A detached house in leafy Rathmichael with two donkeys, a pony in the paddock and a large secluded garden is home to hypnotist and entertainer Paul Goldin, his wife Helen and teenage daughter Katie Jane. The house has an old-fashioned "English shires" look - not surprising, since the building materials were sourced from UK salvage yards and shipped over by Paul. A wisteria planted just three years ago and lovingly tended flourishes on a south-facing wall.
"We wanted an old house but couldn't find a nice one we liked. So we imported old bricks and tiles and beams from all over. We found weathered wood to make a deck and built a log cabin to use as stables. Now we have proper stables, it's a junk store," says Paul
Just returned from a television interview with TV3, Paul's smart suit and tie clash with the relaxed informality of the huge deck area, where the couple regularly barbeque for close friends. The sea is just visible on the horizon beyond the paddock. "Our window-baskets are coming next week and it'll look much nicer," says Paul. "We think barbeques are great fun - Helen does the salads and I do the steaks. Twink had her 50th birthday party here, with a big marquee in the garden. We see the neighbours but there's not a great deal of social interaction. I prefer it that way. I hate people knocking on doors and I like to respect people's privacy."
The sittingroom and diningroom are comfortable spaces, with deep sofas and books stacked on coffee tables. The scent of wood smoke lingers from last night's log fires. A surprisingly good watercolour painted by Katie Jane is a "once-off" according to their youngest daughter, who is doing her Leaving Cert this year and hopes to work in the film industry when she finishes her exams.
The walls are covered with professional-looking family photographs taken by Paul, who is a keen amateur photographer.
Helen recently collated them into a video as a surprise for Paul. "She took about 60 photographs of the magic moments of my life and made an eight minute video for my birthday present," says Paul. The couple jointly run their busy practice from a clinic in Monkstown, Helen handling administration and Paul running the courses. More and more, he passes the work to two assistants whom he trained in his methodology.
"I'm really a behavioural psychologist," he explains. "When I was at college, I'd give humorous lectures in my lunch-hour about psychology. I ended up doing it every day for 30 people and earned about £30 a week which was good money - it paid for my studies. I discovered I really enjoyed the stage part, so I went from there to cabaret and theatre and got paid well. When I qualified with a Masters in Behavioural Psychology and Logistics at the age of 34, I went to the States.
"I was asked by the US government to go to British Guyana to help the survivors of the Jones massacre and became fascinated with Jones's techniques. Afterwards, I decided to use them in a positive way to empower people to reach their potential. Thats what I do - I teach people to develop peak performance, by subconsciously replicating their ideal. I'm not a miracle-worker, though. I can't make you be the world's greatest pianist if you don't play the piano!"
Born in France of a French father and English mother, Paul's family moved to England from France in 1939 at the beginning of World War 11. His love affair with Ireland began when theatrical agent Frank O'Donovan (Battie in The Riordans) saw one of his shows and guaranteed Paul £100 a week and four per cent of the takings to do an Irish tour. "At the end of the first week, I'd bought a car. I loved Ireland - it was good for me," says Paul.
Paul and Helen first met when the tour arrived in Michelstown, County Cork. When eleven-year-old Helen was invited up on the stage as part of the act and he jokingly proposed to her, she said she might when she grew up. "Ten years later, Maureen Potter invited me backstage at the Olympia to meet a friend. It was the same girl, then seventeen. Ten years after that and back once again at the Olympia, I received a phone call from an agency suggesting a one-night show. The agent's partner was Helen, who was now a theatrical agent herself. I proposed a year later in Las Vegas with a tencent ring from a machine."
Paul had no idea when he met Helen that she was Lady Helen Mountcashell and had royal connections.
Hanging in the hall is a framed original of Helen's family tree, which goes back to Charlemagne. One of her ancestors, Lord Mountcashel, sent men to King William of Orange to fight in the Battle of the Boyne. In the 19th century, her great-grandmother Lady Louisa Morgan set a precedent in the English House of Lords as the first person to have a divorce in Ireland under British law.
"My grandmother got divorced as well and she married a groom on the estate. Grandfather accused her of riding from Moore Park to the races in Mallow with the groom, which was a great scandal at the time," says Helen. Paul's own grandfather was Russian and his grandfather was believed to be an illegitimate son of the Tsar. He has a grown-up family from a previous marriage, including Ricky who is "a television star in his own right" in Los Angeles.
The family decided to move from their period house in Monkstown when people began to drive up and down the road looking for where they lived, says Paul. "Now they know I'm in Rathmichael, but very few know exactly where. We feel very safe here. We bought three acres of land, then found a builder and designed the house. Lots of mistakes were made, especially in the diningroom. We decided to have a party and discovered we'd forgotten to put in electric plugs!
"I'd love to do it all over again, but I love the house. There are six bedrooms and only Helen, myself and Kate here. Our housekeeper came to us when Kate was three weeks old. She left us for a year, but now she's back and we're all delighted."
