Period Kerry hunting lodge transformed and overhauled

BETTER than at any time in its 170 or so years is the Kerry holding Knockaseed House.

A former hunting lodge of the Lords Kenmare, this utterly overhauled period lodge home is on 28 acres of lifestyle grounds — enough land for gardening, veg growing, horse keeping plus a bit of cattle fattening, fishing and general disporting and pleasure taking. Up at Rathmore, and near a rail line and station, it also has nearly half a mile of frontage to the upper reaches of the Blackwater river.

Knocknaseed was bought back in 2002 by Alex and Jill Talnan, who moved to Ireland from Cambridge in search of a land-based outdoor lifestyle. Alex has a background in zoology. botany and geology, and spent 21 years with the Ministry of Agriculture across the water, while Jill has a MBQ in accountancy and set up a home office to work from her new Irish home.