Hideaways with an angle

IF A holiday home within easy drive of 12 golf courses doesn't fit you to a tee, how about a woodland hideaway by one of western Europe's finest salmon angling rivers?

That's the choice for prospective buyers of three niche holiday home clusters, totalling just 45 houses, set in the mature grounds of fabulous the Mount Falcon estate near Ballina, Co Mayo.

Mount Falcon is an 1870s baronial-style compact castle with 100 acres of grounds and lucrative fishing rights on two miles of the river Moy.

The Moy is widely regarded as the country's best salmon fishery 30% of all wild Irish salmon are taken here, with 6,000 fish taken on the rod each year.

The original house (which featured in the Blue Book of Country Houses in 1974, when owned by Connie Aldrige) has attracted many international celebrities in its time including Peter Sellers and Vivien Leigh, and latterly, golfers such as Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara and Nick Faldo have come to fish in the region for relaxation.

And, if in the midst of fine angling and outdoor pursuits, you still hanker after a bit of golf, there are 12 golf courses within a 30 mile drive, including a championship links course at Enniscrone and the prospect of Nick Faldo's Bartagh Island course.

The Mount Falcon estate was bought over two years ago for €3.5 million by the locally based Maloney family, brothers Alan, Barry (ex ESAT Digifone chief executive) and Mike Maloney, along with US venture capitalist Bruce Dunlevie.

They have development budget of 23 million to build a 26-bed hotel, pool and conference/function facility on to the main house. The house itself will have six luxury suites while 45 holiday houses (with capital allowances and Bord Fáilte fit-out) will also be discreetly constructed in the grounds.

The project is likely to attract both investors and private buyers with west of Ireland roots, keen on the fishing and the attractions of the leisure lifestyle.

The houses will be set in three clusters in a courtyard formation in a wooded clearing. They will be situated by a cut stone water tower and four-acre lake stocked with rainbow trout.

The houses will include 12 log cabins and a number of homes replicating the style of old stone boathouses.

Selling agents are Paul McLoughlin of Sherry FitzGerald Kavanagh in Galway and Nuala Feeney of Sherry FitzGerald Feeney West in Ballina.

Prices (excluding VAT) for fully-fitted houses range from €378,000, for a three-bed terraced house of 1,330 sq ft, through four-bed terraced houses of 1,526 sq ft at €466,000, and three-bed detached log cabin houses of 1,356 sq ft are at €480,000.