House and mill away from the city grind near to the Barrow River

CO CARLOW/€675,000: ARE YOU tired of the rat race? Stretched to the very limit by stress and the M50 and the Red Cow roundabout and traffic wardens and queuing for the loathsome toll plaza?

Do you dream, like Kenneth Grahame's "terribly sleepy Mole" did, of being "escorted upstairs by his considerate host, to the best bedroom, where he soon laid his head on his pillow in great peace and contentment, knowing that his new-found friend the River was lapping the sill of his window"? Then read on.

South Carlow, with its brooding Blackstairs Mountains, shares a meandering border with Cotswolds-ish Kilkenny, between Leighlinbridge and St Mullins.

Broadcaster Olivia O'Leary has described this sublime stretch of the Barrow Valley as having "some of the most beautiful riverscape in these islands".

Recently in The Irish Times, she wrote of idyllic childhood summers in this "heart of the country" recalling a river bank that: "faces west or south-west, so on good days it stays warm until sunset, when the river turns gold and the fish are jumping and there's an echo all down the valley".

Yet this area of outstanding natural beauty is mystifyingly under-appreciated and little-known. That may be about to change.

An 18kms dual-carriageway bypass of Carlow town, which opens later this year, will reduce travel time to and from Dublin to 90 minutes.

One of the most magical locations in the Barrow Valley is Clashganny - on a curve in the river three miles south of the attractive village of Borris.

There's a lockkeepers house (the Barrow is one of the country's great navigable rivers) and a humming weir.

And when, in the words of the old song, you go "cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon", you will find at Graiguenamanagh, the words of the poet Kate O'Leary (a great-aunt of Olivia) inscribed in stone: "stand mid bluebells 'neath emerald light / by Barrow flashing, its current dashing / the amber waters into foaming white". You, too, will be inspired.

A rare opportunity to buy a property at Clashganny has emerged with the sale, by public auction, of Clashganna House and Mill on 8 acres, by ERA Donohoe Properties on Friday, May 9th at 3pm in The Step House Hotel at Borris.

Lot one is the house on five acres with an AMV of €400,000. Lot two, the Mill on three acres at €275,000. And lot three, the entire for €675,000.

The classic Carlow granite, cut-stone Victorian house was once owned by the Lambert (puppet theatre) family and latterly by the Rehab organisation which failed in its efforts to convert the property into a rural retreat.

The 371.6sq m (4,000sq ft) house - just a short stroll from the riverside - appears to be in very good structural condition but, says the agent, "will require extensive modernisation and refurbishment".

A sadly neglected, Mill on the Floss-style old cornmill has "great potential" and is destined to become someone's "labour of love". We ooh-and-aah at rustic "conversions" in Dordogne or Umbria yet many old Irish cornmills are woefully ignored treasures.

The whole property could have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's famous verse: "Here is the mill with the humming of thunder, Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, Here is the sluice with the race running under Marvellous places, though handy to home!"

The area is well-wooded and blissfully tranquil; on an April afternoon, lit by watery sunshine, the only sounds were a Rossini chorus of birdsong and the hypnotic, morphean lullaby of the weir.

On the road above the house is a lay-by which is signposted "Clashganny Lock View". It is utterly mesmerising.

Open viewing of Clashganna House and Mill takes place this Saturday, April 19th, between 2pm and 3pm or by appointment with the agent, ERA Donohoe Properties, Bagenalstown.

Clashganna House and Mill,
Clashganny,
Borris,
Co Carlow
House on five acres and a mill on three acres in lots
Agent:ERA Donohoe Properties