Picture pretty - and room for the horses

An 18th century house in west Wicklow has country charm close to the city, says Eivlín Roden. It's for sale for €2.8m

AN 18TH CENTURY house on 10 acres surrounded by views of rolling west Wicklow countryside is for sale by private treaty through Colliers Jackson-Stops with an asking price of €2.8 million.

Five-bedroom Plezica House, near Dunlavin offers the best of country living with picture pretty views framed in its many windows, lovely gardens and stabling for a few horses.

The present owners have lived here for only three years and are now downsizing, but have done an enormous amount of structural and plumbing work, putting in new floors and heating.

Cast-iron gates sweep up a gravelled drive which opens into a square courtyard at the front of the house. The original two-storey farmhouse has been extended twice, once in the 1960s and again a couple of years ago, each time with great sympathy for the existing building.

The old farmhouse forms the central two-storey section and its two extensions ramble away on both sides and to the back, forming a second courtyard, this one an enclosed pale paved suntrap.

Several doors open onto the front of the house, including an original half-door into a brick-floored hall with a large fireplace and a staircase rising out of it. The present owners use this as a diningroom and have often fitted 18 people around a heavy drop-leaf table.

There is an enfilade of rooms on both sides of this with the kitchen to the right and a study, reading room and little office leading to a large drawingroom. All these rooms are dual aspect with windows to the front and the back, nicely proportioned without being too grand.

The kitchen has an oil-fired Stanley range and cream wooden units framing its three windows. There is plenty of room for a long rectangular table in the centre; this is a very attractive room with dark wooden-look Amtico flooring and plenty of storage - and it gets the sun morning and evening. There's a large laundry room opposite the kitchen across a paved courtyard.

The drawingroom at the other end of the house has doors to a patio and wonderful views of the countryside dipping away towards the Wicklow mountains. It has a large fireplace made of stone and a high coved ceiling. On St Stephen's Day each year, the Kildare Hunt can be seen galloping through the fields from here.

Three of the five bedrooms are at garden level, all good doubles with casement windows framing stunning views towards the mountains. The main one is very large and has an en suite with tiled walls and floors, blonde wooden units, two wash-hand basins and a walk-in shower.

The main bathroom is also at this level, and is a wonderful room with a black-and-white Amtico floor, underfloor heating, matt blue half-panelled walls and loads of room. There are two more bedrooms upstairs in the original 18th century house and access to extensive floored attics. Outside is the garden with wide rolling lawns and 80 recently-planted hardwood trees. Outside the gardens there are wildlife areas and five paddocks, each newly railed and with running water.

This is a gorgeous family house, and although it is entirely private, it is near Blessington, Newbridge and Naas, has three schools nearby, and is close to the N81 route to Dublin.