During her career as a harpist, Claire Roche has travelled around the world, but every time she returned to her home, Woodford in Booterstown Park has been her sanctuary, a retreat from the rigours of touring. She has opened for such acts as the Chieftains and the Fureys, and performed in the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and has set the poetry of WB Yeats to the Irish harp. She is also credited with popularising the playing of the harp at Irish weddings from the late 1980s on.
Roche's harps have pride of place in Woodford – one stands in the hall, and two others dominate the music room close to the piano. You can almost imagine an intimate recital being performed here, in front of an exclusive gathering. Indeed, Roche has broadcast a number of performances from Woodford, and the house has also been used for yoga and meditation retreats, and wellness weekends for people with dementia. "It's a soul place," she says.
The charming, spacious period house sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac off Booterstown Avenue, nestled in half an acre of lush gardens. It’s no wonder Roche feels right at home here – the former stable and carriage house was once part of the estate belonging to Chesterfield House, where Roche grew up. Her father – who owned Chesterfield House – converted the stable into a fine, quirky residence, adding sweeping curves to the original rectangular shape, and adding touches such as a round sunroom with vaulted ceiling reaching up to a pointed apex, and an ornate, cantilevered spiral staircase to the back of the house. “My father loved curves,” recalls Roche.
As you enter the house through a generous porch, you come into a wide hallway with a welcoming marble fireplace and open fire. New owners may want to take out the carpets here and replace them with wooden or tiled floors. An impressive main staircase leads upstairs, while to the left is a downstairs bedroom with en suite that would make a perfect guest room. To the right is the sunroom, with walnut floors and picture windows overlooking the grounds.
An inner hall leads to a bright, spacious diningroom with vaulted ceiling, a drawingroom with sandstone fireplace and slate surround and double doors leading to the rear garden, and a livingroom with stone fireplace, timber panelling, built-in shelf units and picture windows overlooking the garden. The kitchen has a large central island with granite worktop and an Aga along with a Neff stainless steel oven, and it leads out to a large conservatory with double doors leading out into the rear garden.
There’s also a plant room and utility room, cloakroom and guest toilet downstairs.
Upstairs are four generous bedrooms, one with vaulted ceiling and triple aspect windows, and another with ceiling coving and floor-to-ceiling picture windows. There are also two en suite bathrooms, a dressingroom and a shower room.
Woodford is nicely wrapped in lush, leafy gardens, giving the whole house a peaceful aspect. There's a wide patio area for eating outdoors, a pond, and a leafy path leading out to the front. The garden is dotted with mischievous elves – brass figures that Roche bought in a job lot. A wooded area separates Woodford from the main Chesterfield House, which Roche says will not be developed. In 2019, planning permission which Cairn Homes received to demolish Chesterfield House and build 200 homes was quashed by the High Court.
Woodford is certainly a quirky home, and may not be to everyone’s taste. But when it finds its ideal owner, this house will no doubt reveal many delights.
Woodford, extending to 455sq m (4,898sq ft) with a Ber of B3, is on sale through Lisney/Clare Connolly Estate Agent for €3,450,000.
