THERE’S NOTHING LIKE the charm of an old farmhouse, tucked away from city sprawl and offering endless fresh air for gardening or kids to roam in the woods.
While many of us are drawn to the convenience of the city, if you’re ready to leave that behind, you can trade in the suburban lifestyle for the tranquility of a rural spot.
If you’re on the hunt for a farmhouse, these four, from Co Wicklow to Co Kilkenny, offer ample acreage, orchards, paddocks and bundles of charm.
Ballyoliver House in Co Carlow is a three-bedroom, one-bathroom detached home standing on almost five acres, including an array of outbuildings and a paddock. There is a selection of stables as well as a large barn adjacent to the house, which would offer an opportunity for further conversion to residential accommodation if desired.
The home has a solid fuel stove in the sitting room, an attractive country style kitchen and natural timber flooring throughout the ground floor. The ground floor bedroom has a cast iron fireplace, and the entire property is centrally heated with an oil fired unit. A conservatory to the rear maximises light flowing through the property.
In Kilkenny, you could purchase a stone farmhouse with four bedrooms and four bathrooms that sits on almost an acre and includes a mature orchard and views of Kilkenny county. The property was originally built in 1870 and rebuilt in 2007 – but it retains many of the original features, including sash windows with decorative granite window sills and heads, exposed ceiling beams, and traditional doors with wrought iron finishings.
The ground floor has an open plan living room featuring an inglenook fireplace with a solid fuel stove, oak flooring and exposed timber beams. The kitchen has a flagstone floor, as well as a free standing island, a Belfast sink and a Stanley oil-fired range.
If a late 1800s Wicklow farmhouse on nine acres sounds appealing, you’ll want to give Ballyknocken House a look. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom Georgian-style home in Rathdrum has been restored, including elegant cornicing, period fireplaces, sash windows, high ceilings, and original shutters and floorboards.
The house is approached via electric gates over a bridge and up a gently sloping driveway, and benefits from mature gardens and uninterrupted views of the countryside and Wicklow Mountains. The main house stands in the centre of the acreage with a stone courtyard to the side, leading to four stables, a log house, a hay loft and a fully converted one-bedroom apartment.
Finally, in Co Waterford, you’ll find a four-bedroom, three-bathroom renovated farmhouse overlooking Tramore to the east, Tramore Bay and the magnificent coastline at the start of the Copper Coast, Carrigavantry Lake to the rear, and a megalithic grave at the boundary of the property.
Accessed by a quiet rural lane, the home, which was built in 1904, was fully renovated in 1996. The property was further extended in 2004 when a sunroom, large utility and upstairs en suite bedroom were added. The 2200 square foot home is serviced by an oil fired central heating system, and has solar panels for heating water, in addition to a private well.
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