After coming onto the market five years ago for €12m, the 440-acre Humewood Castle estate in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, was withdrawn. Relaunched earlier this summer, it is finally close to changing hands — for €16m.
“Interest had slowed before it was taken off the market but we have had inquiries from all around the world since it was relaunched earlier in the summer,” says Callum Bain, the selling agent.
The sale of the marginally smaller Ballynatray House in Co Tipperary for about €12m earlier this year has kick-started the market for sprawling country estates, according to Bain. It also yielded a number of disappointed underbidders, who have now turned their attention to the Co Wicklow mansion.
“There’s also renewed confidence in the Irish economy. Only a matter of months ago, people were talking about a recession but there’s now a new willingness to spend,” says William Montgomery, the joint selling agent of Humewood Castle.
The strength of sterling against the softening euro has also attracted English trophy-home hunters and the selling agents are hoping to finalise the sale of the Victorian gothic pile “in weeks rather than months”.
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“We have firm interest but nothing is signed yet,” says Montgomery.
Humewood first came on the market almost five-and-a-half years ago but was withdrawn when its owner, Renata Coleman, became embroiled in a legal dispute with her two children. The inheritance squabble was eventually settled in the High Court in February of last year leaving the way clear for Coleman to put her lavish estate back on the open market.
The Bavarian-born socialite paid €1.08m for the castle in 1992, three years after the death of her husband Cecil, a British toy magnate who made much of his fortune in the Far East. The couple had divorced in 1980 but were reconciled shortly before Cecil’s death.
Within three years of buying the fairytale estate, Coleman had opened it as an upmarket guest house, spending ¤1.25m on its refurbishment. Its previous owner, Madame “Mimi” Hume-Weygand, had closed off much of the accommodation, shutting herself away in three upstairs and three downstairs rooms.
Dry rot had permeated much of the timber work and the structure needed to be re-roofed, rewired and re-plumbed, much of which Coleman has paid for by staging lavish weddings.
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The castle was built by William White, an English architect, in 1867 for William Wentworth Fitzwilliam Hume Dick. Remarkably, it was conceived as a relatively modest €10,000 hunting lodge but its designer got carried away, embellished the plans and ran over budget by €15,000.
White tried to blame the builder for the excess and took him to court but lost the case and was ruined.
His ostentatious creation was initially seen as a confusing mish-mash of the Victorian and gothic but is now regarded as one of the most important architectural specimens in the country.
Framed against a mountain backdrop, White adorned the roofline with gables, buttresses and ornate chimney stacks, culminating in a 100-ft-high oblong tower. Inside, a carriage porch leads to the gothic entrance hall, with its low-ribbed stone vaulting and stained glass windows.
The principal rooms include the drawing room, where the ceiling has been restored, and the library which retains its original oak-fitted bookcases. The private dining room seats 18, while the wood-panelled ballroom, used for weddings and other gatherings, can seat 80 for dinner. This level also includes a breakfast room, kitchen, smoking room and bar.
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At lower-ground-floor level, there is a gun room, billiards room, dining hall, kitchen, two offices, a wine cellar, bar and storerooms. There is also staff accommodation, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and two sitting rooms.
For visiting guests, there are 13 double bedrooms with en-suites and four-poster beds. There are also three single bedrooms. Each of the larger suites has a theme, including a Napoleonic room, a Vivaldi room, a Chinese imperial room and a tower room.
Outside are four cut-stone lodges, a barn, stabling for 18 horses and associated tack and feed rooms. Its size and popularity with the shooting, hunting and fishing set means it could be transformed into a country house hotel.
“It has the size and potential to be another K Club or Mount Juliet,” says Bain. “It’s only 45 miles from Dublin and you could fit a golf course into the grounds. Planning permission has also been granted to turn the stable block into extra accommodation.”
Both selling agents admit, though, that most viewers are interested in Humewood as a private residence. In the past, a number of celebrities have been linked with the estate, although apparently none of the forerunners to buy the house this time around are household names.
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When Coleman moved in first, one of the first visitors was Stephanie Powers, the flame-haired wife of Robert Wagner in Hart to Hart. She was, like many of Coleman’s friends, an old polo chum and life on the estate has always revolved around chukkas and cocktails.
Humewood has also been increasingly used as a film location in recent years: The Laws of Attraction, a romantic comedy starring Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore; The Actors, a screwball comedy with Michael Caine and Dylan Moran; and Ella Enchanted, a children’s fantasy with Anne Hathaway and Joanna Lumley were all shot in the grounds of the castle over the last two to three years.
It also stood in for Balmoral during the filming of Prince William, a made-for-television film for America’s ABC. The film provoked tabloid rage during its production when it was reported it was to portray underage drinking and drug-taking among the royals. It was also alleged to depict William as a manipulative idler, using his mother’s death for sympathy. The outcome was very different. The screened version was a gentle, coming-of-age tale, sympathetic to the royals.
Other visitors to the castle have included the full contingent of the Spice Girls, who spent New Year’s Eve of 1998 in the castle, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, John Travolta and Winona Ryder. Some of the above were even linked with making a bid for the estate. At one point, some of the more fanciful gossips suggested that Travolta and the Pitts were engaged in an intense bidding war to secure the deeds.
The most persistent rumour, though, involved David Bowie moving his music empire to Kiltegan. Bowie has consistently denied the suggestion, claiming that an elaborate case of Chinese whispers is to blame. It seems that Bowie did visit the castle in the company of film director John Boorman with whom he shares an interest in Victorian gothic architecture.
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Mimi Hume-Weygand died soon after, and at her funeral, the priest giving the eulogy mentioned some of the distinguished visitors that had called on her. On hearing Bowie's name, an overeager reporter surmised that Bowie must have been interested in buying the decaying mansion.
Don't be surprised if the thin white duke is rumoured to be the new lord of the manor again in the coming weeks. The reality is likely to prove a little less glamorous.
"Celebrities are always linked to the larger estates in Ireland, but most tend to be bought by wealthy businessmen that nobody has ever heard of," says Bain.
Ganley Walters, 01 662 3255, www.ganleywalters.ie; William Montgomery of Sothebys, 048 4278 8668