A beautifully maintained Georgian house on a 62-acre stud farm owned by the fashion designer Pat Crowley and her late husband, businessman Conor Crowley, near Dunboyne, Co Meath, is to go to auction on June 20th.
Joint agents Jackson Stops and Coonan Auctioneeers are quoting in excess of £2 million for Dolly's Grove, one of only a handful of stud farms near Dublin to come on the market in recent years.
The stud is hidden away in a lovely rural setting less than four miles from Dunboyne, on the Maynooth side of the village.
The area is noted for its many top class stud farms with extensive parklands and houses on a luxurious scale set among flowing lawns and classical gardens. Dolly's Grove is bounded by Lord Weinstock's large Ballymacall Stud at one end and Kerstin Rausing's Staffordstown Stud at another side.
The stud was bought 10 years ago by Conor Crowley, one of Dublin's best known accountants, to allow him to develop his interests in show jumping and eventing.
"This was his dream home . . . he simply loved the place," says Pat. This is hardly surprising, given the superb equestrian facilities and the elegance and style of the home.
Although Conor did not take a serious interest in eventing until relatively late in his life, he managed to build up a string of useful horses within a short time. He made his three-day event debut at Punchestown at the age of 60 on his beloved horse, Mr Tumbles.
Another of his horses, Mr Mullins, ridden by stable jockey Nicola Cassidy, was on the Irish team that came fifth in the Sydney Olympics last year. Unfortunately, Conor had died suddenly a year earlier at the age of 71. Up to the time of his death, he was Honorary Consul-General for Monaco in Ireland; the consulate arms are still on show above the main door of the house.
Dolly's Grove was, in the early years of the 19th century, the home of one James Hamilton, agent for the Dukes of Leinster.
It has three outstanding reception rooms, none of them exceptionally large yet with a wonderful balance of height and width which reflect their Georgian ancestry.
These rooms are greatly enhanced by a superb collection of paintings and furniture assembled over the years by the Crowleys.
There is a splendid reception hall with an eye-catching cantilevered winding stairs rising to the upper floor. The stairwell is extremely bright because of an unusually tall window. The drawingroom is particularly handsome with huge windows overlooking the grounds, an Adam-style chimney-piece with brass inset and lovely old wooden floors partially covered with rugs. A pair of doors leads into an equally impressive diningroom with eight chairs around an unusual black marble table which came from Castletown. Here again the grandeur and affluence is underplayed.
On the opposite side of the hall is a library with a marble chimney-piece and fitted bookshelves.
There is a handy kitchen and a butler's pantry at the rear along with a cloakroom and a staff stairs to the upper floor.
Three of the six main bedroom are en suite and the main bathroom is also at this level. There is a further bedroom and bathroom at semi-basement level together with a whole range of other well-kept rooms including a games room, two offices, wine cellar and laundry room.
Dolly's Grove has a gate lodge and a staff cottage in the courtyard. There are 34 loose boxes in two yards, outdoor and indoor arenas and railed and fenced paddocks on all sides. The house is in particularly good nick, having been reroofed and continuously upgraded by the Crowleys.
It will undoubtedly prove a great home for a family interested in horses and country life.
