Farmhouse with planning for Provencal-style extension

Co Louth: €635,000Seapoint Lodge on Strand Road in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, is a 0.8-acre site that comes with full planning permission for an unusual Provencal-style farmhouse of 372sq m (4,000sq ft).

A 200-year-old farmhouse and outhouses currently occupy the site and these structures have been incorporated into the new design, created by Maxime Laroussi, the French-Moroccan founder of the Dublin-based firm Architecture Republic.

The site has an AMV of €635,000 through O'Brien Collins Real Estate Alliance who will auction it on July 5th. The estimated build cost is €1.3 million, according to the architects.

Inspired by the architect's roots, the design draws on the lifestyle of Provence, incorporating a central courtyard, surrounded on three sides by buildings with plans for a mature tree set in the centre.

These buildings include the main house, currently on the site, which will house two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large livingroom, family room, kitchen and a suspended library.

The design also borrows ideas from traditional Irish architecture where the loft in cottages was a storage or second sleeping quarter. In this instance, the loft also houses a library, built on a mezzanine surrounded by the double height ceilings of the livingroom.

The kitchen, complete with Aga cooker, has a raised flagstone deck to catch the evening western sun.

A second, single-storey building will connect the original farmhouse to its stables and outhouses. This has an open veranda cloistering the space. It is south-facing.

Behind this is a series of floor-to-ceiling glazing that opens into the main suite, whose features include a fireplace in the bedroom, his and hers dressingrooms, and a roomy en suite bathroom.

The third limb of the property is to be home to a 15-metre swimming pool, a sauna and Jacuzzi, all powered by geo-thermal heating.

The interior will feature solid stone walls, as well as limed wood beams and flooring. The exterior will have barnyard-like floor-to-ceiling timber sliding doors to act as outside shutters, securing the property when you're not there. When open they frame the property's extensive glazing.