Fivebed country living in 19th century Wicklow home

A traditional, but modern, country kitchen/breakfastroom is the heart of Kilquade Hill House, a manageably sized 19th century home on five acres in Kilquade, Co Wicklow.

Just up the road from the National Garden Exhibition Centre, it is a short drive from Greystones, and about a mile from the Kilpedder crossroads on the N11.

The property is for sale by private treaty through Lisney, which is quoting a guide price of £1.7 million.

Elegantly decorated by its owner, an interior designer, it is a home that would suit a family, especially one keen on horses. The well-kept grounds include an orchard, tennis court, railed paddocks and a good-sized stable yard.

Accommodation includes a drawingroom, diningroom, four bedrooms and the kitchen/ breakfastroom, and in an extension off the kitchen, a large family room with a double bedroom and shower room upstairs.

The period features of the house are complemented by the decoration: the large diningroom, for example, which looks through tall bay windows over the paddock at the back, has deep red striped wallpaper. This is one of two reception rooms on either side of the front door: the drawingroom, on the other side, is smaller, and has a timber floor.

A glass-windowed door with a small fanlight opens into an inner hall with a staircase, and a bathroom; the kitchen/breakfastroom leads off this hall.

An Aga warms this large room, which has exposed timber ceiling beams, a terracotta-tiled floor, marble worktops and glassfronted fitted pine units. Wide patio doors open from the breakfastroom on to the patio and garden at the back, and there is a utility room off the kitchen.

The staircase and upstairs landing is exceptionally wide, with tall windows framed by dramatic red velvet curtains. There are two large double bedrooms and a bathroom on the return, and two large bedrooms on the first floor. New owners may want to replace the cupboard-style en suite in the otherwise handsome main bedroom.

At one stage, Kilquade Hill House was the parochial house of the Catholic church in Kilquade, a tiny village just down the road. The house enjoys seclusion but is hardly isolated: there is a surprising number of neighbouring properties off nearby laneways.