A large period home near Brittas Bay, for sale at €1.8m, has been almost completely modernised.
THE APPEAL of Three Mile Water House and the surrounding Wicklow countryside is resistant to even the wet and gloomy cold of November.
Set into the low, hilly lands of the Three Mile Water area and with the coast and Brittas Bay running alongside, it's 19th century origins are clear as soon as you go through the gates and up the short avenue.
With a lively history, from local big house to RIC station to small, 1930s/1940s hotel, and although gutted, refurbished and extended over the past couple of years, it remains a solidly elegant two-storey period house framed by high old trees, many of them evergreens.
In sad disrepair when the vendors bought it two-and-a-half years ago, Three Mile House has had its period features salvaged where possible or otherwise remade; windows, for instance, have been remade with exactly the deep sills and shutters of the originals.
Including a large extension, Three Mile Water House has 279sq m (3,000sq ft) of space divided into five bedrooms, three reception rooms and open-plan kitchen/dining/family room. For sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald O'Gorman in Wicklow town, the asking price is €1.8 million.
Potential buyers will be given the option too of purchasing an acre of land with partially restored stone stables to the rear of Three Mile House. This area has its own, separate entrance (and numbers of extremely fruitful apple trees) and the stables could, as originally intended by the vendor, make a number of rentable apartments/small houses.
The layout to the front of the house is traditional with reception rooms to either side of a broad entrance hallway. Comfortable livingrooms with sash windows and American oak floors have matching marble fireplaces.
The great surprise is the huge kitchen/dining/living area in the extended rear of the house. The floors throughout are of palest porcelain tile and the end wall is almost entirely glass.
The extensive fittings, handsomely handmade by local cabinet makers C B Carpentry of Blainroe, include an extra long butchers block/chopping board, double Belfast sink canopied by a window, teak worktops and barbecue unit. An aquarium built into the dining area is an added attraction.
The main en suite bedroom has views of hills and trees. Steel girders extending from its glass double doors pave the way for a still-to-be-completed decked balcony.
Three Miles Water House, Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow
Refurbished country house
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald O'Gorman
