Farmhouse with planning for Provencal-style extension

Co Louth: €635,000 Seapoint Lodge on Strand Road in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, is a 0

Co Louth: €635,000Seapoint Lodge on Strand Road in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, is a 0.8-acre site that comes with full planning permission for an unusual Provencal-style farmhouse of 372sq m (4,000sq ft).

A 200-year-old farmhouse and outhouses currently occupy the site and these structures have been incorporated into the new design, created by Maxime Laroussi, the French-Moroccan founder of the Dublin-based firm Architecture Republic.

The site has an AMV of €635,000 through O'Brien Collins Real Estate Alliance who will auction it on July 5th. The estimated build cost is €1.3 million, according to the architects.

Inspired by the architect's roots, the design draws on the lifestyle of Provence, incorporating a central courtyard, surrounded on three sides by buildings with plans for a mature tree set in the centre.

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These buildings include the main house, currently on the site, which will house two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large livingroom, family room, kitchen and a suspended library.

The design also borrows ideas from traditional Irish architecture where the loft in cottages was a storage or second sleeping quarter. In this instance, the loft also houses a library, built on a mezzanine surrounded by the double height ceilings of the livingroom.

The kitchen, complete with Aga cooker, has a raised flagstone deck to catch the evening western sun.

A second, single-storey building will connect the original farmhouse to its stables and outhouses. This has an open veranda cloistering the space. It is south-facing.

Behind this is a series of floor-to-ceiling glazing that opens into the main suite, whose features include a fireplace in the bedroom, his and hers dressingrooms, and a roomy en suite bathroom.

The third limb of the property is to be home to a 15-metre swimming pool, a sauna and Jacuzzi, all powered by geo-thermal heating.

The interior will feature solid stone walls, as well as limed wood beams and flooring. The exterior will have barnyard-like floor-to-ceiling timber sliding doors to act as outside shutters, securing the property when you're not there. When open they frame the property's extensive glazing.

Alanna Gallagher

Alanna Gallagher

Alanna Gallagher is a property journalist with The Irish Times