1.35M:This four-bed period house was formerly owned, and largely refurbished, by the Saudi banker Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz

Glenmore House, Clonee, Co Meath

Description: Four-bedroom country house, plus groom's residence, stables and tennis court. Set on 21 acres, with an additional 100 acres of farmland on offer for a further €1.25 million

Agent: Coonan Estate Agents

THE FIRST room I’m shown in Glenmore House, in Clonee, Co Meath, is the sun room. “It overlooks the tennis courts,” says its current owner. He is selling the house – along with 100 acres of farmland, either separately or as a job lot – to move with his wife to their other house, on the Shannon.

The view of the tennis courts from the sun room is the second hint that this is not your common-or-garden detached house in the country.

The first was the sloping driveway that leads up to the house through well-kept lawns with mature shrubbery, tall, leafy trees and beautiful flowerbeds.

The third is the knowledge that Glenmore House was once owned by “the Kuwaitis”. “You know, the ones who got their passports from Haughey,” says the owner.

He is talking about Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, the Saudi Arabian banker who, in 1990, bought 11 Irish passports from then taoiseach, Charles Haughey. Khalid bin Mahfouz and the other passport recipients named Glenmore House as their Irish residence.

Kelly credits them with a lot of the refurbishment of the house, which he bought 10 years ago for the sum of €4.1 million.

Today, it is on sale through Coonan Estate Agents. They are looking for offers in excess of €1.35 million for the house and its 21 acres; €1.25 million for the 100 acres of farmland; or €2.6 million for the lot.

For its part, the house is a beautifully maintained period property, dating from the early 1900s. As well as the sun room, the downstairs reception is floored in mahogany parquet, and there is a morning room, a sitting room and a dining room, all of which have working fireplaces, as well as a country-style kitchen, reception hall (currently in use as a study) and another reception room which overlooks the courtyard.

The courtyard is a day’s exploration in itself – stables, a utility room, a stable yard with loft area and extensive hay barns. There is also a fully fitted groom’s residence extending to 139sq m (1,500sq ft) with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, diningroom and livingroom.

The main house’s four bedrooms boast large en suites – three of which feature bidets – and there is plenty of wardrobe space built into three of the four bedrooms. The master bedroom is a grand affair with four large windows overlooking the courtyard and an en suite with a bath.

In fact the entire house is a very grand affair: three entrances, a groom’s residence, between 25 and 30 stables, four en suite bedrooms and a tennis court. A decade ago this was all very standard fare. These days, though, prospective buyers might want their €1.35 million to go a bit further than on bidets and mahogany parquet floors.