Heaven is a place on earth

Tommy Barker visits what is reputed to be Ardmore’s finest property.

STEEPED in a monastic settlement and seaside blessings, and with past writers in residence such as Molly Keane, journalist Fergal Keane and a clatter of Cockburn wordsmiths, Ardmore is just a little bit apart.

One bonus is its coastal cul-de-sac setting off the N25 in west Waterford.

Another saving grace is the fact it never got seaside resort tax designation so was spared the worst excesses of houses built more as tax shelters than as an enhancement and place for blissful annual family holidays.

Although it is developing at a pace — it has a new Cliff Top hotel under construction for IT entrepreneur owner Barry O’Callaghan and further beach-fronting land has been zoned, awaiting services — the pace is organic, says estate agent Brian Gleeson who lives and works locally.

He is joint selling agent of what he says is Ardmore’s very finest house, the Old Rectory, along with Cork city based auctioneer Noelle Morrison.

They put it up for sale in July, and it has now reached its €2.5 million guide and Gleeson is confident it will sell in the next few weeks.

The agents have had a fairly smooth passage, as the house sells itself, so thorough has been its overhaul and refurbishment (from the brink of burned-out shell) as well as quality of decoration.

“Local people have a love for this house, it is synonymous with the village,” says Gleeson of the Old Rectory, which is set on the village edge underneath the Round Tower.

The Old Rectory is on a sloping walled acre site, backed by the old cemetery and has an old orchard to the back as a buffer, and as surrounding fields are protected, there’ll be no other developments snuggling up to its boundary walls. To the front, there’s views from nearly every principal room with glimpses and panoramas of beach, sea and village.

Thanks to its rear (self-contained) annex, which replaced earlier outbuildings, there’s now over 5,000 sq ft of space. The main residence has four colour-themed en suite bedrooms, the annex has a further three, so there’s a bedroom tally of seven, with eight bathrooms.

There are two formal reception rooms to the front, either side of the welcoming hallway, and both have marble fireplaces and corniced ceilings. There’s a large homely kitchen behind, en route to the annex, and the last ‘corner’ is the family room, which has a solid fuel stove for winter cosiness. In summer the doors are left open to the sweep of patio, which is used regularly for entertaining.

The Old Rectory was rescued in 1991 by London stockbroker David Ziff and his wife Janet, both of whom died a few years ago, within a few months of one another.

Now, family members and hospitable hosts Bob and Lynda Corwin have been in occupation, and while running it as an occasional B&B and holistic therapy centre, also did further improvements.

All the interest to date has, as expected, been from private buyers keen to get Ardmore’s trophy home. And, it is going, going …