Summergrove, where the living is hard work

Restoring Country Houses: There weren't enough old houses in New Zealand to restore - so the Speedys came to Co Laois to save a house built in 1736, writes Robert O'Byrne

From a farm in New Zealand to a rundown Georgian house in Co Laois is quite a journey. But it was one made without trepidation by James and Pauline Speedy. Together with their two children, the couple moved to this country in 1992 when they decided to buy a mid-18th century property called Summergrove.

The choice of Ireland was fortuitous. "We wanted to come somewhere in Europe," says Pauline, "and take on the project of restoring an old house. There aren't many of them in New Zealand." Summergrove's restoration has been an ongoing process.

Fourteen years since it began, there's abundant evidence of what the Speedys have achieved, as well as signs that their job is by no means finished. But it's easy to see why they took on the task because Summergrove has a special charm.

While large when compared with the average 21st century house, it doesn't give an impression of being dauntingly big or grand. Nevertheless, both externally and internally Summergrove is a place with serious aspirations to grandeur, its broad flight of stone steps leading to an entrance hall decorated with fine wood carving and plasterwork.

This introduction to the house closes with a superlative example of 18th century craftsmanship, a tripartite screen, believed to have been carved by John Kelly. The first-floor drawingroom (now used by the Speedys as their own bedroom) used to hold an equally magnificent chimney piece but it was removed long before the present owners' time.

Likewise, that originally in the room directly below was also taken out but what has survived throughout the house is flamboyant rococo ceiling stuccowork, by an unknown hand but very much in the manner of Robert West. It's as though an architect's designs for some major country residence had been shrunken to fit this one.

Who that architect might have been is unknown, along with much else about Summergrove's early history. Just a couple of kilometres outside Mountmellick, the house was built for a Huguenot family called Sabatier who acquired the surrounding lands in 1736 and presumably started work on the site not too long afterwards. When clearing land to the front, James Speedy came across a piece of cut stone carved with the date 1766.

Stylistically this seems a little late for completion, although during the 18th century provincial taste frequently lapsed behind that of metropolitan Dublin. In any case, the Sabatiers remained resident at Summergrove until 1865 when it was bought by their agents, a family called Pim who, in turn, lived there for the next 100 years.

Thereafter it passed through different owners, not all of whom occupied Summergrove, before being bought by the Speedys.

"It was very dilapidated," says James. "This was the first house electrified in Laois and nothing had been done since. When we came to see it, we were warned not to switch on the lights, otherwise we could have burned the place down. Equally, we ought to be grateful because it hadn't been 'renovated', adds his wife. "There was nothing to undo, but an awful lot to do up. For example, all the gutters had gone so they needed to be replaced."

To give one example of just how much had to be done, Maurice Craig's seminal - and still invaluable - book Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size published in 1976 devotes several pages to Summergrove, in which the author remarks that the house "does not, for once, contain a basement". In fact, there is a basement, rediscovered by the Speedys. "When we moved in," says James, "the forecourt was at least two feet higher than today and the bottom steps were lost." Now they've been uncovered once more and a fine new lantern suspended from the elaborate wrought-iron lamp holder over the front door. From the top step, the eye travels the length of a garden of trees, grass and water devised by the Speedys to serve a dual purpose: create a sense of vista over what is a relatively short distance and screen off the sight and sound of traffic using the adjacent road.

The rectangular pond at the centre of this garden is not just decorative but also functional: "the insurance company made us install it so we'd a ready supply of water in the event of a fire," James explains.

The house itself looks sturdy enough to survive such a catastrophe. Below a steeply-pitched roof, the cut-stone façade runs to five bays, the central pedimented elevation containing a doorcase below a Venetian window and then a Diocletian window at attic level.

Surprisingly, there are another two fine Venetian windows to the rear; like the handsome entrance door flanked by sash windows, these seem to indicate the Sabatiers wanted their home to create an impression.

So too do the Speedys, for whom rescuing Summergrove has been an all-absorbing interest. "I often say this house is the mistress in our marriage," jokes Pauline.

It's clearly an arrangement that suits her. She and James have taken almost a forensic approach to Summergrove, painstakingly subjecting every detail of the structure to analysis and investigation before it's brought back to the original condition.

As much as possible, they've preserved the house's fabric. All the front windows are those first installed as are the internal shutters, and most of the broad staircase has been saved with only a few banisters requiring replacement. Not so much as a hinge or nail has been thrown away.

"Right from the start, we've tried to be totally authentic," says Pauline. "One of the reasons the whole thing's taken so long is that we've had to source the right materials and then train people how to use them." Another reason for the project's relatively slow pace, as the Speedys readily admit, are the limited funds available to them.

Financial support has been given to them by the Irish Georgian Society "and we're very grateful for it," says Pauline. But they've only 30 acres of land around the house, two-thirds of it given over to pasture, the rest being gardens and wood. Sheep graze in the fields, chickens wander about the rear courtyard beyond which lies a walled garden where vegetables are grown.

James's principal income comes from the equestrian business; this year's winner of the Irish Grand National, Point Barrow, passed through the stables at Summergrove. Pauline's culinary skills mean she's in demand for catering.

But with both their children now away at college, as of this summer the couple have decided to open the house to paying guests, initially on a small scale. "Whatever we make will be to pay for further restoration," they stress, as though there could be any doubt of their complete devotion to the house. That much was made plain when they uprooted themselves from New Zealand for the sake of Summergrove.