Just off Dublin’s busy M50 between Bray and Shankill, Wilford House is unmissable once you know it’s there. Overlooking seven acres of pristine gardens, it can be glimpsed over the high cut-stone wall, a resplendent yellow Georgian country home, monarch of all it surveys.
It wasn’t always thus. When the owners, Joe and Margaret Seely, bought it in 2000 for about Ir£2.5million, Wilford had seen better days. With family grown, they had originally been looking for something much smaller, an apartment even. But Margaret, originally from Bray, says she took one look and fell in love with its potential.
A two-year root-and-branch restoration involved replumbing, rewiring, reroofing, meticulous plasterwork restoration and reinstating access to the vast rear ground level by extending the original winding staircase downwards. The result is a six-bedroom country house with 6,950sq ft of space, and a refurbished coach house of 2,152sq ft in the rear courtyard, all in walk-in condition.
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Vast gardens
On paper it’s another vast stately home seeking a buyer, this one asking €4.35 million through Sherry FitzGerald. But the retained original Georgian features of the house and the vast, meticulously maintained gardens, tended by a full-time and a part-time gardener, set it apart.
The approach via a tree-lined gravel driveway – hundreds of new trees and shrubs have been planted – leads to the symmetrical Georgian façade, three bays over two levels, centred on a protruding front porch. Double doors lead to an octagonal reception hall off which are the main receptions.
In keeping with prevailing trends – Wilford was built in the 1890s – the drawingroom and diningroom mirror each other in proportion, and boast original restored fireplaces, gleaming cornicework, and tall sash windows with original glass.
Newer additions include an electronic dumb waiter behind the original servants’ door to the diningroom, and lavish soft furnishings in deep reds and golds. Bray-based interior designer Michael Kinsella designed and sourced all of the interiors, running deep pile V’soske Joyce carpets throughout – even in the main hall – and dressing every window in heavy silk.
Classic tradition
Double doors off the hall open to a typical feature winding staircase with walls elegantly curving around it. In classic tradition, Wilford appears on two levels at the front, but is set over four levels to the rear. Off each rear landing are original curved doors accessing two fine double bedrooms with a bathroom between on the upper two levels. At first floor level, the same footprint is laid out as a livingroom on one side, a study on the other and a guest cloakroom between.
Light floods the upstairs level via an elaborate glass dome, with stunning plasterwork around its base and a Venetian chandelier at its centre. Gold statues occupy four alcoves around the upper stairwell. Two bedrooms to the front of the house provide glorious views, with master suites including dressingrooms and roomy en-suites.
Full-sized gas-fired hearths and underfloor heating amp up the comfort factor here considerably.
At ground level there’s country charm in the bespoke cream Christian-style eat-in kitchen with black granite worktops, and a huge Aga at its heart. Off it are a sizeable utility and storage rooms. There’s also a playroom to accommodate the grandchildren when they visit, and for the grown ups an enormous wide screen cinema room with surround sound, elevating last week’s Masters viewing to a whole new level.
Wedding ceremony
The gardens are stunning, with much of the work carried out in the early years in preparation for a daughter’s wedding on the grounds. A gazebo was sourced in the UK and reconstructed on the grounds to host the wedding ceremony, and a relative built a wooden bridge over the ha-ha to the front for access to the lower level, while a tropical pond was installed to the side of the house. With a sunken garden, a newly stocked walled orchard, a hazel grove, vegetable garden and an enclosed barbecue garden, the carefully planned gardens definitely merit the often overstated “pleasure grounds” description.
The house is located next door to St Brendan’s College, a boys’ school currently undergoing a significant expansion project.
Almost five years ago to the day Wilford was placed on the market briefly, asking €6.5 million, but the market was non-existent, and the Seelys were happy enough to hang on and enjoy the house with their frequently visiting family.
Now, they are ready to move on, though Margaret says they have no idea where they are going to next. Having lived variously in Delgany, Co Wicklow, Adare, Co Limerick and abroad for periods, the prospect doesn’t faze her, but she is certain that next time around it will be a far smaller affair.
