A white-washed cottage on 44 acres in the fold of Knocknadruce Valley in West Wicklow once made a retreat for playwright and hellraiser Brendan Behan. Stone Cottage at Granamore, Valleymount, Co Wicklow, is to be auctioned on July 11th next by joint agents JP& Doyle and Lisney.
According to its American owners, Brendan Behan lived in the cottage during the 1950s, when working with Radio ╔ireann and The Irish Press. The playwright is also thought to have written The Big House in his Wicklow hideaway.
The property is divided into two lots for the purpose of the sale, with the cottage and 13 acres guiding at £220,000 (279,340) and a further 31 acres of grazing land guiding at £50,000 (63,490). If the separate lots fail to sell, the entire property will be offered together as one lot.
Set well back from the road along a drive lined with mountain rowan and whitethorn, the L-shaped property has instant eye-appeal. The cottage is about four miles from the village of Hollywood along a narrow off-shoot of the Wicklow Gap Road. Blessington is 10 miles away, and Dublin 28 miles.
Because it is an occasional home, the interior, while newly painted, is simply fitted out and there is some refurbishment work to be done. The accommodation includes an open-plan sittingroom with an original wide fireplace, which probably housed a range. This is topped by a copper canopy.
A tiny window facing the front door was a traditional feature in rural cottages, used as a peep-hole to see callers to the house.
At the far end of the livingroom and divided by an ornate timber screen is the kitchen, with serviceable but dated units which a new owner is likely to replace.
Two double bedrooms and two bathrooms - one the dimensions of a large bedroom - are at the other end of the house. Between the two rooms is an inner lobby, used as a second sittingroom or study. Mature trees surrounding the cottage give shelter and the 13 acres extend to the bottom of the valley and the King's River. The remaining 31 acres of grazing land is across the road.
