With spades of charm

An immaculately restored 2,400 sq ft home, at peaceful Nadrid, Coachford, has up to six bedrooms and four bathrooms, says Tommy Barker and was found at the end of a six-month hunt by Andrew Ashford and Marian O’Leary, when they returned from Australia in 1999

A ‘PROPERTY Wanted’ ad in the Examiner, a random chance reply, and taking a pot shot at a briar-entagled wreck, are all part of the back-story of Freshwater Farm, a Lee Valley offering with country home charm.

Reaching this spot was the end of a six-month hunt for Andrew Ashford and Marian O’Leary, when they returned from Australia in 1999. Finding the perfect farmhouse on a couple of acres “was more like trying to find the proverbial hen’s tooth”, according to the vendors. “We contacted every single auctioneer in the whole of the county. Eventually we just gave up and decided to stick a wanted ad in the Irish Examiner. “But, that opened a whole new can of worms! We had a massive response, the only problem was that we ended up going to look at various piles of stones in the middle of absolutely nowhere, which were being passed off as doer-uppers.”