Modernised period lodge comes with adjoining coach house

Asking price: €1.05m

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes (01) 237 6308

At first glance, this single-storey Georgian-era house looks like a quaint little cottage, but it’s far from it. Beyond the front gate, the property stretches to 3,500 sq ft, three times the size of an average family home today.

Originally part of the Dunboyne estate, the ivy-clad house is steeped in history going back to when Dunboyne Castle was home to John Butler, 12th Baron Dunboyne.

In 1786, he caused a sensation by resigning his post as the Catholic Bishop of Cork after he was refused dispensation to marry in hope of producing an heir. He then married a cousin, Maria, who gave birth to a daughter, but the child did not survive. Located to the front of the castle, Dunboyne Lodge has been brought into the 21st century with modern kitchen and bathroom fittings, Velux windows, recessed lighting and a conservatory blended with original period features.

At ground level, there’s a bedroom/study, a dining room with original fireplace, picture rails and timber flooring, a drawing room with French doors to the back garden and a double bedroom with wood-burning stove. Further along the hall, there’s a kitchen, another double bedroom and a bathroom with free-standing bath.

Adjoining the house to the rear is The Coach House, an own-door mews that contains an open-plan kitchen/living/dining room, two double bedrooms (one en suite), a bathroom and a pump room. The back garden has a wisteria-bordered lawn, a patio and an outside WC.