Synge stable connection

DID the Riders to the Sea leave from the stables at Glanmore?

The now-disbanded Wicklow Glanmore Estate of 10,000 acres was the ancestral home of playwright JM Synge, he of Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea and other dramatic blockbusters fame.

Up for sale here is the former estate stables, converted to residential use as far back as 1959, according to agents HOK Country, though its interior is quite up to date in a rustic, country style.

Price guide for this four-bedroomed stable environment is €700,000, on a mere acre of the original 10,000 acre estate, near Glanmore Castle.

Also alongside is Devils Glen Woods, with a right of way to the glen taking in hundreds of acres, as well as a cascading waterfall on the Vartry River.

The long, and generally low, stable building is just one of a number of old Glanmore out-buildings converted to living accommodation, and with its aged yard setting is full of charm, with 2,200 sq ft of living space 30 miles from Dublin city.

Ashford is about three miles away in this Co Wicklow setting, while the sea is five miles away and beaches at Brittas (Riders to the Sea again) are about a 20 minute drive.

On its doorstep is an equestrian centre, and outbuildings with this property include three loose boxes, and while the acre won’t graze too many ponies, arrangements for grazing and livery can be made locally.

Most of the rooms have vaulted ceilings and a southerly aspect, and the main bedroom has garden access - all the arched openings presumably were fashioned from stable doors.

Accommodation includes a family room with garden doors, large kitchen, dining room with double doors to south-facing terrace, study in a lofted gallery, shower room, bathroom and two ground floor bedrooms plus master bedroom en suite.

There is a grand large 22’ by 16’ first floor room, suitable as a bedroom or games room.

Features include wood floors, an ISDN line for remote working, security gates, oil heating and enclosed, sheltered gardens, all with a stone-wrapped and slate roofed stable block to call home.