Sligo house has €1 million guide

A six-bedroom house on 31 acres with sea views in Sligo will be one of the first houses to be auctioned in 2005. Fiona Tyrrell reports.

In one of the first auctions scheduled for 2005, Ganly Walters is guiding €1 million for Glen Lodge, a Georgian house on 31 acres with magnificent sea views in Co Sligo. The auction will be held in Dublin on February 9th.

The six-bedroom home would appeal to anyone in the market for a small country estate, perhaps for a local businessman trading up or someone seeking to open a country guest-house.

Located at Strand Hill, seven miles from Sligo town, three miles from Sligo's regional airport and 130 miles from Dublin, Glen Lodge overlooks Ballisodare Bay. Directly behind stands Knocknarea Mountain, with a 40 ft prehistoric cairn on the summit, the reputed site of Queen Maeve's grave.

Approached through iron gates via a sweeping avenue and landscaped lawns, the property comes with its own boathouse, stables, two-room gardener's cottage, tennis court, yew walk, and orchard.

Glen Lodge's first resident, James Nicholson, built the house in the 1790s and named it after the Glen, a remarkable cleft on the south face of Knocknarea, which also formed part of the estate.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Cooper family ran a top-grade restaurant called Knockmuldowney House from the property as well as a B&B. The Coopers then went on to open Markree Castle, Collooney, Co Sligo, the home of the Cooper family for over 300 years.

Glen Lodge's current owner, a French woman living in the US, purchased the house as a holiday home 10 years ago.

Off the entrance hall is a drawingroom and separate diningroom, both with Victorian fireplaces and sash windows overlooking the sea. There is also a sittingroom with open fireplace and wall lighting.

A Victorian sunroom with fireplace, bay windows and window seats leads into the garden.

To the rear is the kitchen with Aga cookers, and built-in cupboard and breakfastroom.

There is also a boot room, store room, downstairs bathroom with a bath, utility room and basement with two additional store rooms.

Upstairs, all six bedroom have open fireplaces and five have en suite bathrooms.

The property also has a two-bedroom centrally heated guest house. The kitchen has a Stanley solid fuel cooker and the livingroom a woodburning stove.

The house requires some renovation and decoration. Amenities available locally include fishing, golfing, boating and hunting and shooting.