Tree’s company in Co Wicklow
TONGOO House, in the townland of Kilcandra, Kilbride, County Wicklow, is about 60 kilometres by road from the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. That’s a bit of trek, not to mention that it’s a lot of fossil fuel to burn through for the ironic pleasure of admiring nature.
Luckily, though, the Botanic Gardens maintains a southern outpost. It’s at Kilmacurragh, between Rathdrum and Kilbride, forming part of an 18thcentury estate once owned by the Acton family. Kilmacurragh Botanic Gardens is just above a kilometre from Tongoo House, so you can be wandering through its arboretum after a 15-minute carbonsaving walk.
Tongoo House itself is said to date from the early 20th century although early maps indicate there was a property on the site long before that.
It’s set well back from the road at the end of a 200-metre avenue, and comes with seven acres of land including paddocks and a group of agricultural buildings.
The house itself has been extended in its time to 1,690 sq ft including three first-floor bedrooms with countryside views. The first-floor also has a big, L-shaped gallery landing that’s used as a study.
Downstairs, there are two main reception rooms. Right of the entrance hall is a living room, dual-aspect and looking out over the front and back gardens.
The kitchen is to the left of the hall and measures just under 12ft by 14ft, and off this is a utility room and shower. The kitchen is open-plan to the second reception room, a single-storey family room with a solid-fuel stove and French doors to the back garden.
Tongoo House is six kilometres from Rathdrum, and there’s a train station there on the Dublin-Rosslare line. Alternatively you can reach the capital in about an hour by car via the M11.
The agent is Sherry FitzGerald Catherine O’Reilly, (0404) 66466, and the asking price is €735,000.