Walk into Argyle, a superb five-bed detached house on almost an acre of lush landscaped gardens in the exclusive enclave of Rathmichael, and you might find yourself reluctant to turn around and walk out again. This house has everything you need for elegant living – and then some. Besides the spacious main house with its sizeable drawingroom, livingroom and main bedroom suite, Argyle has an additional self-contained mews apartment to one side that extends to 100sq m (1,076sq ft), and is perfect for putting up guests in comfort, or as accommodation for an au pair or carer. The house was built around the early 1990s, and underwent a complete refurbishment in 2009, as the current owners splashed out to create a vibrant home with high-spec finishes and an overall sense of space and style. Including the mews, Argyle extends to a generous 480sq m (5,167sq ft) on private grounds. It has a B3 Ber and is for sale through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €2.75 million.
Argyle nestles securely behind wrought-iron electronic gates, and is protected by a state-of-the-art digital security system; the front drive is a gravelled roundabout with space to park several cars. The front garden is fully enclosed by mature plants, specimen plants and herbaceous borders. A granite-paved porch leads via bi-folding doors into the entrance hall, which has a natural stone-tiled floor, ceiling coving, recessed lighting and understairs storage. The guest WC off the hallway has part-tiled walls and tiled floor.
To the front is a study with wide-plank hardwood floor and built-in shelving and storage units. This is the work-from-home set-up you’ve always wanted, with dual-aspect sash windows and solid walnut doors and architraves.
Behind that, and entered through solid bifolding doors, is the first of the big-ticket features: a fab drawingroom with solid wide-plank timber floor, ceiling coving, recessed lighting and speakers in the ceiling (ceiling speakers are a feature across the entire house). This room has a great dual aspect, with windows overlooking the rockery to the rear, and to the side. Between the two windows to the side is an impressive period marble fireplace with brass and slate inset, a slate hearth and a gas coal-effect fire. To offset the period features, the room is decorated with funky furnishings.
Housing in Ireland is among the most expensive and most affordable in the EU. How does that happen?
One in five people expect to pay mortgage in retirement, survey finds
Irish architectural great Ronnie Tallon built a home far superior to Mies van der Rohe’s original. Time to protect it
Sherry FitzGerald CEO Steven McKenna to leave firm to ‘explore new opportunities’
The livingroom next to it is even bigger, with sash windows looking out to the rear, and bifolding double-glazed French doors opening out to the back garden. There’s an elevated glazed timber-effect remote-controlled gas fire, and a neat, eye-catching design feature: darkened glass Crittal-style sliding doors which open out to the kitchen/diningroom.
The built-in Porter & Jones handmade Italian kitchen has a natural stone-tiled floor, a large butcher block worktop in laminated wood and a great centrepiece: an L-shaped island with a solid-walnut breakfast bar spanning the two arms of the island. A vaulted ceiling with recessed lighting and two large Velux skylights lets in the sun from the south and west, and double-glazed French doors open out to a patio area with electronic awning. There’s also a large utility room.
The handmade bespoke walnut staircase brings you to a well-lit first-floor landing with walnut floor. The main bedroom suite is pure luxury, with a dual-aspect windows giving wonderful views over the garden, a solid maple floor and an elevated gas fire. A sliding sash window overlooks the front garden, and there’s a lovely shelved alcove for all your pampering products. And then there’s the walk-in dressingroom, with bespoke floor-to-ceiling wardrobes, a tall, fitted mirror and centre island with drawers and glass-topped display cupboards.
Bedrooms two and three are linked by a Jack-and-Jill en suite. Bedroom two, facing the front, has an arched opening towards one end, allowing the occupant to have a discrete sitting area. Bedroom three, facing the back, has a range of built-in wardrobes and twin sliding sash windows overlooking the garden.
The second-floor bedroom is not a converted attic, but was part of the original build; the house’s roofline allows for plenty of headroom. It offers plenty eaves storage and an en suite shower room with underfloor heating.
The self-contained mews apartment is well-appointed, with a big front entranceway leading into an open-plan living/dining/kitchen area, and stairs leading up to a large double bedroom with vaulted ceiling and a shower room with marble tiles.
The beautiful, west-facing back garden is the clincher, and is divided into three discrete areas. Directly to the rear are the patio areas for the house and the mews apartment, both with remote-control awnings. Then there’s a wonderful Japanese Zen garden with a water-feature rockery and a bridge leading to a patio area with a variety of trees and plants. Finally, through garden arches, you reach the huge, sweeping lawn where large enough to host a football match.
