Co Meath: €3.8mWestland House, the former home of a Trinity professor, would be ideal for a gentleman, writes Robert O'Byrne

Wanted: gentleman to occupy delightfully situated small estate outside Moynalty, Co Meath.

Of course not everyone who comes to view Westland over the weeks ahead will necessarily deserve to be called a gentleman, but the place itself can be summarised as being the ideal gentleman's residence - compact, manageable, attractive and with a charming property at its heart. Yet, oddly enough, for much of the last century Westland was home not to a gentleman but to a pair of ladies: the Misses Barnes. Their father had been the first Professor of Agriculture at Trinity College, Dublin and he ran the estate in a model fashion; an article published in Irish Farming World in the early 1900s describes him as 'an eminently practical teacher whose knowledge has been acquired and proved by lifelong experience'. Professor Barnes's daughters, on the other hand, appear to have been less interested in farming than gardening, as witnessed by Westland's luscious herbaceous borders and the wealth of specimen planting around a large pond lying to the west of the house.

Ah yes, the house; this will definitely benefit from the attention of a lady and a gentleman. Also an architect, a plumber, an electrician, a painter and sundry other professionals. The Misses Barnes grew elderly, home maintenance was not their forte, and Westland was allowed to slip into its present state of graceful dishevelment.

But the house is old and has no doubt experienced periods of inattention before now without suffering too badly.

Entered through a pretty fanlighted and stone-pilastered doorway, the main block dates from the closing years of the 18th century although its interior was evidently revamped at some later date when a large, bow-fronted extension was added to one side. As befits a gentleman's residence there are some fine, high-ceilinged and marble-chimneyed reception rooms on the groundfloor plus a typical warren of backrooms once used for such purposes as china storage.

Upstairs are four principal bedrooms and two more that might very well be turned into bathrooms in order to add to the house's existing one which retains its old fittings including a handsome, albeit somewhat dilapidated, claw-footed bath. Venturing belowstairs, unlike many of their generation the Misses Barnes never troubled to move the kitchen from its original, stone-flagged location and so it remains to this day, with an early Aga still in situ. Perhaps Westland's new owners might like to leave things as they are because this level of the house benefits from plenty of light and air and opens directly onto the first of several yards holding a self-contained three-bedroomed wing as well as an abundance of stone buildings that beg for conversion into even more accommodation.

Herein lies Westland's appeal for the prospective purchaser: it offers an opportunity to acquire a small estate replete with potential, within reach of the capital and yet tucked away in one of the most attractive parts of the country. And to put a personal stamp on an historic house, leaving it fit to face the next 200 years.

All this, when Westland goes to auction on June 27th, through Knight Frank Ganly Walters, for a price expected to be in the region of €3.8 million.

But whisper that last detail please; after all, a gentleman would never do anything so vulgar as talk about money.