IRELAND: A historic guest house run by Maud Gonne's granddaughter is a hit with lit-hist buffs visiting the Boyne Valley. Eileen Battersby calls to Rossnaree House.
Brú Na Boinne, the Bend of the Boyne: it is the point at which this most historic of Irish rivers begins the final and most dramatic stage of its journey to the sea. On its north bank stands Newgrange, the great monument testifying to the genius of the Stone Age farmers who created the landscape through which the waters of the Boyne flow.
On the opposite river bank is Rossnaree House, an Italianate villa of the middle size, dating from 1855 and built on to an earlier vernacular farmhouse completed in about 1725. This is Ros Na Righ, the Wood of the Kings, believed in legend to be the burial place of King Cormac MacAirt, who had wished to be buried here, his face to the east and the rising sun. From here it is possible to ponder the building skills of ancient man as well as the terrain that partly decided the Battle of the Boyne, a conflict which has not yet been fully settled and retains centre stage in the enduring bitterness of the history of Northern Ireland.
Looking across that famous battlefield, it is difficult to balance the bloodshed with the physical beauty. On a summer's day, time invariably appears to stand still. But there is nothing quite like a period house with rolling lawns and old trees to evoke the romance of the past. Rossnaree House is like any other building of its period, a house with a story to tell. The long avenue cuts through a wood and the approach to the house is dominated by a venerable yew arch.
A mighty Lebanon Cedar acts as a sentry. The walled garden flanking the main lawn is the handiwork of several generations of talented gardeners. The stable yard and farm buildings are still in use. Rossnaree remains a working 200-acre tillage and grazing farm. The businesslike snowy ducks and geese - contributing to the visual appeal as they patrol the flowers beds and lawns - are also active workers, providing eggs and the occasional roast. Many of the rooms have splendid views of the Boyne, Newgrange and Knowth.
For the visitor, it is gracious, attractively dishevelled and very much a comfortable family home as opposed to a formal showcase house. It is large enough to offer a sense of space, but small enough not to intimidate. And as every period house owner will agree, with this charm that only time can create, there comes responsibility. "Houses like this are beautiful to look at, and very enjoyable to live in," says Aisling Law, "but they need commitment."
Having grown up partly in Laragh Castle in Co Wicklow, a wonderful place but capable in winter of becoming "a freezing barracks that is difficult, at times impossible to heat" and a Georgian house in Sandycove, Law knows the realities of old buildings. Stone walls and floors are atmospheric; they are also damp. She has lived in various houses, including a picture-book colonial bungalow on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda.
While still living in Africa, where she built a safari lodge, Law also became involved in the restoration of a small stone house in the glen at Rossnaree. It was picturesque, romantic but virtually derelict. An old ash tree had slid down the sloping bank of the glen and crashed through the slate roof. Even from that distance, she often thought of the plight of the little stone house back in Ireland. The project was completed within a year. It won the 2003 An Taisce Ellison Award. About this time Law also designed a bird theme motif to decorate the walls of one of the guest bedrooms. The series of fantasy birds in a Chinese style was painted by her nephew, art student Sam Horler.
Rossnaree is the family home of her husband, Robert Law, whose grandfather had settled here shortly after the first World War. For Robert, it is his life, his family legacy and his heritage. As a child, he first heard stories of how Rossnaree land featured in King James's retreat during the Battle of the Boyne.
Heritage is a privilege that carries its own burdens. "When I finally came here to settle," recalls Aisling Law, "I knew the house was going to have to help pay its way. I suppose the main problem of any old house, regardless of its size, is that no one can afford to live the way people did when these houses were first built. Life has changed too much; no one has any time." Yet many would enjoy experiencing the long-gone way of life, if only for a weekend.
As the granddaughter of writer Francis Stuart and great granddaughter of Maud Gonne, she grew up with a strong sense of history and its ambiguities. Equally strong is her interest in the arts. Her mother is the sculptor, Imogen Stuart, and her father, Ian, recently had a show in Denmark. "Aside from my background, a place like this has such vibrant spirit, it does make you visually aware; that's why I've become so keen on organising artists' workshops, and we're planning on devising studio space in the stables and having residential art courses."
Most of the guests arriving to stay at Rossnaree are drawn by the archaeology and the history; aside from Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, Fourknocks, Mellifont Abbey, Monasterboice, the Hill of Tara, and the site of the Battle of the Boyne, there are also Francis Johnston's Townley Hall and Slane Castle, while the village is the birthplace of poet Francis Ledwidge. Other guests come for the fishing.
One woman arrived and spent a week at the house, content to sit in the gardens, reading. "She enjoyed the peace." With only four main double bedrooms, the number of guests at any one time is limited to smaller numbers.
Staying at Rossnaree is more like joining a relaxed house party than being in a hotel. "A couple arrived almost immediately after booking. They really seemed to enjoy themselves. About an hour after they left, they phoned me and asked if I was interested in selling them the house."
Some guests are harder to please. "There was a couple who had arrived from abroad and phoned asking if I could take them in at such short notice. They said they were fascinated by period houses. They arrived and we brought their cases upstairs and I went to make afternoon tea. Then they said they simply had to leave, the house was just too old. And they left." She still seems surprised by the encounter, asking, "I mean we have modern heating and plumbing exactly how much 'too old' can a period house possibly be?"
Rossnaree House, Slane, Co Meath 041-9820975/086-8090033., rossnaree@eircom.net