CO LAOIS: €1.35m:A nine-bedroom Georgian family home with 30 acres of land is ready to welcome family and friends
AN INTERESTING Georgian house near Durrow in Co Laois has come on the market through Savills asking €1.35 million.
Clonageera House stands on 30 acres of land just outside the estate village of Durrow and 9.6km from Abbeyleix. For city dwellers who want to escape, and who have the means to start a new life, it has a lot to offer. There is a substantial amount of living space at 895sq m (9,463sq ft), stabling, a separate cottage and a unique oval walled garden that is waiting to be restored.
The owners of the 1803 house moved there a decade ago to give their city-born children more space to run around. Now, however, the children are grown up. So the owners are now planning to move to a smaller house and once again Clonageera is for sale. David Ashmore of Savills is handling the sale.
The owners first plan for the house was that it should be a place where they could invite all their friends. Consequently, there are no less than nine bedrooms, several of them with en suite bathrooms. There are seven bath or shower rooms in total and all of them have been modernised.
A lot of work has been done throughout and the house is fully decorated. Previous American owners had also carried out a good deal of work so, unlike many an Irish country house, this is not one in need of TLC.
The front door opens into a wide and welcoming hallway, which leads to an inner hallway. There are several fine reception rooms including a lofty double drawing room with tall sash windows and an open fireplace. There is also an impressive dining room and a study at this level.
The basement is vast with surprisingly high ceilings and tall windows in all the rooms. Here the kitchen acts as a centre of the entire house. It’s a very large room with space to seat 20 around the table. Cooking is done on a four-door Aga but there are back-up cookers in the utility room, which is in effect a second kitchen.
There are a handful of large airy bedrooms at this level, leading off a hallway that is wide enough to take a couple of table tennis tables. That’s children and teenagers taken care of. Grown-up bedrooms are on the top floor, leading off an elegant landing. All four bedrooms are large doubles with dual aspect views and their own en suite bathrooms.
Clonageera House, Durrow, Co Laois. Well-kept Georgian house with 895sq m of living space on 30 acres of land. Agent: Savills
