Retreat to Richmond

ONE of the best houses in one of the country’s safest towns in the country - Templemore, headquarters for Ireland’s trainee gardaí - is on the market.

Appropriately called The Retreat, the 1820s Georgian residence is on an acre in the Co Tipperary town, with a 70-acre public park with pitch and putt and outdoor swimming pool almost on its doorstep.

Estate agent Damien Ryan of Sherry FitzGerald Ryan Talbot is looking for €575,000-plus for the property, which offers a touch of country living in the town.

“It is one of four fine broadly similar detached period houses on the Thurles side of the town coming into Templemore. The last time one of these was available was probably 10 years ago when The Retreat was last purchased,” he says.

The house would have been linked with the barracks in the town, and its acre of gardens behind would have been a grazing spot for officers’ horses, Mr Ryan explains. Two stables go with the property.

The Retreat, with old walled gardens and orchard, is in an area of the town called Richmond, and it is likely that this impending sale will see the rich put back into Richmond.

There’s an obvious appeal to local professional families, but relocation demand from Dublin or elsewhere is also anticipated, says Mr Ryan.

“The vendors of the property have compiled a list of the parties named within the title deeds, which reads like a history of the town and includes names from merchant families, as well as British royalty,” he says.

The restored two-storey house has over 3,000 sq ft of high quality living space with four bedrooms, two of which have fireplaces, en suite bathrooms and one with a dressing room. Living quarters include drawing room, dining room, family room with French doors to the garden, former surgery/office (the previous owner was a GP), utility, and country-style kitchen with oil-fired Aga.

Features retained include working bells for summoning staff (though the calls may now go unheeded), working shutters, some restored original wood floors and coving. Modern expenditure has gone on re-roofing, rewiring, electric heating and PVC double glazed windows.

The acre of grounds is a real bonus, and it has a double garage, stables, stores, orchard and tarmac drive. Nearby is a tennis club, golf club and the town centre.

The Retreat has a security alarm. But, of course, there’s always the back-up services of hundreds of trainee gardaí at the nearby Garda College which is undergoing a multi-million euro extension.