Humewood Castle, a refurbished stately home, and its 450-acre estate are for sale five years after being withdrawn from the market because of a legal dispute. Property Editor Jack Fagan reports
Humewood Castle, one of the last great country houses built in Ireland, is to be put back on the market with an asking price of €16 million.
The move comes just over five years after the castle, along with its 480-acre sporting estate at Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, was first offered for sale. It was subsequently withdrawn from the market because of a family dispute that was eventually resolved in the High Court.
Joint agents William Montgomery of Sotheby's International Realty and Ganly Walters expect it to be bought either by a rich family or for a hotel and leisure complex.
Humewood is located 45 miles south of Dublin in a lovely rural setting near the Wicklow mountains. It was bought in 1992 for less than £1 million by socialite Renata Coleman who spent considerable funds restoring the main building and furnishing it in the Victorian Gothic style. Central heating was also installed in the principal parts of the castle and all the 13 main bedrooms now have en suite bathrooms.
The castle is in superb condition, according to William Montgomery, who says it is more comfortable than it has ever been since it was built in 1867 for W W F Hume Dick, MP.
In recent years, Humewood has been run as an exclusive retreat. Luckily for Ms Coleman, she bought the estate when the property market was on the floor. She is now expected to cash in on the huge rise in property prices over the past eight years and the fact that properties such as Humewood seldom come on the market close to Dublin.
Add to that the very considerable potential as a sporting estate with excellent facilities for hunting, shooting, fishing and eventing. A roadway system around the estate has been enlarged, two extra man-made lakes have been created and acres of trees have been planted to provide additional cover for duck and pheasant.
The castle has been used increasingly in the past five years as a film location. Films shot here include "The Actors" starring Michael Cain, "Ella Enchanted" with Joanna Lumley and "Laws of Attraction" starring Pierce Brosnan.
All the bedrooms are decorated and furnished in different styles ranging from the blue and gold of the Marie Antoinette suite, the period splendour of the Napoleonic bedroom to the Vivaldi room, with its colourful murals.
Humewood is recognised as one of the finest Victorian country homes in Ireland with its glorious outline of soaring spires, turrets, buttresses and a central block silhouetted against the mountains.
Most bizzare of all, Humewood's architect, William White, described the 5,574 sq m (60,000 sq ft) house as "a family mansion not above the average size". It is, in fact, a stately home and while there are hardly any families now needing 13 bedrooms, a private buyer would probably find the four main reception rooms perfectly manageable. The fifth reception room, a double height panelled ballroom, was designed for entertaining on a grand scale.
There is obvious potential to develop a further 25 en suit bedrooms if it ends up as a hotel.
