Fancy 'la dolce vita' in Co Louth? A truly bella casa has just come on the market. Baltrasna House, a late Georgian/early Victorian mansion on eight acres, is for sale by private treaty through Savills with an asking price of €1.35 million.
The house is a short drive from Ardee where flagpoles are festooned with banners celebrating an unlikely Italian connection.
Three years ago, the land-locked town (population 5,000) twinned with Nettuno (population 46,000), a coastal town in the Lazio region south of Rome, named after the Roman god, Neptune, and best-known for its air force base, a police-dog training school and a shrine to Saint Maria Goretti.
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Even the fussiest Italian would likely be impressed by the style and elegance of Baltrasna House. The owners, Hugh and Esther McGahon, who are both well-known lawyers, bought the property 25 years ago and have clearly lavished both money and time on its upkeep.
The couple, who don’t have a family, have decided to sell because the 743 sqm (8,000 sq ft) house has become “too big for just two people” and the “housekeeper is retiring”.
Seated beneath a Venetian chandelier, and surrounded by a sumptuous array of fine art and antiques, Ms McGahon said “the ‘old’ has lost its appeal” and they now plan to build a completely modern house in the country and also spend more time in their Dublin penthouse.
The house would suit a large and affluent family seeking a spacious, elegant country house just minutes from the M1 and “50 minutes to the Law Library”.
Privacy is guaranteed as the house is hidden from the main road and is accessed via electric gates and a meandering tree-lined drive. The surrounding grounds and gardens are, indeed, as “manicured” as the agent claims.
The house is two-storeys-over-basement and has an impressive portico entrance with granite steps leading to double-front doors.
The hallway, where a glazed panel bears the family crest: “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In this sign you will conquer”) is very grand. A sweeping staircase is lit by an overhead cupola.
Reception room ceilings, adorned with intricate plasterwork work and gold leaf, drip with crystal chandeliers.
The dining room can comfortably seat 24 and the drawing room, originally designed as a ballroom, has a properly-sprung floor ideal for dancing a quadrille.
The ground floor also has a large guest cloakroom, a sitting room, a library and a study.
Upstairs are six large bedrooms; a dressing room large enough to accommodate its current vast collections of shoes and handbags; and three bathrooms, two of which have original Victorian “rain” shower-heads built into the wood-panelled ceilings over the bath.
The country-style kitchen is in the basement/garden level along with a billiard room, wine cellar, boot room, strong-room, utility room and pantry.
The former game room (for hanging pheasants, not playing Xbox) still has the original ceiling hooks but has now been converted into a sauna.
Greenhouse and orchard
To the rear of the house is a pleasant walled garden with a greenhouse and an orchard, which supply fresh fruit and vegetables to the house; a grass tennis court; and a large outdoor swimming pool, which isn't currently in use.
Louth may have its charms but they don't, sadly, extend to Italian weather.
The Louth Hunt meets locally; there’s shooting at Slane and Mountainstown; fishing on the rivers Fane and Dee; and nearby golf-courses include Ardee, Baltray and Dundalk. Horse racing at Fairyhouse, Navan and Dundalk is within 30 minutes’ drive.
