Inspired by the stone cottage it is built around, Beechwood House is a spacious family home with comfort, drama and history to boot
BEECHWOOD HOUSE in Frynestown, Dunlavin, Co Wicklow is a modern, spacious home which takes its style influences from the 200-year-old cottage at its centre.
The cottage was initially extended by means of wings at either end but, more recently, the vendors added a dramatically high conservatory and enlarged the main bedroom suite.
The 418sq m (4,500sq ft) house is fronted to good effect in Wicklow stone and surrounded by trees and gardens, making it a good fit with the west Wicklow countryside.
The rolling, very green countryside around Beechwood House is typical of west Wicklow, the numbers of grazing horses in fields a reminder of how close this part of the county is to the Kildare border. The village of Dunlavin is just a few miles away, picture pretty and at the foothills of the Wicklow mountains. Just 52km from Dublin, between Blessington and Baltinglass, Dunlavin is known both for the width of its streets and for the Doric style Courthouse Centre – thought to be one of only three such buildings in Ireland.
Rathsallagh Country House and Russborough House are within easy distance of Beechwood House whose owners, after seven years living in and lavishly extending the house, are downsizing to move closer to the coast.
On one acre (.404ha) of landscaped land, Beechwood House has three bedrooms, three reception rooms, a conservatory and converted attic. A nearby barn has a car port at ground level and an expansive first floor with a games room, kitchenette and toilet. Gunne, with an asking price of €750,000, is looking after the private treaty sale.
Beechwood House’s stylistic period statements are seen in cast iron Victorian radiators, pitch pine doors and sash windows but are nowhere more obvious than in the intimate sittingroom at its centre. Part of the original cottage, this has sash windows set into extraordinarily thick walls, a stone fireplace, oak flooring and a 12ft-high vaulted ceiling. With the rest of the house extending from either side, it’s a room with the feel of an oasis.
An arched door leads to a corridor and quiet kitchen-cum-breakfast room with rustic-style fittings, bay window and Rangemaster. A wooden bannister and steps down to the diningroom give a touch of drama. The high ceilinged diningroom has a traditional feel with reclaimed oak timber flooring, centre rose, windows overlooking the garden and, in the door leading to the conservatory – which came from the orangery at Lissadell House – a piece of history. The Ruhm timber conservatory has heating under its travertine-tiled floor, a timed watering system and leafy green surroundings that make it a peaceful place to be.
A drawingroom has another reclaimed oak floor and French doors to a rear veranda and natural stone covered courtyard. The latter has a yellow-brick pizza oven in a corner.
The extended main bedroom has a high ceiling, box window, open fireplace, dressingroom and large en suite bathroom with a vaulted ceiling and creamy stone floor, a bath and double shower.
Both of the other bedrooms are doubles, one en suite. The L-shaped attic conversion has four rooms and two bathrooms.
