€1.7m Kilkenny home by the Nore a good catch

A period-style house built just 20 years ago on 26 acres by the River Nore comes with fishing rights worth €400,000, writes MICHAEL PARSONS

AT FIRST glance, Kilfamma House looks like one of those sporting lodges to which Regency bucks escaped for a spot of huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ when tired of the (rather trying) company of Jane Austen heroines. This area of Co Kilkenny was once renowned for its merry, claret-lubricated hunting parties – the early 19th century equivalent of lager-fuelled stag weekends. Plus ça change.

But looks can deceive. Kilfamma House Fishery, Brownsbarn, Thomastown, was only built 20 years ago. Still, the pastiche period style was a huge improvement on the dwelling it replaced – a prime example of the “Darby O’Gill Bungalow Blitz” school of architecture which flourished in Ireland in the mid-20th century.

The new house was built by Jeremy Niebor, an English barrister “with a passion for architecture”, on land formerly owned by Lord Teignmouth. He returned to London and sold the property in 1998 for £560,000.

It was bought by Kevin and Louise Barnes who used to live on Dublin 4’s Marlborough Road where they ran a crèche and Montessori school. During a weekend in the country they discovered the house and instantly decided to move “for a more peaceful life”.

Mr Barnes recalls when he first walked on to the property and saw the view of the river.

His immediate reaction was: “Wow! I have to have it”. So they sold up in Donnybrook and moved. Now Kilfamma House, on 26 acres, is for sale again, through Savills, with an asking price of €1.7 million. It is located in the magical, Chaucerian landscape of the River Nore valley midway between Thomastown and Inistioge and just above the serenely lovely Brownsbarn Bridge.

The 315sq m (3,395sq ft) house is in perfect condition and consists of a reception hall, two reception rooms, kitchen, utility room, five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The light-filled, redbrick structure with Gothic-style doors and windows has many attractive features – notably the en suite bathroom off the main bedroom where the walls are decorated with hand-painted sylvan scenes of diaphanous, picnicking toffs.

The grounds include formal terraced lawns, riverside walks, a small wood, three grass paddocks, a synthetic grass tennis court and a courtyard with coach-house and stabling.

Neighbouring properties include Coolmore, the mansion home of developer Niall Mellon, head of the charity which builds South African township homes.

Kilfamma House is likely to attract international interest from well-heeled anglers because the land comes with exclusive fishing rights on over a mile of ravishing riverbank along the River Nore which borders the garden.

This is one of Ireland’s most prolific salmon fisheries and includes 10 holding pools, including the fabled “Four Penny Rock Pool”. When Tiger Woods played at the nearby Mount Juliet golf course he requested permission to spend a morning fishing here – which the owners graciously granted. The fishing rights alone have been valued at €400,000.

Dublin is 80 miles away and Mr Barnes commutes to his job managing UCD’s sports facilities at Belfield.

The house is just a few miles from the new Dublin-Waterford motorway which traverses Co Kilkenny. Although it has taken longer to build than the Great Wall of China, the M9, now almost complete, will make Kilfamma House much more accessible.

So why are the Barnes family, including the impeccably-behaved twins, Adam and Sophie (7), leaving a house, an area and a school in Inistioge, which they all “love”? Mr Barnes says: “with a heavy heart”. The Donegal man has finally secured a long-sought-after plot in his native county and hopes to build a “dream home” there. It’s hard to believe he’ll better Kilfamma.