Just beyond the sprawl of housing estates south-west of Dublin lies a rural triangle where sheep still graze and birdsong drowns out the distant roar of motorway traffic. Moate House, in Rathmore, Naas, Co Kildare, an early 19th century house on five acres of beautifully-kept gardens, will be auctioned next month by Sherry FitzGerald. It has a guide price of £450,000.
Rathmore is an unspoilt village with pretty stone cottages and larger period houses between Naas, Kill and Blessington, 20 miles from the city and 15 minutes' drive from the Arrow rail link at Sallins.
Formerly a post office, Moate House has been extended by the present owners, who turned the house back to front to make the most of the outlook over fields to the Wicklow foothills. They used timber sash windows and period-style doors and covered the outside walls with greenery to blend the new wing unobtrusively with the original cottage.
The house would now accommodate a large family, with six bedrooms in the main house and additional accommodation in a separate converted barn to the side. The main house has a lofted entrance hall with an oak staircase to the upper floor. There is a bright sitting room with a wall of bookshelves and a period marble fireplace. A hidden fuel cupboard beside the hearth can be filled with logs from outside.
The dining room, study and a country-style kitchen with an oil-fired Aga are at the rear of the house and these have two-foot thick walls from the original cottage. Upstairs, there are six bedrooms and two bathrooms, all with attractive sloping ceilings and dormer windows low to the floor. The smaller of the bedrooms could be combined to make a larger room if required.
The owners have created a self-contained guest apartment in the converted barn with a sitting room, bedroom and bathroom. Upstairs in the barn, there is a billiards room and a large games room that would make an ideal home office.
The gardens are a maze of tall hedgerows and old specimen trees with archways leading from one area to the next. There is an orchard with apple, pear and damson trees and a tennis court. Sheep are currently grazing in the railed paddock, which is large enough for a couple of ponies.
