Two-in-one West Park House

Rose Martin is captivated by the charms of a rambling family home.

WEST Park House, Midleton, is the sort of rambling old country property beloved of children’s literature. There could be adventures aplenty here, as the house offers so many nooks and crannies that boring wet winter days could be a thing of the past.

A simple Georgian residence, built in 1770 by Lord Midleton, probably as an estate manager’s house, the property has been added to over the years and now comes with a Victorian, east wing addition, which once housed the servants quarters. So, in effect, it’s two houses in one, with a newer kitchen linking both buildings.

West Park is within a brisk walk Midleton, a town that’s shaping up to be the most sophisticated shopping centre in the county. They’ve got a famous farmer’s market there on Saturdays’ and interior and furniture shops bring clients from all over while food and foodie outlets are set to rival Kinsale.

West Park House is a few fields away from the Distillery, but light years away in its seclusion. It’s at the end of a low-hung, tree-lined driveway that winds around an old farmyard to arrive at the front door.

The property is a perfectly symmetrical farmhouse with the later, but blander addition attached to the side and like the house, covered in climbers and shrouded in shrubs.

West Park House is old, but it’s not imposing and comes with two formal reception room and four double bedrooms.

This makes it very manageable for a family, but then, there is the option of converting the east wing of the house, which hasn’t been lived in for a number of years.

Alternatively, it could be extended to the rear where a large green lawn, almost an acre of it, runs down to a woodland boundary.

It has two, splendid reception rooms, and both rooms detail the wallpaper and styling of another era.

It’s an indication of the light in the drawing room that it manages to handle charcoal grey wallpaper and still be bright, because of windows on three sides.

The dining room is very impressive with its bowed gable end and French doors leading to the garden. The full dining suite and range of silverware add to the elegance of the room, which comes with strong colour scheme. In between both rooms is a butler’s pantry, now used as a study/library.

The main hallway which runs widthways to the front of the house has an unusual spiral stone staircase and an old ceramic French stove, which heats the hall, stairs and landing.

According to selling agent, Dermot Lynch, this attractive piece of engineering was following an old accepted principle that if the circulation rooms in the house were cold the house was cold.

There’s almost double the room of the main house in the east wing, which has a museum piece kitchen, with most of the rooms now used for storage. Its next incarnation will be up to new owners.

West Park House has a guide price of €1.5 million through selling agents, Irish and European and includes 5 acres of land with the ruins of an old church.