Golf homes on Carton Estate to be sold by tender

Co Kildare: €650,000-€1.35m: The first new houses to be built in Carton Demesne for centuries are being offered initially to golf members, writes Orna Mulcahy

Members of Carton House Golf Club are to be given first choice of new houses being built in the grounds of Carton Demesne near Maynooth, Co Kildare.

Thirty-three houses are currently under construction on the 1,100-acre walled estate that has historic Carton House as its centrepiece.

Coonans Real Estate will offer the houses by tender on June 15th, with disclosed reserves ranging from €650,000 for a three-bedroom semi-detached house, rising to €1.35 million for the largest six-bedroom house. Four-bedroom semi-detached houses have a reserve of €785,000 while a large four-bedroom detached lodge is guided at €925,000.

With up to 600 members, it seems certain that all the houses will be bought by Carton golfers. However, a further 117 homes are due to be built on the estate and the public will have an opportunity of chasing some of them when the next phase goes on the market in the autumn.

Built in the 18th century as the seat of the FitzGerald family, the Dukes of Leinster, Carton is one of the most beautiful houses in Ireland and has an exquisite interior that is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment.

The estate is owned by the Mallaghan family who have developed the two championship golf courses and plan to open the estate early next year as the Carton House Hotel Spa and Golf resort. The 165-bedroom hotel will be run by the Clarion Group and, while the house will have a number of large suites, the main hotel building will be separate from the house so as not to impinge on it.

The new lodge-style houses are being built on a wooded site, within strolling distance of the hotel site. Called Leinster Wood South, the first phase has widely spaced timber frame houses that the planners insisted had to blend in with the landscape. It's a gorgeous setting with the houses facing either onto the golf course or overlooking a bend in the Liffey, called The Sheet of Water. Buyers will enjoy full use of the 1,100-acre walled estate as well as membership of its two golf courses designed by Colin Montgomerie and Mark O'Meara. Many of the buyers are likely to move onto the estate because of its close proximity - not only to Maynooth - but to Dublin city centre.

Both the K Club and Mount Juliet also have large stylish family homes, with many members living on site, though most still use the houses as weekend getaways.

Carton has established itself as one of the top golf venues in the country culminating in its hosting of the 2005 Irish Open last month.