IT’S THE STUFF of fairytales – living in your own castle. At €6.5m to purchase this celebrity-linked home, it’s not exactly possible for the great majority of us, but we can dream, can’t we?
Let’s take a whimsical look around Glin Castle in Glin, Co Limerick and see what it’s like living in a dream home of your own.
First of all, is your name FitzGerald? If it is, you practically have a claim to this yourself – it’s the ancestral home of the FitzGerald clan.
The castle was previously home to Desmond FitzGerald, the Knight of Glin. He has passed away, but his daughter Catherine spends time here with her husband Dominic West (yes, of The Wire fame), and their brood.
You don’t get the title if you get the house, but you do get to reap the rewards of Desmond’s love for the home.
He loved heritage, and this home is proof of that. This is no badly-preserved dump.
It’s a treasure just waiting to be explored. Situated on its own 380 acres of ground, and overlooking the Shannon estuary, it has incredible views from all around.
Across the three floors, there are 21 bedrooms, which show exactly how grand this 1908 sq metre castle is.
Inside, it’s – to use a clichéd phrase, but keeping with the romantic theme – like stepping back in time.
It has been refurbished over the years, and was even used as a country hotel for a period.
The front hall has a screen of Corinthian columns, and a neo-Classical ceiling, which lead you to the ‘flying staircase’.
Each room has its own treasures, and each one carries in it the family’s history. Huge portraits, original furniture, intricately woven rugs – they all combine to make quite the impression.
It has its quirks too – a broken mahogany bookcase in the library hides a door leading to the staircase hall.
The cosy kitchen is like a country kitchen of old, with its tiled floors and wooden beam across the ceiling.
The bedrooms, meanwhile, have four-poster beds – just what you’d expect in a castle.
If the house is too much, the 23 acres of pleasure grounds are there to ramble through, with gardens both formal and informal, and many woodland walks.
A house like this has history, and has certainly seen some things. Just like any good castle, it’s crammed with mystery (and enough bedrooms to house at least one ghost).
Glin Castle is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes, Farms and Estates on Daft.ie
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