Room to idle and go wild on Meath and Louth border

You’ll probably need your GPS to find a large modern house in Meath that feels like it’s in the heart of the country, although it’s just nine miles from Ashbourne, Co Meath, in one direction and nine miles from Drogheda,Co Louth, in the other. Idlewild, on 1.34 acres, is just outside the tiny village of Ardcath, Co Meath.

When the owners of Idlewild found their over 464sq m (5,000sq ft) house 10 years ago it was an unfinished shell with a roof. They bought the site and contracted a local builder to finish the house to their own design.

The owner, who works from home, has “the best office space I’ll ever have” upstairs. The main ground floor bedroom, slightly separate from the house, could be turned into separate accommodation, eg a granny flat: it has a large recently-upgraded en suite and a large dressingroom.

Idlewild, which has geothermal underfloor heating and a B1 BER rating,  has become too big for its current owners now that two children have moved on. It is for sale for €600,000 through Sherry FitzGerald Geraghty.

Most of the living space and Idlewild’s four bedrooms are on the ground floor: a large, open-plan kitchen/dining/family room opens into a sunroom with a double-height ceiling. The kitchen has a tiled floor – the rest of the downstairs is oak-floored – and a granite-topped island and a utility room off it. There’s also a sittingroom which, like the sunroom, has French windows opening into the garden.

Cherrywood staircase

All the bedrooms have fully-tiled en suite shower rooms. The main bedroom has a very large fully Travertine tiled en suite with a slipper bath and shower.

A cherrywood staircase leads from the front hall up to the dormer level of the house. It is a space that stretches the width of the house, with the owner’s huge open-plan office at one end and a recreation area at the other. The space could be reconfigured to create more bedrooms.

The house is in the middle of a very large garden, mostly in lawn, with patio areas and a herb and vegetable garden. A new fully compliant septic tank was installed a year ago.