Barn stormer:
Co Wexford conversion has wow factor
Barn conversions have always been a hugely popular option in the UK and USA where old agricultural barns are larger than those found in Ireland, have survived in greater numbers and generally in better health. So they lend themselves to the classic barn conversion so beloved of TV programmes like Grand Designs.
Here in Ireland most old stone barns have been let crumble and fall, to be supplanted by corrugated metal replacements. The survivors tend to be a lot smaller and too fragile to work with. So it’s rare to find an Irish stone barn conversion of the sort featured in British glossies and on TV. The big exception is Arnestown Barn in New Ross, Co Wexford, as converted by the Hodgson family. In a word, it is extraordinary.
First is its sheer size. At 9,000 sq ft, Arnestown Barn has the equivalent internal floor space of an entire culde-sac of nine standard urban family homes. But as the owners stress, it’s all in proportion and all of it is used daily.
Garrett Hodgson is originally from New Ross but based himself for many years in Dublin. When looking for a home back in the early noughties, he and wife Andrea weren’t even considering a move back to the historic and picturesque Wexford town on the river Barrow.
But then a friend who was selling sites in New Ross brought their attention to one tract which included a ruined but elegant 150-year-old stone barn and a courtyard, which likely was once attached to one of the area’s big estates.
“The funny thing is that we never set out to build any sort of a Grand Design. It just happened organically. When we saw the site, we considered developing it and moving there and one thing sort of led to another,” says Garrett.
At this point the barn had most of two walls standing and the roof had collapsed. A big problem was that it had no foundations, which would present an issue with reusing those thick stone walls. “So we had to have the walls taken down to install the necessary foundations,” says Andrea. “We were lucky enough to get some highly skilled stone masons. They rebuilt it using the existing stone.”
The already collapsed ends of the barn served to provide them with new and vast open glazed areas which today help light into the finished house and open up the whole landscape for views.
In all, the house took two full years to complete. While the couple had also planned an indoor swimming pool, this was the only aspect that was left unfinished. The long courtyard building is here and the foundations and pool pit are in place adjoining the house, and today this requires completion. It has the capacity to provide a heated indoor pool ranging up to 14 metres.
“I think the light is definitely the best thing about this house,” says Andrea. “Even on a grey day, every part of it is lit up naturally.”
Priorities for the film- and fitness-loving couple during their build included the inclusion of a home gym and a home
ARNESTOWN BARN
Arnestown, New Ross, Co Wexford Asking price: Offers over €795,000 Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Radford (051) 426161 cinema, which seats six. “While it’s a big house it doesn’t feel like that,” adds Andrea. And despite being completed 14 years ago, the couple were ahead of time for insulation. For a 9,000 sq ft home, it turns in a C1 rating.
With their daughters participating in equestrian activities, the Hodgesons are now on the look-out for a new place locally with enough land to cater for some horses. It means they are placing Arnestown Barn on the market, seeking offers of €795,000 through local agents Sherry FitzGerald Radford.
At a time when an increased number are working remotely and there is a surge in interest from city vendors in moving to country areas to find more bang for their buck, Arnestown Bar presents a tempting proposition.
To compare what sort of Dublin homes will trade evenly for this luxury property, consider that it’s asking price equates to what’s currently being sought for a twobed apartment in Donnybrook, a threebed terrace in Ranelagh or for four-bed semis in Killester and Glasnevin.
Enter via a double-height glazed arched doorway into a 25-foot-high great hall which comes with a vaulted ceiling, a porcelain tiled floor and a unique contemporary bifurcated staircase which sweeps up on two sides to a gallery landing above.
There’s a 22ft by 24ft open-plan contemporary kitchen and dining room with granite counter tops.
Particularly eye-catching is the doubleheight living room, bookended by a glazed wall stretching up two floors and taking in views of the gardens and the countryside.
It’s backed by an array of bookshelves that you’ll need a ladder to stretch to the top of, and above that a glazed and railed gallery looks down on proceedings.
Also on this floor is a wet-room shower decorated with a Fired Earth mosaic and porcelain tiles.
Upstairs on the first floor there’s a large sitting room with a glazed gable end and bi-fold doors leading out to a viewing deck balcony. Beside this is a study.
The master bedroom includes an ensuite with a wet floor and two vanity units, and there’s a 10 ft long walk in wardrobe/dressing room.
Above, accessed via a stairs, is a toplevel bathroom with a feature tub. The basement level contains this home’s leisure content. As well as one of two home offices, here is the aforementioned cinema room with projector and surround sound. The home gym is also on this floor, along with a children’s playroom, a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and the plant room.
The house also has a self-contained living suite which would suit an elderly relation or independent minded teenager. This has its own kitchen/ living/dining room and two bedrooms, both of which access the bathroom Jack-and-Jill-style. The latter has a power shower.
The indoor pool area is in part of the old courtyard stretch of stone buildings which is 60ft long. This is in turn attached to the home’s three-bay garage, which has three individual electric doors, again all housed in the same linked stone-built complex.
The house has underfloor oil-fired heating and also benefits from a geothermal heat exchange system.
The house comes with just over an acre of ground and a big plus for city relocators is the 1-Gig fibre broadband which allows its owners to work comfortably from home. This spectacular barn conversion sits on just over an acre of land at Arnestown just outside New Ross. The town, although hit by Covid-19, is usually busy with tourists who come here to visit The Dunbrody, the immaculately recreated Famine Ship moored on the Barrow and popular for its tours, which use accomplished actors to bring the 19th Century emigration experience to life.
This is where John F Kennedy’s ancestor departed for the USA during famine times, and the area has the Kennedy homestead as well as Duncannon Fort. The wider area is rich in beaches and has the famous Hook Lighthouse. And if you’re looking for a real barn of a contemporary home in Wexford, New Ross has that too.