A modern Gothic-style house built in the walled garden of the Bushy Park estate in Enniskerry is guided at €3.75m. Property Editor Orna Mulcahy reports

An idyllic country house set in an old walled garden outside the village of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow is set to make over €3.75 million later this month through HOK Country.

The Garden House looks as though it has been basking in its south-facing setting for a very long time but, in fact, it was built just seven years ago in what was once part of the Bushy Park estate. When the Bisgood family sold the estate to singer Chris de Burgh in 1996, they kept part of the land to build a new house for themselves.

The four-bedroom house, which stands on nine acres, was carefully positioned on what the owners knew would be a delightful spot, sunk down in the enclosed 2.5-acre walled garden so that it would not be visible from the big house.

Their friend, the gardener and broadcaster Helen Dillon, had this to say about it. "A sunny aspect, a gentle slope, old stone walls - only somebody who really loved this place could have made such a beautiful garden within. Above all there is a feeling of great tranquillity. Such is the setting for The Garden House."

The remaining land is in a field that runs alongside the driveway leading down to the house from the road, four miles from the village. The mellow two-storey house was built in the Gothic style, and has a spacious interior of around 511sq m (5,500sq ft).

Having lived in a far larger house, the late Mrs Bisgood relished the opportunity to build a home that would have the grand proportions of a country house, but none of the discomforts.

The well laid out accommodation includes a large room-sized hallway with its own fireplace. Two lovely reception rooms - a drawingroom and a morningroom - have tall arched windows facing the garden as well as French doors leading to a gravelled patio where the climbing roses that smother the back wall of the house will soon be coming into bloom.

The Gothic theme is carried through in the decorative cornicing, while the décor is English country house style with thick sisal flooring, lots of comfortable armchairs around open fireplaces and walls painted in shades of umber and sienna.

The large country-style kitchen has a creamy white flagstone floor and the obligatory Aga, and it too has French doors opening onto the garden where breakfast can be taken overlooking the garden.

Beyond the kitchen is a superb garden room with its floor-to-ceiling arched windows and glazed ceiling dome.

Far more attractive and useful than a conservatory, it acts as both a diningroom and a plants room with creepers racing up the pale terracotta walls and lush plants arranged on wrought iron shelves that were specially made by craftsman Edward Bisgood.

A utility room leads out to a useful U-shaped yard at the side of the house with several outhouses, including a potting shed where the Gothic theme continues in a pretty latticed window. There is also a guest toilet on the ground floor, a study and a fully shelved cellar.

Upstairs, the main bedroom suite runs from front-to-back of the house, with the dual aspect bedroom having glorious views of the garden and its own fireplace; the adjoining dressingroom with its walls covered in a rose pink toile leads through to a well-fitted bathroom. The remaining three bedrooms, two of which are en suite, are decorated in true country house style.

The grounds, which are tended by a full-time gardener, include an orchard and a young yew walk planted by Mrs Bisgood in memory of her husband Richard. There is also a vegetable garden, beds planted with lavender and rose, extensive box hedging and gravelled pathways that meander past velvet smooth lawns.

The auction is scheduled for May 31st and viewing is by appointment only with selling agent David Ashmore.

For a virtual tour of this property click on nicemove.ie