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The exact origins of Clonmoyle House in Rathangan, Co Kildare, are lost to time, but the owners – one of whom has lived here all his life, it being the family farm – know the mews house on the grounds was the original farmhouse and appeared on the first Ordnance Survey maps published in the 1830s.
An elegant 278sq m (2,992sq ft) country home on 14.6 acres, the rooms in Clonmoyle House have the open proportions of the Georgian era. Set well back from a busy road at the end of a tree-lined avenue, the house is surrounded by a sweep of gravel and white-painted iron railings.
“No one ever comes in the front door,” one of the owners says, coming out to greet me via a green-painted conservatory clad in wisteria at the side of the house. We enter through the conservatory, which is a great overflow space for parties, tiled in terracotta and leading through to a lovely sittingroom.
This has original pitch pine floors, fine coving, original sash windows and an open fireplace. It opens into the hallway and the seldom-used front door. On its far side is a fine diningroom, double aspect and filled with some exquisite period pieces and featuring a handsome Connemara red-marble fireplace, above which hangs an antique mirror.
A narrow hall leads back to the heart of this home, the kitchen, complete with a double Aga. Even though it’s deep in the country, it was the kind of home constantly bursting with the owners’ children and their many friends, some of whom arrived on sleepovers and almost took up residence.
The kitchen has cream units with a small island. The owners extended the original house here with a comfortable living area overlooking the garden. An informal cluster of couches surrounds a Swedish stove, with a dining area beyond it and French doors opening into the garden. To the rear of the kitchen is a big utility room and a shower room.
There are five bedrooms upstairs; the main bedroom lies to the front of the house and has an en suite and a dressingroom. Opposite it is another bedroom and a family bathroom; three more bedrooms occupy the rest of the first floor.
As well as the principal house, there is a mews at Clonmoyle: a dormer bungalow that has been renovated and decorated by the owners and is in great condition. This would have been the original farmhouse on the land, and now has an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area on the ground floor, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms above.
The property is being sold in lots: the 102sq m (1,100sq ft) mews on an acre is for sale for €350,000; Clonmoyle House on 13 acres for €950,000; or the house and mews on 14 acres for €1.3 million.
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The lands and gardens surrounding the house are meticulously maintained: the owner has crafted a formal garden behind the house, a wild woodland garden to the side and a sweeping lawn to the front. It comes with a tennis court, paddocks, sheds, tack room, 11 stables and an all-weather arena, so it’s completely set up for running a small equestrian operation.
The owners are downsizing and will miss “the perfect peace and quiet” and the fresh air, aided by the trees and lichen around the property.
Clonmoyle is between Rathangan, Monasterevin and Kildare towns, all of which have secondary community schools, and the local national school is nearby at Lackagh. Kildare train station offers frequent commuter services to Dublin city.
