Harbour views and showpiece gardens

For those who fancy, and can pay for, Georgian elegance, spectacular views, acres of botanical delights and a life among the rich and famous, Greenstones Hall, Glandore, West Cork could be the answer.

Near neighbours include Sir Tony O'Reilly and Lady Margaret Jay. Those who commute weekly from London - and they are many - swear Heathrow Airport is a short two hours away. For sale by private treaty through joint agents Jackson-Stops and Charles MacCarthy, Greenstones Hall comes on the market with an asking price of £2.6m (3.3m).

One of three similar houses built for members of the land-owning Allen family in l800, it has almost five acres of gardens and views of Union Hall, Glandore Harbour and the horizon beyond. More than £500,000 (634,870) has been spent on the gardens in recent years by its Irish businessman/banker owner - and it shows. The gardens are a showplace of semi-tropical and exotic plants, their growth helped by the Gulf Stream's moderating influence on the Glandore climate. Sweeping down to the sea in front they also have all the usual lavenders, lilies, woodland and rhododendrons. To the rear there's a willow walk.

The house has six bedrooms and four reception rooms. All the principal rooms have southerly, sea views. The ground-floor drawing and diningrooms have cornices and tall sash windows. The fireplace in the drawingroom is marble with cast-iron inset, that in the diningroom is of carved wood. There is a sittingroom, cloakroom, study, kitchen/breakfastroom and pantry on this floor too.

All the bedrooms are on the first floor, as are three bathrooms and linen and airing cupboards.

The basement, which is almost 1,800 sq ft, has a billiard room with fireplace and wood-panelled walls. In this part of the house too there's a boiler room, wine cellar and three store rooms. Outbuildings include a potting shed, glass house and propagation tunnel.